Is it cheaper to raise a child in Europe? For a USD 150,000 family, yes in Berlin, Stockholm and Amsterdam, and London depends on where you left
By Skyler Bissell · September 10, 2026 · 10 min read
Two children, aged three and seven, cost a USD 150,000 household $47,108 a year in Seattle on the two bills that exist because of them, childcare and the family's own health spending, and the household gets $4,400 of that back as a tax credit. The same two children in Berlin, in the same household restated at €138,000, cost €2,060 (about $2,309) and bring in €6,216 of Kindergeld, so the German state ends the year ahead of the family on the children's ledger. So yes, for this family, in Berlin, Stockholm and Amsterdam, by a margin the tax line does not close. London's modeled childcare and health bill is also lower than all three American cities here, though its saving is smaller than Berlin's or Stockholm's.
The kid bill, as this page uses the term, is the three lines in a household budget that exist because of the children: childcare (a full-time place for the three-year-old and after-school care for the seven-year-old), the household's own health spending (the premiums the family pays itself, realized out-of-pocket costs and dental cover, on top of whatever the tax line already funds), and child benefit running the other way (cash or a tax credit paid per child). It leaves out the larger home, food, clothes, paid parental leave and university, and the page says why.
TL;DR
- The two bills swing $44,799 a year toward Berlin for this family, and Berlin's child benefit adds $2,569 on top of that. The seven-city ledger.
- Taxes run the other way, and the Berlin household keeps $24,672 less than the Seattle one before a single bill is paid. The children's bills are larger than that gap. What the tax line takes back.
- London prices childcare the way Seattle does and pays this household £701 a year in child benefit once the High Income Child Benefit Charge has taken its 70%, so it lands nearer the American cities than the European ones. Why London is the exception.
The kid bill in seven cities, for one household
Everything on this page prices one family. Two earners splitting a USD 150,000 household income at a 100/60 ratio, a three-year-old in full-time care and a seven-year-old at school with after-school care, a two-bedroom rental, 6% of pay going into retirement. Abroad the same household income is restated in local currency at the ratio our engine uses for this household: €138,000 in Berlin and Amsterdam, £118,501 in London, SEK 1,575,000 in Stockholm. That is a household a reader recognises in every city on the list, which is why the page runs USD 150,000 rather than the USD 280,000 household our published family comparison pages use; a figure that reads as ordinary in Seattle is a top-percentile household in Berlin, and a table built on one stops describing anybody.
The cities are the seven our engine already prices for this exact household, and none was chosen for the answer it gives. One caveat on the restatement before the table: at current exchange rates the European incomes convert to a little more than USD 150,000 ($154,709 for the Berlin household, $158,610 for Stockholm), which flatters the European take-home lines below by that much. The rates are the cleaner comparison. Income also affects childcare help, so the children's lines use each city's stated household income.
| City and household income | Childcare, two kids | Household health spending | Child benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle, $150,000 | $32,280 | $14,828 | $4,400 in tax credits |
| New York, $150,000 | $38,400 | $14,828 | $4,400 in tax credits |
| Austin, $150,000 | $18,300 | $12,885 | $4,400 in tax credits |
| Berlin, €138,000 | €720 ($807) | €1,340 ($1,502) | €6,216 ($6,969) Kindergeld |
| Amsterdam, €138,000 | €12,549 ($14,069) | €5,020 ($5,628) | €2,388 ($2,677) kinderbijslag |
| Stockholm, SEK 1,575,000 | SEK 30,936 ($3,115) | SEK 12,000 ($1,208) | SEK 30,000 ($3,021) barnbidrag |
| London, £118,501 | £16,525 ($22,093) | £1,620 ($2,166) | £701 after the charge |
Engine figures for the household described above, at current exchange rates. Childcare is a full-time place for the three-year-old plus after-school care for the seven-year-old, net of any subsidy the household qualifies for at this income. Health is the household-paid side only: employee premium share, realized out-of-pocket costs and dental cover. The American benefit is the Child Tax Credit; the European ones are monthly cash.
Read the table by column. Childcare is the line that does the work. Berlin abolished Kita fees in August 2018, per the Berlin Senate, so the family pays food money and nothing else. Stockholm charges the Skolverket maxtaxa, a fee capped by law as a share of income. Amsterdam bills a market price and refunds most of it through kinderopvangtoeslag, which is why the Dutch figure is the largest of the three European ones and still sits under Austin's, the cheapest American city on the list. London is the odd one out, and gets its own section. The American figures are market rates, from the US Department of Labor's National Database of Childcare Prices for Seattle and Austin and from New York listings, with no subsidy left to net out at this income: Seattle's Child Care Assistance Program, to take the one we have checked against the city's own guidelines, stops at USD 153,244 for a family of four, and this household sits just under that line, so it may qualify for help our engine does not assume. The figure above is the market rate, and the engine notes the possible help beside it rather than netting it out.
The health column looks lopsided because it is measuring two different things, and the lopsidedness is the point. KFF's 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey puts the average employer family premium at USD 26,993 a year with the worker paying USD 6,850 of it, and deductibles, copays and dental come on top, which is how the American household's line reaches $14,828 in Seattle. The European lines are extras: children are covered free, the adults' cover is funded from the payroll contribution that already sits inside the tax rate, and what is left is the Dutch nominal premium for two adults, a Swedish visit fee or two, and dental. The place where the payroll contribution is counted is the tax line, which is why the next section is on this page rather than left to a footnote.
The benefit column decides less than people expect, and the gap between a credit and a benefit is one of design before it is one of size, set out in does the US have child benefit. Germany's Kindergeld is EUR 259 a month per child from 1 January 2026 and is paid regardless of income, per the federal family ministry, which is how Berlin's €6,216 arrives. Sweden's barnbidrag is SEK 1,250 a month per child, per Försäkringskassan. The Dutch kinderbijslag is paid quarterly by the SVB at a rate that rises with the child's age. The American Child Tax Credit is USD 2,200 per qualifying child, per the IRS, with the full amount available to a married couple filing jointly on up to USD 400,000, so this family gets all of it. Converted to dollars, Stockholm's and Amsterdam's benefits are smaller than the American credit: Seattle is $1,379 ahead of Stockholm and $1,723 ahead of Amsterdam on this column alone. Only Berlin's benefit is larger, by $2,569. The country-by-country spread is in child benefit by country.
Put the columns together and the swing on the two bills is $44,799 a year toward Berlin, $42,784 toward Stockholm, $27,412 toward Amsterdam and $22,849 toward London, measured from Seattle. From New York every one of those numbers is larger, because New York's childcare is dearer than Seattle's; from Austin every saving is smaller, and London's two bills are still about $6,598 lower.
What the tax line takes back
A childcare post that stops at the childcare line is a sales pitch. This household's effective tax rate, income tax plus mandatory employee contributions over gross, is 17.2% in Seattle, 22.7% in New York and 15.8% in Austin. In Berlin it is 35.7%, in Amsterdam 26.7%, in Stockholm 27.3%, and in London 22.9%. The European figures already contain the health contribution, which is why the health column above is small there, and the American figures do not, which is why the family's premium share sits in the health column instead. Put both on one basis and the gap narrows by roughly half; that arithmetic is the whole of the true tax burden once healthcare is counted, and this page does not repeat it.
In money, before any bill is paid, the Seattle household keeps $124,184 of its gross and the Berlin household keeps €88,765, which is $99,512 at current rates and $24,672 less than Seattle. Set that beside the $44,799 the children cost less in Berlin, and the Berlin family is ahead before a euro of Kindergeld is counted. Stockholm's take-home gap on this household is $8,930, against a childcare and health swing of $42,784. Amsterdam's tax gap is $10,804 against a swing of $27,412. London's take-home is within $2,072 of Seattle's, so in London there is nothing for the tax line to give back or take away.
One more line, because a reader with kids is about to draw a conclusion from the tax table alone. After rent on a two-bedroom, food, getting around (a car in Seattle and Austin, a transit pass elsewhere) and a typical discretionary budget, our engine's net cash line is what the household has left at the end of the year, and it is where rent gets its vote. Seattle runs short by $5,708. Austin leaves $36,776. New York, on this income with two children in care and a two-bedroom at New York rents, runs short by $28,171. Berlin leaves the equivalent of $57,902, Stockholm $58,023, Amsterdam $25,464, and London leaves about $12,087. Rent is doing a large part of that work, and rent is a choice in a way childcare is not, so the line is the context and the children's ledger above is the answer to the question in the title. How those lines change the salary a family needs abroad, set against the salary a single needs for the same move, is in the salary needed to move abroad with kids.
Why London is the exception
London's childcare bill is £16,525, about $22,093. Nurseries are priced by the market, as in the American cities, and the public money arrives as funded hours rather than as a capped fee. The London figure includes the modeled additional funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare for this household: both earners are under £100,000. Fees, provider participation and eligibility still affect an individual family's invoice. Our post on 30 hours free childcare in the UK explains the entitlement.
The benefit column is the second thing. London's child benefit is small for this household because the High Income Child Benefit Charge takes most of it back from the higher earner: per HMRC, the charge is 1% of the benefit for every GBP 200 of income over GBP 60,000, and all of it from GBP 80,000. This household's higher earner is on £74,063, inside the taper rather than above it, so the charge takes 70% and the household keeps £701 a year of the GBP 2,337 two children draw at the current weekly rates of GBP 27.05 for the eldest and GBP 17.90 for the second. Our engine runs the charge on the higher earner's gross pay rather than on adjusted net income, which is the stricter reading and conservative against London by a few hundred pounds. Put the higher earner on GBP 80,000 or more and the household keeps nothing.
After cash child benefits, this household's childcare and health bill is about $23,637 in London, $26,785 in Austin and $42,708 in Seattle. London is cheaper on these lines in all three American comparisons, while Berlin and Stockholm remain cheaper than London.
What the kid bill leaves out
Four things are left out, deliberately, and each would move the verdict further in the same direction rather than reverse it.
- Paid parental leave. The year a child is born, this line dwarfs the other three, and every European city on this page pays it while the American ones default to twelve unpaid weeks. It is priced city by city, at your salary, in the cost of raising kids, the framework this page hangs off, and it is not double-counted here.
- The bigger home. This household rents a two-bedroom in every city, so the extra bedroom a family of four eventually wants is priced nowhere, consistently. Rent differences show up in the net cash line, and they are a location decision as much as a family one.
- The years after seven. School is free in all seven cities, so the childcare line collapses to after-school care and then to nothing. The gap is at its widest in exactly the years this household is in, and it narrows every birthday.
- The waiting list. A free Berlin Kita place is free once you have one, and a Stockholm förskola place arrives on the municipality's timetable rather than on the day you land. The law fixes the price and says nothing about the spot, and a family that bridges with private care for a term pays a bill this page does not show.
Run your own family through it
Your children's ages are the input that moves this answer most, followed by which American city you are leaving and how the household income splits between the two earners. The Seattle to Berlin comparison for a family and the New York to Amsterdam comparison for a family carry the full receipt for their published household, and the calculator behind them takes yours. The three-city ledger for a fixed family, worked invoice by invoice through Seattle, Berlin and Oslo, is in childcare costs, US vs Europe; the rules for collecting the German benefit as a newcomer are in Kindergeld for expats; and the full country spread of the biggest line is in childcare costs by country. The same seven-city family, read from the second earner's side, is in is it worth working after paying for childcare.
FAQ
Which European city is cheapest to raise a child in?
Of the four on this page, Berlin, and by a distance. For the USD 150,000 family the two children's bills come to €2,060 a year (food money at a fee-free Kita and Hort, plus health extras) and Kindergeld pays the household €6,216, so the state is ahead of the family on the children's ledger. Stockholm is next, with the maxtaxa fee almost covered by barnbidrag, then Amsterdam, where the net nursery bill after kinderopvangtoeslag is the largest of the three. London is last among these four European cities, after the modeled working-parent help.
How much does it cost to raise a child in the US per year?
On the two bills this page prices, childcare and the household's own health spending, two children aged 3 and 7 cost a USD 150,000 family $47,108 a year in Seattle, $53,228 in New York and $31,185 in Austin, against which the Child Tax Credit returns $4,400. That excludes the larger home, food, clothes, activities and college, which no two-city comparison prices consistently, so treat it as the floor of the answer rather than the whole of it.
Does the higher European tax cancel out the cheaper childcare?
Not for this family in Berlin, Stockholm or Amsterdam. Berlin's tax leaves the household $24,672 less than Seattle's before any bill is paid, and the children's two bills then cost $44,799 less, so the family is ahead before Kindergeld is counted. In Stockholm and Amsterdam the tax gap on this household is smaller still. London's take-home is close to Seattle's, and its childcare and health bill is lower after the modeled help, so the tax line does not erase that saving.
Why is London so expensive for childcare compared with the rest of Europe?
London nurseries are priced by the market, as in the American cities, and the public money arrives as funded hours rather than as a capped fee. The London figure includes the modeled additional funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare for this household: both earners are under £100,000. Its childcare bill is £16,525. Fees, provider participation and eligibility still affect an individual family's invoice. Our post on 30 hours free childcare in the UK explains the entitlement.
Sources. US family health costs: KFF, 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey (family premium USD 26,993, worker share USD 6,850), with realized out-of-pocket spending from the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. The US credit: IRS, Child Tax Credit. Germany: the fee abolition and lunch share from the Berlin Senate, Kostenbeteiligung, and Kindergeld from the federal family ministry (BMFSFJ). Sweden: Försäkringskassan, barnbidrag, and the maxtaxa as published by Skolverket. Netherlands: kinderbijslag amounts as published by the SVB, and kinderopvangtoeslag from the Belastingdienst tables. United Kingdom: HMRC, High Income Child Benefit Charge and the Child Benefit rates on gov.uk; London childcare rates from Coram's Family and Childcare Survey. US childcare prices: the US Department of Labor's National Database of Childcare Prices for Seattle and Austin; New York's market rate is from Care.com listings, which is crowdsourced and marked as such. Pages retrieved 10 September 2026 where linked; the rest are the authorities recorded per field in data/_meta.json. Every computed figure is from cityparity's engine, and our price lines split between official and crowdsourced sources as described in the methodology.
Figures here come from cityparity's per-city engine and were current at publication; caps, benefit amounts and exchange rates move, so treat any single number as a strong estimate and run your own inputs. See the methodology.