The cost of raising a child born in 2011 through age 17 comes to an average $235,000, USA Today reports, citing Department of Agriculture statistics.

The costs include the basics, such as housing, food, clothing, healthcare, child care and schooling.

Perks, such as family vacations, birthday gifts, music lessons, college savings, cost extra.

Editor's Note: An $87,500 Tax Loophole Discovered by Cherry Hill Accountant

Low-income families will spend about $212,000 raising a child, while the highest earners will fork out $490,000.

The $235,000 figure hits hard considering the state of the U.S. economy, which is marked by sluggish growth and stubbornly high unemployment rates.

“It does give some people pause,” Joyce Cavanagh, a family economics specialist and associate professor with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in College Station, told USA Today.

“Every year when this study comes out, there are people who think, ‘Whoa, that’s a lot of money. What are we getting ourselves into?’”

Housing accounts for about 30 percent of the average cost of raising a child, followed by childcare and education at 18 percent and food at 16 percent.

“Because of the economic insecurity of life today, there are some tough trade-offs that families are having to make,” said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute in New York City, USA Today added.

“These aren’t luxury trade-offs, like not getting the fanciest strollers. These are food and ‘who’s going to stay with my child’ issues for so many families.”

The U.S. economy continues to recover from the so-called Great Recession, though the pace of economic expansion has been sluggish since 2009, when the downturn officially ended.

The Commerce Department revised up its third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate to 3.1 percent from original estimates of 2.7 percent.

Economists applauded the data, but added the economy is still not running on all cylinders.

“GDP rose on better consumption, some at the state and local level, so that’s good news,” said David Ader, head of government bond strategy at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Conn., according to Reuters.

“The bad news is investment in equipment and software was revised lower and reflects an ongoing story. Our cautionary note is that the strong impact of inventories and defense in Q3 will extract from Q4.”

Editor's Note: An $87,500 Tax Loophole Discovered by Cherry Hill Accountant