Californians have to work harder than 48 other states to afford a stay-at-home parent

California parents will have to work harder than almost every other America in order to raise a family on just one income.

That’s according to a new, national study from SmartAsset — which ranks the Golden State second from the bottom of a nationwide list revealing the salaries a single-income household would need in order to afford the luxury of having their partner stay home.

Californians would need to make at least $101,213 a year to support a partner that stays at home — and just one child. That number does not include any allowance for paid childcare.

Two working parents would need to earn $61,194 each to raise one child in the state.

Only Hawaii was more expensive. There, a working partner would need to make a minimum of $106,496.

California and Hawaii were the only two states to cross the $100,000-per-household mark.

West Coast states Washington and Oregon also cracked top 10 on the list — with incomes of $90,106 and $88,899 needed respectively.

New York came in at fourth on the list, with $94,827 needed to raise a child on one income.

Looking for maximum affordability? Arkansas is the best state for single-income families, the report showed — with a salary of just $68,869 needed to support a family of three.

Estimates show that now costs roughly $300,000 to raise a child in the U.S., from birth to the age of 18.

That’s a nearly 30% jump over the past three years, according to analysis from LendingTree.

Despite the high price, one-fifth of U.S. families still have one, non-working parent in the household.

That number that has stayed stable for decades, according to the Pew Research Center.

But there’s nothing stable about the cost of living in California.

Another SmartAsset study from earlier in 2026 revealed the staggering amounts Californians say they would need to live comfortably in the state’s major cities.

In San Francisco, a family of four would need to earn $408,000 per year to live comfortably, topping the list nationwide.

Two other California cities made up the top three. San Jose came in second at $403,000, while Oakland ranked third with $371,000.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Irvine also cracked the top 10, with a salary of $327,000 needed to live comfortably.

In contrast, the median household income for a US family of four is just $124,999 — making a comfortable life in California a pipe dream for most Americans.