Back-to-school shopping used to just sting a little.
This year it’s hitting different.
I watched parents in stores this week doing something different — checking prices on phones, comparing across three stores before buying. Nobody was doing that last year.
Parents across the US are now spending an average of $489 per child on school supplies, clothes, and shoes. That’s up from $437 last year.
This isn’t a small bump. That’s an 11.7% jump in one year.
Regular inflation right now is only around 4%. So something else is pushing these prices up faster.
How This Compares to Past Years
Back-to-school spending has gone up before, but not usually like this. Most years, back-to-school spending climbs a little because of normal inflation — a few dollars more on notebooks, a little more on sneakers. An 11.7% jump in a single year is a different animal. To put it in perspective, back-to-school spending rose only about 3-5% in each of the two years before this one, based on the same kind of retail surveys. Something changed this year that wasn’t changing before, and that’s exactly why so many parents felt blindsided at the checkout line instead of just mildly annoyed.
Have you noticed prices climbing faster than usual lately, even outside of school shopping?
What’s Really Going On
A lot of it comes down to tariffs — taxes on goods brought in from other countries. Average tariff rates right now sit at 10-13%. That’s the highest they’ve been since the 1940s.
When I realized tariffs were the culprit, it stopped being about “I’m bad at budgeting” and became about something completely out of my control. That’s a different kind of frustrating.
Clothes, shoes, and electronics are some of the categories getting hit the hardest. And a lot of school supplies fall right into those categories.
One estimate from the Tax Foundation says tariffs alone are adding about $700 in extra cost per household this year. That’s real money. It’s a car payment. That’s a month of groceries for some families.
And it’s not hitting everyone the same way.
Middle-income families — households making between $50,000 and $150,000 a year — saw their budgets jump the most. About 20% higher than last year, up to $495 per child.
Higher-income families are still spending more overall. But the percentage jump was smaller for them.
That gap matters. A family making $200,000 a year barely notices an extra $50 in back-to-school spending. A family making $60,000 a year feels that same $50 in a completely different way — it might mean skipping something else that month, not just shrugging it off.
Lower-income families grew their spending the least — under 4%. Not because things got cheaper for them. Because they simply don’t have room to spend more, even when prices go up.
Track Your Own Back-to-School Spending With a Free Tool
Before you assume you’re spending less than the $489 average, check your own numbers. A free budgeting spreadsheet, or the free tracker built into most bank apps, takes ten minutes to set up and shows exactly where your back-to-school spending actually went — not what you think it went. Most families are surprised by at least one category, usually shoes or electronics, once they see the real total in front of them.
Does that sound familiar? Cutting corners not because you want to, but because there’s no other option?
Read also: Gas Prices Are Destroying My Budget
| Income Level | Annual Household Income | 2025 Per-Kid Cost | 2026 Per-Kid Cost | % Increase | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Income | $30K-50K | $450 | $468 | 4% | Least impact |
| Middle Income | $50K-150K | $437 | $495 | 11.7% | Hardest hit |
| Upper Income | $150K+ | $600+ | $650+ | ~8% | Most dollars, smaller % |
| Average | – | $437 | $489 | 11.7% | National average |
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What Families Are Actually Doing About It
A lot of them are shopping earlier than usual, trying to catch sales before prices climb further. Others are comparing prices more carefully, checking discount stores, or buying fewer “extra” items and sticking to just what’s needed.
A smaller number are turning to secondhand stores or online resale for clothes and shoes, which used to feel like a last resort but now looks more like common sense given how fast prices climbed.
What This Means If You Have More Than One Kid
The $489 figure is per child, not per family. If you have two kids in school, back-to-school spending this year is closer to $978. Three kids pushes it near $1,467. That math changes fast, and it’s a big reason why families with more children felt this jump harder than the average number suggests. Many Americans with multiple kids handle this by staggering purchases across a few paychecks instead of buying everything in one trip, or by passing down clothes and supplies between siblings when the age gap allows it. Neither option erases the extra cost, but both soften how hard it hits any single paycheck.
None of it fixes the real problem. It just softens it a little.
If you’re a parent dealing with this right now, you’re not imagining it. Prices really did jump faster than normal this year. And it’s not just you being bad with money — it’s the actual numbers moving against you.
If tariffs keep pushing prices up next year, back-to-school spending probably won’t drop back down on its own. That’s worth planning around now instead of waiting until next August to feel surprised again. A few families I’ve talked to are already setting aside a small amount each month specifically for school costs, so the bill doesn’t land all at once. It’s not a fix for the underlying prices, but it does turn one big painful expense into several smaller ones that are easier to absorb.
What would you cut first if your own budget got squeezed by 11% overnight?
Worth checking: Your Paycheck Isn’t Keeping Up With Inflation
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice. Tariff impacts, pricing, and cost data are subject to change. Consult with a financial advisor before making major purchasing or budgeting decisions.