How much money does the average parent spend to raise a child to 18?
In my opinion, such numbers are meaningless. Poor people raise children and so do rich people. They spend very different amounts of money. Also, whats the point of a total sum? It is spread out over 1821 years. You never see it all at once. If you have one child or two children, the marginal cost of adding a child is much less than for the first child. And so on. Kids need food, clothing, shoes, love, and a place to live. They can go to public school, read at the public library, wear clothes you buy at yard sales, and sleep in a single room. Thats not a major expense. The biggest factor is either lost wages for a stay-at-home parent, or childcare costs, but poor people have their mother or sister watch their child. Its all flexible.