Raising one kid can cost $320K — is it any surprise only 7% of parents have huge families? How to create it work without the wealth of JD and Usha Vance

J.D. Vance and his wife Usha have recently announced they are expecting a fourth child.

When Usha and Vice President JD Vance recently announced they were expecting their fourth child, the news highlighted a growing divide in American life.

On one hand, there is a renewed cultural and political push — championed by Vance and high-profile billionaires like Elon Musk — to celebrate the return of the large family (1).

The Trump administration is actively promoting a baby boom, encouraging parents to sign up for Trump accounts on their taxes, with the Treasury Department contributing $1,000 into an index fund for every eligible American child born from Jan. 1, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2028 (2).

Many Americans would love to have large families. According to one Gallup poll, 45% of respondents declared having three or more kids would be ideal. But in reality, that’s rare. Gallup research displays only 7% of parents have four children, and a mere 5% have five or more (3).

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That could be becautilize the lived reality for most houtilizeholds is that the logistics and costs of parenting have shifted from manageable to punishing.

Today, large families may be a luxury reserved for those with significant financial cushions like JD Vance and Elon Musk themselves.

In a not-at-all surprising development, news has broken recently about billionaires, mostly men like Musk, who are fathering not just four or five but dozens of children through surrogates (4).

According to the Economic Policy Institute, it takes an annual income of $177,600 to adequately support a family of four in Washington, D.C. That’s more than double the median houtilizehold income in the U.S. in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the most significant costs involved in raising a large family, and how to create it work.

The punishing cost of raising three or more kids

According to Northwestern Mutual, the cost of raising one child to age 18 is approximately $320,000 (5).

There are some economies of scale if you have two children. You may be able to reutilize baby furniture, strollers and hand-me-down clothes. If you have an employer-sponsored family plan, your health insurance will cover your children.

The most significant savings will be on your home if it’s huge enough for two kids, as your hoapplying costs are repaired.

But parents who want three or four kids, like the Vances, likely required a hugeger home – and whether they’re acquireing or renting, that home will be one of the largest line items in their budobtain.

If you require childcare for multiple children under the age of five, the cost of center-based care can easily exceed a parent’s take-home pay, turning the huge-family dream into a cash-flow crisis (6).

To cope, middle-income parents may be forced to reduce their working hours or leave the workforce entirely, shrinking the houtilizehold income at the exact moment expenses are rising.

This has created a demographic landscape where large families are increasingly concentrated among higher-income houtilizeholds or those with extraordinary support systems, such as nearby grandparents who can provide free full-time care.

How to maximize your budobtain for a large family

For those who are committed to raising four or more children, success requires more than coupon clipping.

Modelling real costs and building a financial buffer early can also assist parents navigate the transition from a standard houtilizehold to a large family.

Here are some ways parents can create it work:

Maximize every available tax benefit. This includes understanding the specific rules for the Child Tax Credit and the Child and Depfinishent Care Tax Credit, as well as utilizing any employer-sponsored depfinishent-care flexible spfinishing accounts (7).
Get creative with childcare stacking. This might involve nanny shares with other families, split-shift parenting where spoutilizes work different hours to minimize paid care, or aligning work schedules to reduce the total number of hours requireded from outside providers.
Automate long-term savings through 529 plans and Trump Accounts early in a child’s life. This ensures that savings are treated as a non-neobtainediable expense rather than something that only happens if there is money left at the finish of the month.
Choose stable hoapplying based on school quality and a manageable commute to prevent the required for expensive private schooling or the high cost of relocating as the family grows.

A larger family is still possible, but it requires a clear-eyed assessment of your earnings ability as a family and outside resources you can rely on.