As residents and natives, we’ve probably all realized the financial sacrifice required to live in Westchester. From the burdensome taxes ($15,589 for the average homeowner) to exorbitant gas prices—we’ve all made the trek out-of-county to save those 20 cents—it can be tough making a home here. And now MarketWatch has made it apparent just how expensive an endeavor that can be. According to the finance website’s latest assessment (based on criteria established by the Economic Policy Institute, or EPI), Westchester is distinguished as the third-costliest locale to raise a family in the U.S., even edging out those notoriously expensive boroughs to our south. (Though we’re not alone, as a chunk of the Hudson Valley at-large made the top 10 as well.)
Per MarketWatch, the average annual expense of raising a typical family (two parents and two children, by their definition) from Rye to Salem and in between comes to just shy of six figures at $99,592. Lest you think this number’s skewed by reflecting middle-class moms and dads supporting coddled children, Elise Gould, an EPI senior economist, clarifies in the report referenced for MarketWatch’s article (which she co-authored) that, “This does not mean a middle-class lifestyle. This is just living, no savings.” But can anyone really put a price on having yearly access to all this?