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

(FOX 9) - A new survey looked at how much it costs parents to raise a child.

The study, by LendingTree, found that, on average, it costs about $11,500 a year per child. Most people in the survey (75 percent) said raising kids has been more expensive than they anticipated.

Though, FOX 9 suggests you take the LendingTree study with a grain of salt. LendingTree is an online lender, not a scholarly organization. Many companies use what's known as thought leadership marketing -- in which they offer studies or surveys on topics. Often, these studies lack scientific rigor.

This survey is based on a sampling of 2,000 families. Divided up, that's 40 families per state. It's probably not easy to get a wide-ranging, accurate representation of costs from such a small sample.

The survey also asserts that most parents who "overspend" – go into debt -- on their kids don't regret it. While this claim may very well be true – it probably would be hard to find a parent who didn't regret sacrificing for their child – a lending company encouraging people to go into debt deserves some healthy scrutiny.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture study from 2017 found the average cost of raising a child through age 17 was $233,610 – which accounts for inflation. That amounts to $12,978 per year. A study by think tank the Brookings Institution, which used the USDA estimate as a baseline, found that parents could expect to spend $310,605 raising a child born in 2015 through age 17. The study adjusted for higher future inflation.

The survey doesn't break down child-rearing costs by state. However, another LendingTree study in 2023 put Minnesota among the most expensive states to raise a child. The 2023 study put the cost of raising a child in Minnesota at about $24,242 per year. The least expensive state was Mississippi at $15,555 and the most expensive was Hawaii at $30,506.

That study looked at costs over an 18-year period, accounting for inflation.