the true cost of raising a child in Australia 2026
last updated: march 2026
michael churburgher is a financial planner and father of three from Sydney. he writes about family budgets, tax strategies, and getting the most out of government benefits for mini mode.
every news article about the cost of kids quotes the same AIFS figure — somewhere between $170,000 and $300,000 per child. the research behind that number is more than a decade old. childcare, rent, groceries and private school fees have all moved significantly since then.
when i rebuild the numbers with 2026 prices for clients, the realistic range lands at $300,000-$500,000 per child over 18 years, before university, before a car, and before any help you might give them into their twenties.
here's the breakdown by age band, the line items behind each figure, and what government payments actually claw back.
cost by age band
costs are not smooth across childhood. they spike hard in the daycare years, drop through primary school, then spike again as teenagers eat like adults, carry phones, and join activities priced at adult rates.
| age band | annual range | band total |
|---|---|---|
| 0-2 (nappies, formula, childcare) | $18,000 - $28,000 | $54,000 - $84,000 |
| 3-5 (childcare, kindy) | $15,000 - $25,000 | $45,000 - $75,000 |
| 6-12 (primary school, OSHC, sport) | $10,000 - $18,000 | $70,000 - $126,000 |
| 13-17 (high school, phone, food, activities) | $15,000 - $25,000 | $75,000 - $125,000 |
| total 0-17 | — | $244,000 - $410,000 |
| 18+ (uni support, car, first home help — optional) | highly variable | $50,000 - $150,000+ |
the lower bound assumes public school, public health, one modest extracurricular at a time, and hand-me-downs for siblings. the upper bound assumes a Sydney or Melbourne centre at $170/day, private health with extras, a mid-tier independent high school, and two activities per term.
full line-item breakdown
this is where the band totals come from. it's a single child, middle-of-the-range Sydney family, no private school but with private health.
| line item | total 0-17 |
|---|---|
| childcare 0-5 (net of CCS, 4 days/week) | $55,000 |
| food and groceries (share of household) | $54,000 |
| clothing and shoes | $12,000 |
| housing share (extra bedroom, utilities) | $60,000 |
| transport (car seat, extra vehicle share, school run) | $18,000 |
| private health family loading | $22,000 |
| out-of-pocket medical, dental, orthodontic | $14,000 |
| school fees (public), uniforms, books, excursions | $18,000 |
| OSHC and vacation care (primary years) | $14,000 |
| sport, music, tutoring, extracurriculars | $24,000 |
| phones, tech, devices (13+) | $7,000 |
| birthdays, holidays, gifts, pocket money | $16,000 |
| total before offsets | $314,000 |
swap public school for a $25,000/year independent high school and you add roughly $150,000 over 6 years. swap Sydney for a regional town and you strip out $40,000-$60,000 in childcare and housing share. the range is wide because family choices drive it.
what government payments offset
four payments do most of the heavy lifting:
- Child Care Subsidy. 90% down to around 50% for incomes under $530,000. for a typical middle-income family using 4 days of care from age 1-5, CCS is worth roughly $40,000-$60,000 total per child
- Family Tax Benefit Part A. $222.04/fortnight per child under 13, $288.82/fortnight for 13-15, tapering above $65,189 combined income. an eligible family gets $50,000+ per child across 17 years
- Family Tax Benefit Part B. up to $188.86/fortnight for families with a low second earner. worth around $20,000 total for a family where one parent stays home with kids under 5
- Medicare and the PBS. GP visits, hospital births, immunisations, most scripts. hard to value precisely but easily $15,000-$25,000 of avoided private costs per child
stacked, the government offsets sit between $30,000 on a high-income family with minimal CCS and FTB, and $150,000+ on a lower-income family using full CCS and full FTB A and B. for a median middle-income family, $60,000-$90,000 per child is the right working estimate.
| family income band | total offsets per child | net cost 0-17 |
|---|---|---|
| under $85,000 | $120,000 - $160,000 | $180,000 - $250,000 |
| $85,000 - $180,000 | $60,000 - $90,000 | $220,000 - $320,000 |
| over $180,000 | $30,000 - $55,000 | $280,000 - $400,000+ |
the two-child discount
the second child is almost always cheaper than the first, but not by as much as people assume. hand-me-downs work brilliantly for clothes, cots, prams and car seats — call it a $3,000-$5,000 saving in year one. the variable costs that scale linearly don't budge: daycare fees, food, school fees, phones, activities.
realistic rule of thumb: the second child costs about 65-80% of the first. the third drops another few percent as you stop replacing things entirely. a family with three kids typically lands at 2.4-2.7 times the cost of one child, not three times.
government payments also scale well for larger families — FTB Part A is per child, and CCS has a higher subsidy rate for second and subsequent children under 5 in care at the same time. that rebate can be worth $30-$50 per day per child, which adds up fast.
frequently asked questions
how much does it cost to raise a child in Australia in 2026?
a realistic pre-offset figure is $300,000-$500,000 per child over 18 years. government payments knock $30,000-$150,000 off depending on your income band.
is the old AIFS $170,000 figure still accurate?
no. the research is over a decade old and pre-dates the recent run-up in childcare, rent, groceries and school fees. a 2026-aligned figure is closer to $300,000-$500,000 before university.
do government payments cover the cost of children?
they offset a meaningful chunk but not most of it. for a median middle-income family, CCS, FTB A, FTB B and Medicare together return $60,000-$90,000 per child — roughly 15-25% of the total.
how much cheaper is the second child?
typically 20-35% cheaper than the first. hand-me-downs help with setup but daycare, food and school fees scale linearly. a three-child family usually costs 2.4-2.7 times the first child, not three times.
work out your own number
the calculators will give you your CCS percentage, FTB entitlements, and projected out-of-pocket childcare costs. plug those into the table above to replace the generic ranges with your family's actual numbers.