(The Center Square) – Colorado is among the most expensive states in the nation to raise a child, a new SmartAsset analysis showed.
The state ranked seventh nationally in the 2025 study, which looked at the annual cost of raising one child under the age of 5.
The Center Square spoke with the study’s author, Jaclyn DeJohn, in an exclusive interview regarding its findings. DeJohn is a certified financial planner and SmartAsset’s director of economic analysis.
She explained those higher costs can influence everything from daily habits to major household decisions for Colorado families.
“For young families, their day-to-day lifestyle and habits may be impacted by costs,” DeJohn said. “Especially for those with remote work or the option to have one parent stay at home, understanding the variance in costs and tradeoffs between locations can help households plan their financial lives in a holistic way.”
The study found nationally, the average annual cost of raising a child under 5 in the United States reached $27,743 in 2025. Costs include housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, etc.
Colorado ranked seventh on the study, with the 2025 total annual cost coming in at $34,986. With the average family income for Colorado being approximately $150,000, that means nearly 25% of a family’s income could go toward the expenses of just one child.
Massachusetts topped the nation at $44,221, while Mississippi came in 50th at $19,178.
DeJohn said the study’s findings has real implications for the residents of every state, even if they don’t have children themselves.
“Even for residents without young children themselves, the local cost of raising children can have second-order impacts on the local economy,” she explained, “including real estate dynamics, tax and infrastructure planning, and supply and demand of various types of local businesses.”
This is just one part of the growing cost-of-living crisis facing many American families, especially in a higher-cost state like Colorado.
In total, from 2024 to this year, the average total cost rose by 4.5%. That means it slightly outpaced the 2.82% inflation rate during the same time frame.
Yet the increase in Colorado was less than the national average, coming in at just 1.07%, or slightly lower than the inflation rate.
Still, because Colorado’s cost is already one of the highest nationally, it will have an impact on families throughout the state.
“High costs can potentially drive families to lower cost locations, or in some cases even potentially deter families from having as many children,” DeJohn said. “It may also help drive a tough choice for many families to make: Whether to have one parent stay at home to cover the relatively high cost of childcare in the younger years. In that same sense, high costs for raising children may impact the demand for certain types of flexibility in local jobs, such as remote or hybrid working environments.”
