How much does it cost to have a baby?

If you’re planning to welcome a baby into your life, you’re probably finding this question tough to answer. I know my husband and I did before we had our first last year. To get there, you might feel you have to first answer about a million other questions.

Should I choose daycare or a nanny? Should one of us stay home with the baby?

These decisions can’t always be made with just your wallet or your heart. It takes a mix of both to get there.

Our new baby cost calculator will help you understand not just how much it costs to have a baby, but how much it costs to have YOUR baby.

How Much Does a Baby Cost? The Big Question

Calculating the cost of your new baby while factoring in changes in your take-home pay and daycare costs is so tough. This is where PerkStreet’s baby cost calculator comes in.

By factoring in daycare costs in your area, this calculator will help you estimate the impacts of one of your most difficult decisions: Work more and pay for more daycare, or work less and pay for less daycare.

All you have to do is enter your salary, expenses, and zipcode. The calculator does the hard work, showing you the costs you’ll incur and the wages you’ll lose by working less.

The tool assumes you already have weekends or two other days off each week. Play with the number of days you stay home during the week and the number of days you hire a nanny or pay for daycare.

By testing different scenarios, you should be able to find your ideal mix of working and staying at home, financially speaking.

Understanding the financial impacts of your baby is just the tip of the iceberg.

Enter your email after you run the calculator to receive customized reports with quality-of-life impacts, plus tips on saving money in places you’re spending too much.

Ready to get started? Build a plan now, or share this with someone who’s expanding their family!