It's never been more expensive to be a parent in America. Across the country's most populous metros, the average cost of raising a child is just under $23,000 a year — or a total of $413,810 up to the age of 18. Depending on which city you live in, though, that figure could be much higher.

Creditnews Research analyzed MIT, Living Wage Institute and government data to find out how much it costs for two working adults to raise a kid in America's 100 most populous metropolitan areas. For each metro, they calculated the income threshold without children, the income threshold with one, two and three children, and the annual and total costs of raising a child.

According to the study, a dual-income household will need a combined yearly income of $64,229 to cover their basic needs without children. The amount of money required jumps to $91,608 for households with one child, $114,898 with two children and $133,197 with three children.

When it comes to raising a child until the age of 18, the country's most affordable metros are Jackson, MS; McAllen, TX; Wichita, KS; El Paso, TX and Lakeland, FL.

Of the ten least affordable metros to raise a kid, half are located in California and are spread across the north and south, including the Bay Area and its surroundings (San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley; San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara) and SoCal regions near the coast (San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad; Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim)

The Greater Boston area (Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH); the larger New York metropolitan area (which includes Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT and New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA); the Denver Metropolitan area (Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO) and Urban Honolulu, HI make up the rest of America's ten most expensive metros for raising a child.

Via Creditnews Research.

[Image credit: Emma Bauso]