Taking care of a baby costs twice as much than sending them to college18 years later, according to a new study calculating child care expenses in Wyoming.

The Economic Policy Institute estimates the average cost of caring for an infant in the Cowboy State is $887 per month, $10,647 annually. That's more than double the average in-state tuition at the University of Wyoming ($4,443 per year). Wyoming was one of the 33 states in the study where the costs of infant care exceed college tuition.

Child care is also more expensive than housing in the state, where rents average $848 per month, $10,178 annually. For the typical Wyoming family, infant care accounts for 14.9 percent of their annual household income ($71,611). For families with two children, the costs increase to an average of nearly $20,000 per year, almost twice as expensive as housing and over 27 percent of the average household income.

Luckily, children are slightly less expensive as they get older. The study estimates the cost of child care for a four-year-old is just over $9,000 per year, over $1,600 less than caring for an infant.

 

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