Is the expense of having kids too high for millennials?

The increasingly high costs of raising children are making millennials reconsider their desire to have children.

A middle-class family, according to a U.S Department of Agriculture report, needs an estimated $245,340 to raise a child to the age of 18.

With soaring rates of student loans and low-paying early careers, millennials find the idea of supporting a child daunting. Millennials have become the largest generation by surpassing baby boomers; if they’re shying away from childrearing, that could slow future economic growth.

Working women, although often desiring to have children of their own, are hesitant to take time off to have kids. Sixty-seven percent of millennial women are in the workforce, and they have considered how maternity leave can impact their careers, Jim Kim wrote for Collegiate Times.

“A reduced income can be devastating to a family working to pay student loans and other expenses of life. Twenty-two percent of millennial women are living in poverty and single mothers contribute heavily to these statistics,” Kim said.
 
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