Raising Children Is Expensive In These Two Michigan Cities

Of course, having a child is expensive no matter where you live. From the time that pregnancy test and doctor confirm you are pregnant, the money starts to flow, not into your account, but out of it. The clothes, shoes, food, diapers, doctor visits, and more start to hit the pocket like crazy and only worsen as they age.

Looking around the state of Michigan, most of the cities seem to be middle-upper middle class with a few lower-income and rural cities in between, but nothing too expensive right? Well, you're wrong once again, somehow Michigan is always in the middle of an expensive list, but this time two cities made the top 10 most expensive child-raising cities list.

According to a study conducted by SmartAsset, they were able to determine the most expensive cities in the United States to raise children based on a multitude of factors. Expenses such as daycare, transportation, food, and other necessities were used to determine that the average cost in the country is about $20,800 annually.

They did only survey 381 Metro areas within the country to figure out the cost for two adults to raise a child in 2023. Ann Arbor was ranked 6th on the list with $31,670 while Kalamazoo and Portage made the list at 8 with $30,786. Now, like me, you're probably wondering how these two cities got mixed up with all the high-end California and NJ cities.

Well, it was the daycare cost, Ann Arbor and Michigan were ranked first and second respectively in this category. Ann Arbor is cited to have an annual childcare cost of over $22,000 while Kalamazoo and Portage were right behind at just under $20,000 a year. When you look back at their average cost per year a large majority of the Michigan cities are in daycare.

Why are daycare costs so expensive in the state? Is there something that can be done to lower the costs of daycare in Michigan? Did I go into the wrong profession and should instead be raking in the dough while I make sandwiches and change diapers?