Cost of Raising a Child in Australia

How much does it cost to raise a child in Australia?

For a typical middle-income Australian household, raising one child from birth through age 17 costs roughly $306,000 in 2026 dollars, before university. Spread across 18 years, that is about $17,000 a year, or $1,417 a month, for the entire time your child lives at home. The figure draws on Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) research and Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) household expenditure data, brought forward to current dollars.

Where you live inside Australia moves the number substantially. NSW and Victoria, especially Sydney and Melbourne, run above the national average because of housing, while Tasmania and South Australia typically run below it. The calculator above adjusts for income, state, and family size, the three factors that move the number the most.

How the cost of raising a child in Australia calculator works

1. It starts from an AIFS and ABS-based national baseline. We begin with research combining AIFS studies on the cost of children and ABS Household Expenditure Survey data for a middle-income, two-child family, brought forward to 2026 dollars using the Consumer Price Index. That baseline is about $315,000 per child before adjustment.
2. It adjusts for your income. Spending on children rises with household income. Moving the income slider scales the estimate from $25,000 to $400,000-plus of household income.
3. It adjusts for your state. NSW and Victoria run above the national average; Tasmania and South Australia typically run below it, reflecting housing cost differences.
4. It adjusts for the number of children. Bigger families spend less per child thanks to shared bedrooms, hand-me-downs, and bulk shopping, so the per-child figure rises for one-child families and falls for three or more.

You can also add an optional estimate for university, currently about $58,000, reflecting typical HECS-HELP loan amounts and some living-away costs. Most Australian students defer this cost and repay it later as a percentage of income once they are earning above the repayment threshold, rather than paying upfront, which we note clearly.

A worked example

Take the default: a household earning $100,000, two children, national average state. That comes to roughly $306,000 per child to age 18, about $17,000 a year. Add university and the combined figure rises to about $364,000.

Now change the state to New South Wales. The same two-child family climbs to about $330,480, an increase of over $24,000 driven mainly by Sydney-area housing costs. Switch instead to Tasmania and the total falls to roughly $269,280, a difference of over $61,000 between Australia's most and least expensive states in our model, driven almost entirely by housing.

Where the money actually goes

The result panel breaks the total into categories using Australian household expenditure patterns for families with children:

• Housing, about 29 percent. The single biggest cost, and the category most affected by state, especially NSW and Victoria.
• Childcare and education, about 21 percent. The category most affected by the Child Care Subsidy and by whether you choose public or private schooling.
• Food, about 18 percent. Rises steadily through the teenage years.
• Transport, about 15 percent. Vehicle costs, fuel, and eventually driving lessons and insurance for a teen driver.
• Healthcare, about 4 percent. Lower than the US equivalent thanks to Medicare; this share covers dental, optical, and private health insurance extras.
• Clothing, about 6 percent, and miscellaneous, about 7 percent. Activities, school costs, phones, and everything else.

The Child Care Subsidy, explained

The Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is the single biggest lever most Australian families have over this number. It covers a percentage of approved child care fees, up to 90 percent for family incomes at the lower end of the scale, phasing down as household income rises, with a higher subsidy rate for a family's second and subsequent children under 5 in care at the same time. Because eligibility, the subsidy percentage, and actual hours used vary enormously between families, our childcare category reflects average spending before the subsidy is applied. Families who successfully claim their full CCS entitlement typically pay well below our estimate for this category; use the government's Starting Blocks or Services Australia estimator for your specific circumstances if you want a precise number.

Assumptions and methodology

• Default values. The tool loads with $100,000 household income, the national average state, two children, and university off, producing a default estimate of about $306,000 per child.
• The baseline blends Australian Institute of Family Studies research on the cost of children with ABS Household Expenditure Survey data, brought forward to 2026 dollars using the ABS Consumer Price Index.
• Income and family-size adjustments follow the general income-elasticity relationship found in Australian household spending research. State adjustments reflect cost-of-living differences and are approximate.
• University costs assume typical HECS-HELP loan amounts plus some living-away costs; most students defer repayment until their income crosses the repayment threshold.
• The Child Care Subsidy is noted but not automatically subtracted, since the subsidy rate depends on income, activity level, and number of children in care.

Frequently asked questions