How is it possible for people to not be able to afford children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do you live?

OP here. Arlington.

So you rent.

Renting with children is especially bad hardship because landlords kick you out or raise rent and you have to move often, which can really disrupt kids lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard the "I can't afford children" from many couples without children. These couples are in their 30s which is an age at which you've worked enough to have a decently paying career, so it's weird. I was making around 50K before I had my children and stayed home and my husband didn't hit 150k until a couples of years later, so we're pretty average in our area. We're planning to send our kids to public school when they're older and enroll them in cheaper activities, but it looks like everyone around us is holding out for private schools which can be incredibly expensive. Have these lifestyle expectations made children "unaffordable" or there's something else I'm missing?

A couple making a combined $100k in this area can easily afford one child. The FT daycare years will be uncomfortable, but public K12 will ease some of the crunch. Gently used cars. Whole family dresses in clothes from JCP, Kohl’s, even Target and does low budget driving vacations. The kid does CC, then transfers to state flagship.

Many people would not have one child. I would not: I have seen too many only children have to deal with parents in old age. It was 0 or 2 for me. I would never have one.

That’s a weird reason not to want one child. Even if you have two kids, there’s no guarantee that they will both live near you their whole lives. My brother-in-law has traveled all over the country for jobs while his sister has remained near their parents.

I don’t expect either of them to live near me. I expect they will have each other when their parents are dead so they don’t have to deal with that loss alone.

OK so there are more people on this planet than your immediate birth family. Hint: when your child was born, or involved someone not in your immediate birth family.

News flash: many people raise their kids far away from family and a lot of people don’t have a lot of friends, so your common is ridiculous because I grew up like this and literally without my brother I would have no one. A friend is not the same.

[Anonymous]

Couples should strategically leverage whatever they can:

1. Live with parents/in-laws to save money, pay off student loans, etc.

2. Plant roots near the grandparents or have them relocate to handle childcare or assist with it (at least during the newborn/early toddler stage before preschool).

3. Buy a house within your means…which is typically less of a house than you can afford on paper.

4. Live frugally and only splurge on certain things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard the "I can't afford children" from many couples without children. These couples are in their 30s which is an age at which you've worked enough to have a decently paying career, so it's weird. I was making around 50K before I had my children and stayed home and my husband didn't hit 150k until a couples of years later, so we're pretty average in our area. We're planning to send our kids to public school when they're older and enroll them in cheaper activities, but it looks like everyone around us is holding out for private schools which can be incredibly expensive. Have these lifestyle expectations made children "unaffordable" or there's something else I'm missing?

More $$ = less kids

Birth rate in the United States in 2019, by household income

Annual Household Income in U.S. dollars
Number of births per 1,000 women
Under 10,000 63.14
10,000-14,999 59.42
15,000-24,999 60.99
25,000-34,999 55.87
35,000-49,999 55.34
50,000-74,999 52.25
75,000-99,999 51.86
100,000-149,999 47.58
150,000-199,999 45.21
200,000 or more 44.89