Community Corner
It's More Expensive to Have a Baby in Santa Cruz than in New York City
At $38,000 a year, Santa Cruz is the second-most expensive place in the country to have a baby. What about Pacifica?
Written by Brad Kava
The prices of housing, childcare, food, medical treatment, utilities...and of course Toys R Us, makes Santa Cruz the second-most expensive city in the country to raise a child.
A study released by the realtor website Redfin.com ranked the city of 59,000 at number two in the nation, just behind San Jose. Estimates showed that it costs $41,600 for the first year of a baby's life in San Jose and $38,800 in Santa Cruz.
That includes such things as an extra bedroom, which in San Jose was valued at $225,000 or $20,000 a year in mortgage payments on a 30-year fixed 4.5 percent loan.
New York, third on the list, costs 36,700 a year for a kid. The average in the U.S. is $26,000. The lowest-ranked city in the Top 40 was Atlanta, at $18,500.
In Santa Cruz, families on the average spend $19,700 for housing a new addition to the family; $9,900 for childcare; $5,600 for baby items, including; $3,000 for healthcare and $600 for utilities.
To read the complete report, click here. First year surf lessons or the private New York college preparatory schools for baby's first year were not factored in.
Seven of the most expensive cities were in California, including San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Rosa, Oxnard and Los Angeles, as well as San Jose and Santa Cruz. Rounding out the Top 10 were Boston, NYC and Washington, D.C.
What's been the most expensive part of raising a kid in Pacifica for you?
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