$5K for a baby? More like $500K, some parents say
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Just 4% of adults on the fence about parenthood say a $5,000 incentive would sway them, per a new BabyCenter poll shared with Axios.
Why it matters: The Trump administration has reportedly discussed a $5,000 "baby bonus" to boost birth rates — but that amount doesn't stretch much beyond Day 1 of a newborn's life.
By the numbers: 9% of respondents said it would take at least $10,000 to convince them to have kids, and 30% said it would take more than $25,000 — of the nearly 700 votes cast in a BabyCenter poll.
- 41% — the largest portion — said that cash wouldn't drive their babymaking decisions.
- Caveat: The poll is a live feature enabled for BabyCenter members, most of whom are presumably already parents or expecting. The answers at the time of reporting were fielded from April 25-28.
What they're saying: Paid parental leave and cheaper child care would do more than cash to convince them to have babies, several BabyCenter users commented.
- Some who dismissed $25,000 as too low, suggested it would take $500,000 — or even $1 million — to persuade them to have kids.
- A common sentiment: $5,000 wouldn't cover insurance costs for having a baby in a hospital.
Zoom in: Out-of-pocket payments for pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum health care average almost $3,000, per a KFF analysis.
- And baby-related expenses in the first year cost parents an average of more than $20,000, according to new BabyCenter data.
Zoom out: $310,605 was the cost of raising a child in 2022— not including college tuition — projected by the Brookings Institute using U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
- But that figure doesn't account for the fact that day care and preschool costs are soaring, and that Trump tariffs have hit baby gear.
Between the lines: Indirectly, parents face additional costs.
- For example, child care problems can keep parents out of the workforce, and working moms can receive a "wage penalty."
- And there are physical and mental costs to having kids.
The big picture: The major reason that most adults under 50 say they're unlikely to have children: they just don't want to, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.
- Meanwhile, baby bonuses haven't been successful in other countries. And there's an association between economic hard times and fertility declines, according to other Pew data.
The bottom line: A one-time check isn't the long-term support that many would-be parents say they need.
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