This CT metro is one of the most expensive places to raise a child in the US, study shows

The Middletown Press – Tuesday, June 24, 2025
By Daniel Figueroa IV

One of the most expensive U.S. metropolitan areas to raise children in is in Connecticut — and the most expensive is in New England, according to an analysis from financial technology website SmartAsset.

SmartAsset used data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator to look at the living costs of a household with two working adults and one child. The data, from February, is compared to data from last February. The study looked at expenses like food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation and other necessities.

The Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford metro area was ranked as the fifth-most expensive metro area to raise a child in. According to the analysis, the annual cost of raising a child in 2025 was $33,149, up 3.16% from 2024. That breaks down to $18,689 for childcare, $4,200 for housing, $2,101 for food costs, $3,602 for medical costs, $2,951 for transportation, and $647 for civic costs.

But the single most expensive metro area to raise a child in can also be found in New England. That dubious honorific went to the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro area, where raising a child nears almost $40,000, at $39,221, up nearly 4% from 2024. There, it cost $23,800 for childcare; $5,29 for housing; $2,232 for food costs; $3,290 for medical costs; $2,996 for transportation and $647 for civic costs.

The Birmingham, Alabama, metro area was found to be the least expensive metro area to raise a child in. Annual child care costs are just $19,082, down 8.06% from last year’s price tag of $20,754.

SmartAsset isn’t the only fintech site to find exorbitant childcare costs in Connecticut. In late March, LendingTree released an analysis of MIT and federal data that found it costs about $300,000 to raise a child in Connecticut over 18 years, the seventh-most expensive state in the country for raising a child.

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