If you’ve ever wondered how much it costs to raise a family these days, government statistics provide the answer: $2.7 million on average.

That’s according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which surveys people on how much they make and spend every year. The Consumer Expenditure Survey for 2022, released last year, shows that families of four spent $123,106 from soup to nuts. Multiply that by 22, and you get a rough idea of how much money you and a partner will spend if you raise two kids from birth to financial independence at age 22—$2.7 million in 2022 dollars.

Here’s what that looks like, and how income and spending break down into broad categories:

The big picture

The CES is considered the “gold standard” for measuring how much consumers spend and on what, because it’s so detailed and thoroughly researched. To gather the data, the bureau surveys 20,000 people and has 11,000 more keep spending diaries tracking every single thing they buy, from socks to cartons of milk to bus tickets, down to the penny.

There are a few things to keep in mind about this data. For one, it’s the simple mean average, so it could be skewed upward by the inclusion of especially high-earning and big-spending families in the surveys. Census Bureau data shows that the median family of four had $113,000 in income in 2022, whereas the mean average income reported by the CES for that size family is $139,902. 

The median average, as opposed to the mean, is the point at which half of people are higher and half lower, so it’s a better indicator of the typical experience. The BLS does not make mean average data available for the CES.

Here’s how each major spending category breaks down:

Housing

By far the largest expenditure you’ll make is the $811,734 to keep a roof over your head. The CES housing cost figure is the estimate for both renters and buyers averaged together, so your individual experience will be different—if you rent your home over that timespan, you’ll likely spend more than the above figure on rent and $0 on a mortgage, and vice versa if you’re a homeowner. 

The “other lodging” category includes things like hotel rooms and dorms. 

Transportation

Gas and motor oil alone guzzles up $98,274 of the average family budget over 22 years, to say nothing of the cost of buying vehicles. 

Note that the cost of new and used cars and trucks doesn’t quite add up to the total vehicle purchasing cost—families spend some amount on other types of vehicles, but the bureau didn’t get enough accurate data to say exactly how much is shelled out on motorcycles, jet skis, and the like. 

Food

Families spend more than a quarter-million dollars on food during the time they’re a four-person operation. Outside of the catch-all “miscellaneous foods” category that includes things like potato chips and frozen dinners, bakery products like bread and crackers take up the largest share of the family grocery budget.

The restaurant category includes any food bought away from home: everything from vending machines, to bar mitzvah catering to stadium hot dogs. (The BLS calls this category "food away from home.")

Healthcare

Unsurprisingly, health insurance premiums take up the lion’s share of the family healthcare budget. Missing from this chart is the cost of prescription and nonprescription drugs, which the bureau couldn’t accurately gauge for four-person families. For most, however, it’s a comparatively small budget item. By comparison, households of five or more spent $479 a year on average for drugs. 

Entertainment

Dog food, pinball machines, and Taylor Swift tickets are all accounted for here. It will cost $104,544 to keep everyone entertained, on average.

Clothing

You’ll spend an average of $75,284 on clothes and shoes. Women’s and girls’ clothing costs the most, at $25,916 versus $19,074 for the men and boys of the family.

Retirement savings

This includes contributions to pensions, Social Security, 401ks, as well as life insurance and other personal insurance policies, all expenses related to preparing for retirement or passing on wealth to the next generation.

Everything, all at once

Here it is all laid out at once. You may have to open this image in a new tab and zoom in to read the labels.

Even in a survey this detailed, there are still a few broad spending categories listed. “Personal care products and services” are things like soap and toothpaste. “Education” is everything from kindergarten tuition to college textbooks. “Cash contributions” include church tithes, charitable donations, and cash sent to relatives.

Individual experiences in some categories will likely be far higher or lower than the average: non-smokers won’t spend a dime on tobacco products, while smokers will likely puff away far more than the average amount given, for example.

If you squint, you can see the smallest category of all: reading materials, including books and newspaper subscriptions, which take up just $2,860 of the budget over 22 years.