Should We Have Kids? The Real Costs of Becoming a Parent in Canada

Statistics Canada worked out what Canadian families spend raising a child, and for a middle-income couple with two kids it came to about $293,000 per child from birth to age 17. That's around $17,200 a year, and it's in 2017 dollars, so today's figure is higher.

Income changes that number a lot. Higher-income couples spent about $404,000 per child. Lower-income couples spent about $238,000. Kids don't come with a fixed price tag. Families spend in line with what they have, and children grow up happy on every one of those budgets.

The better questions are what the first year does to your income, how much help you'll get, and which costs you can plan for now.

Whether to have kids at all

The money question almost never decides this on its own, and it shouldn't have to. Some people know they want kids and work the budget around it. Some people know they don't, and that's a complete answer that doesn't need a spreadsheet. Plenty of people are somewhere in between and want to see the numbers before they decide, which is a sensible way to go about it.

The first year: your pay drops more than your costs rise

New parents tend to budget for diapers, a crib and a car seat. The bigger change is usually the smaller paycheque.

Outside Quebec, parental leave pay comes from Employment Insurance (EI). You get 55% of your average weekly earnings, up to a maximum of $729 a week in 2026. Say you earn $80,000 a year. That's about $6,667 a month before tax. On EI, it's about $3,159 a month, and EI is taxed too.

Most people get a bit over half their pay, capped at $729 a week, for about a year. How long it lasts depends on what you choose:

The extended option spreads roughly the same money over a longer stretch, so the monthly cheque is smaller. Sharing the leave between two parents unlocks the extra weeks. Quebec runs its own plan, the Québec Parental Insurance Plan, with different rates and weeks.

Before anyone is pregnant, check whether your employer tops up EI (some cover part of the gap for the first weeks or months), and how much of the leave you can afford on that. Run your budget with one income at EI rates in Canooq's monthly budget planner. If it works for a few months, you have room to choose. If it doesn't, you know what to save before the baby arrives.

The government sends money every month

The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is a tax-free monthly payment for each child under 18. From July 2026 to June 2027, the maximum is $8,157 a year for a child under 6, about $680 a month, and $6,883 for a child aged 6 to 17. It shrinks as family income rises above about $38,000, but most families get something, and lower-income families get close to the full amount. In most provinces you can apply when you register the birth. The CCB payment dates are on Canooq.

At today's maximum rates, the CCB would add up to about $131,500 over a child's first 18 years. Most families get less than the maximum, but it's still money a lot of people forget to count when they ask whether they can afford a kid.

Child care is the big bill, and it's getting smaller

Once leave ends, child care is often the largest single cost, and it depends heavily on where you live. The federal and provincial governments are working toward regulated child care that costs an average of $10 a day. By early 2025, eight provinces and territories, including Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec and P.E.I., were at $10 a day or less on average, and the rest had cut fees by at least half.

Getting a spot is harder. Waitlists for licensed care can be long, so many parents put their names down during pregnancy. Grandparents, a nanny share or staggered work schedules fill the gap for a lot of families, and each option has a very different price.

Space, a car and all the stuff

Statistics Canada found that housing is the biggest cost of raising a child, about a quarter to a third of the total. That's the extra bedroom, or the bigger place you move to when the second kid arrives. Transportation and food come next.

The baby gear itself is the easy part. Babies outgrow clothes in weeks and need a car seat, somewhere to sleep, and something to get around in. Hand-me-downs, buy-and-sell groups and baby showers cover a lot of it. Buy the car seat new, because you can't know a used one's history. Most other things are fine second-hand.

Getting there can cost money too

Not everyone's path to parenthood starts with a positive test. Fertility treatment, surrogacy and adoption can cost a lot, and support varies by province.

Ontario, for example, funds one IVF cycle per patient under 43 through the Ontario Fertility Program, though fertility drugs (often around $5,000 a cycle), genetic testing and storage aren't covered. Since 2025, Ontario also has a fertility treatment tax credit that pays back 25% of eligible fertility and surrogacy costs, up to $5,000 a year. Other provinces have their own programs, so check yours before you budget for the full price.

Free money for their education

Open a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) and the government adds 20% to what you put in, up to $500 a year per child (on $2,500 of savings), and up to $7,200 over the child's life. Lower-income families can also get the Canada Learning Bond, up to $2,000 with no contribution needed. Grandparents can contribute too, which is a lovely gift that earns its own grant. The RESP calculator shows what regular contributions could grow to.

The paperwork that protects them

Two things move to the top of the list once there's a baby, and neither is fun. You'll want a will that names a guardian, so a judge doesn't have to decide who raises your child if something happens to you. You'll also want enough life insurance that the other parent could keep the house and the routine going. Term life insurance is usually cheapest when you're young and healthy, so it's worth getting quotes early.

How to tell whether the numbers work

Waiting until every number is perfect can mean waiting a long time, and tight is normal for new parents. If you can cover housing and the basics on one income at EI rates for the leave you want, you have a workable plan. The rest (strollers, swimming lessons, the second-hand snowsuit) bends to fit.