How much should you earn in the United States to afford children

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Sociologists long ago derived a pattern: as the level of education of women and their income level grows, the number of children among them decreases.

But in the last 30 years, this trend in the US is working exactly the opposite, writes The quartz.

Women with incomes above the average have more children than it was 20 years ago. The richest have more children than less well-off women.

According to the 2011-2015 census, less than 28% of women aged 40 to 45 years with a household income below 500 000 dollars per year have three or more children, while for families with income more than 500 000 dollars per year, this figure is 31,3%.

Money has always given rich people the opportunity to pay for things that make life easier for large families: child care, a big house, and household help. The ability to have as many children as you want, to provide them with rich opportunities (at the same time building their own career and interests) is an excellent incentive.

But a deeper assessment shows that the increase in the number of families in the upper part is built on reducing the possibility of having children for those who are on the lower rungs of the income ladder.

The growth of incomes and the level of education led to a decrease in the birth rate precisely because they increased the opportunity costs of having a child. Women lost career prospects in favor of the family, so they had fewer children and invested more in those who had already given birth.

However, according to the analysis of American trends conducted by the British Center for Economic Policy Research, in recent decades, the incomes of rich people have grown much faster than the incomes of the poor, so it has become much easier for rich people to hire low-paid employees to help them take care of children.

American families belonging to the richest 25 have spent much more on childcare since 1990 than they did 10 before, while low-income citizens generally did not use such services, preferring instead to leave children with relatives and neighbors.

It's part of a broader trend among wealthy families to invest increasing amounts of time and money into their children's education and development.

The researchers concluded that in 1990, a woman with a higher level of education was more than twice as likely to have no children as compared to a less educated one. Today, well-educated women tend to be mothers just like everyone else. As income inequality made it easier and cheaper for rich women to hire the poor for homework and child care.

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