This Is How Much It Costs to Exist a New Mom in Your State

how much it costs to be a new mom in each state

When yous're expecting your start kid, some costs come as no surprise—a new crib, dozens of diapers, that woodland fauna mobile your babyneeds.

But what about postpartum intendance? Or the cash required to properly babyproof your home? Cartel we mention the pecker you might get for the light-green Jell-O you lot'll endure through during your infirmary stay?

As a first-time (or expectant) mom, you may not know how much it costs to take a fiddling one—and so in laurels of your first Mother'due south Day, nosotros did some digging. We constitute that in the US, the average price for childbirth and childcare is a staggering $17,433 in the starting time year alone. (And by the way, the US is the nigh expensive country to give nascency in.)

See how much it costs to get a newly-minted mom in your state—and which states take the highest price of admission to the parenthood gild.

the five most and least expensive states to be a new mom

The five nearly expensive states

  1. Washington, DC
  2. Massachusetts
  3. New York
  4. Connecticut
  5. Alaska

The v to the lowest degree expensive states

  1. Mississippi
  2. Alabama
  3. Louisiana
  4. Arkansas
  5. South Dakota

Our ranking criteria

To decide our rankings, nosotros considered how much it costs to deliver a infant in each country (before insurance), besides as the cost of daycare for your tiny human being'south first yr.

Of grade, there are dozens of costs associated with pregnancy and new motherhood not deemed for in our information (like the nine months you'll be eating for 2 or the plant nursery you'll create from scratch).

Here are the basic costs many moms run into from the commencement:

  • Average cost of childbirth1 (weighted for vaginal vs. cesarean deliveries)ii
  • Average cost of babe daycare for ane year3

I other thing to note: Our data doesn't take insurance coverage into account. Insurance companies decide how much of the medical expense associated with childbirth they want to shoulder on a land-past-state basis—so what's covered in your state might not be in another.

The most expensive states to be a new mom

#1. Washington, DC

he cost of living in the nation's capital is already on the high side, simply housing isn't the simply thing that'south pricey in the 202. DC's average daycare costs are college than the next highest country by $5,569.

If you plan to piece of work full-time after your little ane arrives—and if you don't have a grandparent or family friend you can lean on for occasional assist—you'll drop over $20,000 per yr on childcare alone.

Price factors

  • Average childbirth medical expenses:$6,724
  • Average cost of baby daycare per year: $22,631
  • Total cost:$29,355

#2. Massachusetts

Childcare costs in the Bay State are and then high that a new parent who makes minimum wage would demand to work forty hours a calendar week for ten months3justto pay for a year's worth of childcare—a damper on a baby shower if we've always seen ane.

Nosotros'll give Massachusetts this, though: information technology'southward the best state for babyhood educational activity, which may soften your sticker stupor.

Cost factors

  • Average childbirth medical expenses:$8,652
  • Average cost of infant daycare per year: $17,062
  • Total toll:$25,714

#3. New York

Everything in New York (well, in the Large Apple at least) is more expensive—even having a baby.

New York's infant daycare costs average $14,144 per yr. Plus, the Empire State has the third highest childbirth cost—and a 2010 assay found that New York saw the largest percentage increase in unproblematic vaginal delivery costs in one year.iv

Those figures alone are hard to handle—and they don't even factor in money for nursery basics, new pacifiers, or late-night grocery shop runs for diapers.

Cost factors

  • Boilerplate childbirth medical expenses:$ix,880
  • Average toll of infant daycare per yr: $xiv,144
  • Total toll:$24,024

#four. Connecticut

Connecticut has the 7th highest cost of living in the The states.5 And the cost to become a showtime-time parent in the Constitution State? Not much better.

The average cost of a year's worth of infant daycare in Connecticut is $13,880—that's $i,157 per month on a babysitter, basically.

Cost factors

  • Average childbirth medical expenses:$9,095
  • Average toll of infant daycare per twelvemonth: $thirteen,880
  • Total cost:$22,975

#5. Alaska

Alaska is the just rural country to make our peak five—but there'due south a good reason it'southward up there on our rankings.

Co-ordinate to Courtney Bullard, education and collaborations managing director at the Utah Health Policy Project, insurance companies may cover less in rural areas because there are fewer healthcare providers. That actually drives up the toll of childbirth—even before health insurance coverage kicks in.

In Alaska, bears in your backyard aren't the only thing to worry most—the upfront cost to have a kid is also alarming.

Cost factors

  • Average childbirth medical expenses:$11,729
  • Average cost of baby daycare per year: $10,957
  • Total cost:$22,686

The least expensive states to be a new mom

#ane. Mississippi

Mississippi is the first of four southern states to snag a spot on our five cheapest places to go a new mom—and in comparison to costs in many northeastern states, in that location's a stark difference.

On average, it costs $xi,364 to take a infant in the Magnolia Country. The cost in Washington, DC ($29,355) is more than double that.

To break it down further, daycare costs in Mississippi teeter around $5,000 per year, which is almost—look for information technology—5 times cheaper than DC'southward boilerplate ($22,631).

Price factors

  • Average childbirth medical expenses:$6,542
  • Average cost of infant daycare per year: $4,822
  • Total cost:$11,364

#2. Alabama

When it comes to depression childbirth and daycare costs, Alabama isn't far backside its Mississippian neighbor. Alabama'due south average cost of infant care is $5,637, which ends up beingness in the ballpark of $470 per month.

Roll tide, right?

Cost factors

  • Average childbirth medical expenses:$5,885
  • Average cost of baby daycare per yr: $five,637
  • Total cost:$11,522

#iii. Louisiana

With reasonable housing costs and i of the cheapest higher towns in the US, life on the Bayou is affordable in many means—including becoming a mom.

At $12,103 a twelvemonth, Louisiana's childbirth and childcare costs combined are cheaper than daycare costs alone in DC, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut.

(And let'south be existent: less money spent on these bills means more cash to splurge on beignets.)

Cost factors

  • Average childbirth medical expenses:$6,356
  • Average price of babe daycare per yr: $v,747
  • Full price:$12,103

#four. Arkansas

Birthplace of the late and slap-up Johnny Cash and home to the World Championship Duck Calling Contest (#themoreyouknow), Arkansas is as well one of the near affordable spots to take a baby.

In fact, the overall price to get a first-time mama in Arkansas is cheaper than New York's boilerplate cost ($xiv,144) to put a little one through a year of daycare.

Cost factors

  • Average childbirth medical expenses:$half dozen,379
  • Average cost of infant daycare per twelvemonth: $five,995
  • Full cost:$12,374

#5. S Dakota

Step bated, Mount Rushmore—you're not Southward Dakota'south only merits to fame. Southward Dakota has the 5th highest birth rate per capita of any Usa land,6 and higher nascence rates tend to correlate with a lower toll of childbirth.

Clearly, Southward Dakota'due south high birth rate pays off. Plus, your kids will have plenty of playmates—and you'll have a slew of neighborhood babysitters to choose from side by side time you need a dark out.

Cost factors

  • Average childbirth medical expenses:$6,986
  • Average toll of infant daycare per year: $5,661
  • Total cost:$12,647

Each state's cost to be a first-time mom

Rank and state

Childbirth medical expenses

Infant daycare cost

Total cost

one. Commune of Columbia "$6,724" "$22,631" "$29,355"
2. Massachusetts "$8,652" "$17,062" "$25,714"
3. New York "$nine,880" "$14,144" "$24,024"
4. Connecticut "$9,095" "$xiii,880" "$22,975"
five. Alaska "$11,729" "$ten,957" "$22,686"
vi. New Jersey "$10,581" "$11,810" "$22,115"
7. Minnesota "$seven,272" "$xiv,366" "$21,638"
8. Maryland "$7,605" "$13,932" "$21,537"
9. Illinois "$8,553" "$12,964" "$21,517"
ten. Wisconsin "$nine,378" "$11,579" "$xx,957"
xi. Colorado "$7,669" "$13,154" "$20,823"
12. California "$eight,601" "$11,817" "$20,418"
xiii. Washington "$7,462" "$12,733" "$20,195"
fourteen. New Hampshire "$7,893" "$11,810" "$nineteen,703"
15. Rhode Isle "$half dozen,340" "$12,867" "$xix,207"
16. Oregon "$7,543" "$11,322" "$xviii,865"
17. Vermont "$7,475" "$11,270" "$18,745"
18. Pennsylvania "$7,942" "$10,640" "$eighteen,582"
nineteen. Virginia "$8,020" "$x,458" "$18,478"
twenty. Delaware "$7,108" "$11,000" "$18,108"
21. Nevada "$8,130" "$9,852" "$17,982"
22. Kansas "$6,493" "$xi,201" "$17,694"
23. Florida "$eight,800" "$8,694" "$17,494"
24. Arizona "$7,716" "$9,437" "$17,153"
25. Texas "$8,381" "$8,759" "$17,140"
26. Michigan "$6,720" "$9,882" "$16,602"
27. Northward Carolina "$7,293" "$9,255" "$sixteen,548"
28. Indiana "$7,437" "$8,918" "$16,355"
29. Maine "$6,827" "$9,512" "$xvi,339"
30. Iowa "$6,737" "$9,485" "$16,222"
31. Montana "$6,861" "$9,062" "$xv,923"
32. North Dakota "$7,588" "$eight,217" "$fifteen,805"
33. Ohio "$half-dozen,647" "$8,977" "$15,624"
34. Missouri "$6,798" "$8,632" "$fifteen,430"
35. Georgia "$7,704" "$7,644" "$15,348"
36. New United mexican states "$7,097" "$7,942" "$xv,039"
37. Utah "$6,275" "$8,641" "$14,916"
38. Hawaii "$vi,550" "$8,280" "$14,380"
39. West Virginia "$6,718" "$seven,926" "$14,644"
40. Wyoming "$vii,795" "$6,541" "$14,336"
41. Nebraska "$6,373" "$7,926" "$14,299"
42. Due south Carolina "$7,281" "$vi,475" "$13,756"
43. Idaho "$vi,541" "$7,200" "$13,741"
44. Oklahoma "$6,862" "$6,788" "$13,650"
45. Tennessee "$vii,596" "$5,857" "$xiii,453"
46. Kentucky "$6,809" "$6,294" "$13,103"
47. South Dakota "$6,986" "$five,661" "$12,647"
48. Arkansas "$6,379" "$5,995" "$12,374"
49. Louisiana "$6,356" "$5,747" "$12,103"
l. Alabama "$v,885" "$5,637" "$xi,522"
51. Mississippi "$vi,542" "$4,822" "$11,364"

Methodology

Here are the information points Move.org analyzed to make up one's mind the near and least expensive states to become a new parent:

  • Boilerplate toll of baby day intendance for 1 twelvemonth
  • Weighted childbirth cost
    • Uncomplicated vaginal births (68%)
    • Caesarean births (32%)

We used 2017 information on the number of vaginal births and C-sections in the US to weight the cost of childbirth. Generally, these figures include prenatal care.

Our weighted averages don't account for complicated vaginal births, though, which tin cause costs to skyrocket. C-sections, while less common than vaginal births, tend to be significantly more than expensive likewise.

Tell us what y'all remember

To all our expectant and new moms reading: happy offset Mother'south Day! If the lack of sleep and spit-up-on-your-favorite-shirt moments oasis't scared you lot away, we hope your state's costs won't either.

Desire to know more about which cities and states are family- and women-friendly? Check out the All-time Cities in America for Raising a Family and the Best Places for Women to Live.

How much does information technology price to become a new parent in your country? We desire to hear—allow us know in the comments section below!

Sources