The cost of family living continues to increase, not just in the United States but across the globe.
According to the Global Family Inflation Index 2025, released by Remitly Global Inc., a digital financial services company, the cost of raising a family in the U.S. could reach more than $82,000 per year in the next decade, which would make it the most expensive place to live. It’s currently ranked 13th.
The study looked at global inflation in several key areas, including annual child care expenses, health care and rent.
Over the past 10 years, Hungary has seen the largest increase in essential services for families at 110%, followed by Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Greece and the U.S. at 48%.
Then the study considered if expenses in those three key areas continued to increase at the same rate, where each country would be in 2035.
In the U.S., the cost of raising a family has risen from $37,682 in 2012 to $55,749 now. At that pace, the U.S. figure could reach $82,476 by 2035.
Among countries studied, Ireland, on pace for the quickest rise among the top three at 77%, will closely trail the U.S. at $81,165, followed by Switzerland at $70,661, Netherlands at $54,185 and Canada at $52,247.
The rise in cost in the U.S. is based on child care and health care.
Child care in the U.S. is projected to be $11,398 by 2035, behind only Australia as the highest globally. The U.S. also is set to lead the world in health care spending at $12,832 per person.
The rental prices used in the study came from Numbeo, a global cost of living database that ranks New York City as the most expensive city to live in. Child care statistics came through the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, while health care costs came from the World Bank.