A new national study has revealed it now costs about $70 less to raise a child in the San Antonio area than it did last year.

SmartAsset’s report “Cost of Raising a Child in Major U.S. Metros – 2025 Study” compared data from MIT’s Living Wage Calculator to determine the annual costs for raising a child in 2024 and 2025 across the 48 biggest metropolitan areas in the U.S. Factors that contributed to each metro’s total included the cost for childcare, additional housing costs, food, transportation, medical costs, and “other necessities.”

In 2025, it will cost $20,945 annually to raise a child in the San Antonio-New Braunfels region, the report found. That amount has decreased 0.33 percent since 2024, when childrearing in the San Antonio area cost $21,014 a year.

San Antonio has the lowest annual child-raising costs out of the four biggest Texas metros, and it ranked as the fifth most affordable U.S. city for raising a child (No. 44 out of 48 cities).

This is how much it costs to raise a child in San Antonio, according to SmartAsset:

  • Cost of childcare: $9,123
  • Housing costs: $3,232
  • Food costs: $1,644
  • Medical costs: $2,590
  • Transportation costs: $3,090
  • Civic costs: $474
  • Other costs: $791

“The cost of raising a child can change quickly, making it important for budding families to keep an eye on trends in their locale,” the report says. “Between 2024 and 2025 alone, the average projected annual cost of raising a small child changed by a range of -15 percent to +22 percent, depending on the metro area.”

Although basic necessities were the main concern of the SmartAsset study, San Antonio has long had a reputation as one of the nation’s most family-friendly cities, often ranking in the top 10 on national reports. Part of that equation is a city commitment to public recreational spaces, like the splash pads at Pearl and Yanaguana Garden at Hemisfair. San Antonio also has an abundance of free kid-friendly activities that can help ease financial strain.

Costs for raising a child in other Texas metros
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is – unsurprisingly – the most expensive Texas metro for raising a child, with costs surging nearly eight percent from 2024. It now costs $24,188 to raise a child in the Austin area, compared to $22,406 the year before.

Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ranked as the eighth most affordable U.S. city for raising a child, even though its childrearing costs increased 2.21 percent year-over-year. It now costs $21,868 annually to a raise a child in the Houston area.

This is how SmartAsset broke down costs for raising a child in Houston:

  • Cost of childcare: $9,807
  • Housing costs: $2,923
  • Food costs: $1,715
  • Medical costs: $3,074
  • Transportation costs: $3,082
  • Civic costs: $474
  • Other costs: $791

Raising a child in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington now costs $22,337 per year, which is only $411 more than it did in 2024. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts led the nation with the highest annual cost for raising a child, totaling more than $39,000, up from $37,758 in 2024.