Families with children, on average earnings, spend an average of £3,869 more every year on the bare necessities than couples without kids, according to Hargreaves Lansdown.
Over 18 years, assuming 3% inflation, this adds up to £90,590 – and that’s without extras such as toys, days out and mobile phones.
The study found that parents are less likely to have enough cash at the end of the month, sufficient emergency savings, or enough life insurance than non-parents. They’re also more worried about debt.
The calculations use figures from the Hargreaves Lansdown Savings & Resilience Barometer for January 2025.
What are the essentials?
The essentials are defined as those things that meet a basic need – like food and rent, plus things you need to keep living and working – like car maintenance or childcare. They also include things required by law, such as car insurance.
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While some estimates of the cost of children simply add up everything you have to spend on them, HL’s barometer also takes account of the spending sacrifices parents make along the way in order to make ends meet.
Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Having kids may be priceless, but it’s also incredibly expensive. Just the absolute necessities of keeping a roof over their head and food in their stomachs – plus things like childcare for young children – means parents on the average incomes spend £3,869 more a year than those without kids – or a fifth more. Over 18 years that adds up to £90,590.
“The overall bill is far higher when you factor in the things that people want for their kids. Couples with children on average earnings spend £34,596 each year – 35% of which is on the extras. Unfortunately, as a result, parental financial resilience suffers across the board.”
Parents on average incomes
The investment platform’s barometer breaks the figures down to look at parents and non-parents on average incomes.
Parents on incomes of £34,819 – the average in the third quintile – have just £101 left at the end of the month, compared to £163 among non-parents.
Analysts said that parents spend more on the essentials, so they need more left over in order to be considered “resilient”, because they need to be able to absorb the cost of a fluctuation in the price of the bare necessities.
It means parents on average incomes are far less likely to have enough cash left over at the end of the month as non-parents (10% vs 38%).
Parents also have less in savings than the childfree, according to the barometer. The minimum recommended for your emergency savings fund is enough cash to cover three months’ worth of essential spending. Parents on average incomes are around half as likely to have enough in savings as non-parents (38% vs 74%).
Single parents
The finances are much tighter for single parents than for those in a couple. When you compare all single parents to all couples with children, they are worse off across the board.
Only 48% of couples with children have enough cash left at the end of the month, compared to 59% of those without. However, this falls to 16% for single parents and 27% for single people living on their own.
Meanwhile, 68% of couples with kids have enough emergency savings, compared to 84% of couples without. This drops to 54% among single people, and 32% among single parents.