How the family budget works
Every person you add gets a grocery cost from the USDA food plan for their age, and sex when you give it. Teenage boys eat more than toddlers, and the numbers show it. USDA's household-size adjustment is applied next: food costs a single person more per head than it costs a family of five. Then the total is scaled by your state's price level for goods.
Housing uses the 2024 Census median gross rent, which already includes utilities. It is scaled by your state's rent index from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and by bedroom count. In West Virginia rents run about half the national level, and in California about 50% above it. That difference swings a family budget more than anything else.
If you live outside the U.S.
The starting data is American. If you choose another currency, the estimates are converted at the day's exchange rate, but they still reflect U.S. prices. Use them as a guide and put your real figures in the Excel workbook, where every line can be changed.
What to adjust
- Transportation assumes typical spending per driver, including a car payment. Lower it if your cars are paid off.
- Health care is a rough premium plus out-of-pocket figure by age. Employer coverage varies widely.
- Childcare uses the 2025 national average price of about $1,100 a month per child. Local prices can be double that.
State figures are averages. A city apartment and a rural house in the same state can differ by more than the gap between states.