SLO metro area is one of the most expensive places in U.S. to raise a family, study shows
San Luis Obispo County is one of the most expensive places in the United States to raise a family, according to a new study by financial advice website SmartAsset.
The San Luis Obispo metropolitan area, which includes Arroyo Grande and Paso Robles, landed at No. 20 on SmartAsset’s list ranking the priciest metro areas to raise kids, SmartAsset said.
Jaclyn DeJohn, SmartAsset managing editor of economic analysis, analyzed data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator for 381 metropolitan areas to determine the average annual cost of raising one child, two children or three children under 4 for two working adults.
The costs include childcare, housing, food, transportation and medical costs for the regions, according to SmartAsset.
The findings were then ranked from most expensive to least expensive, with Ann Arbor, Michigan, leading the pack at No. 1.
The costs include childcare, housing, food, transportation and medical costs for the regions, according to SmartAsset.
The San Luis Obispo metro area was one of 10 California metro areas on the list, which included the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro areas.
Elsewhere in the greater Central Coast region, the Santa Cruz-Watsonville metro area was ranked No. 8, the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura was ranked No. 13 and the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara area was listed at No. 18.
In the San Luis Obispo metro area, it costs two working adults $24,700 on average each year to raise a child under 4 years old, according to the SmartAsset study.
Raising just one child in SLO County costs an annual average of $27,287, the study showed, while the annual average cost of raising a second child is $20,142 and a third child costs $24,593 per year on average.
What are the most expensive areas to raise children in United States?
According to Smart Asset, here are the top 20 most expensive places to raise a child in the United States:
Ann Arbor, Michigan
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
Kalamazoo-Portage, Michigan
Barnstable Town, Massachusetts
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts and New Hampshire
Trenton-Princeton, New Jersey
Santa Cruz-Watsonville
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan
Boulder, Colorado
Napa
Santa Rosa-Petaluma
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
Worcester, Massachusetts and Connecticut
New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles
See the full list and the methodology behind the rankings at smartasset.com/data-studies/second-third-child-costs-2023.
How does the cost of living in SLO County impact your family?
The San Luis Obispo Tribune wants to hear from you about how the cost of living in San Luis Obispo County impacts your family. Start by filling out the form below and we may reach out to your for an interview.
