Costs of U.S. Incarceration to Families Pegged at Nearly $350 Billion a Year
To maintain and operate the prisons and jails that hold nearly 2 million American costs a lot—an estimated $82 billion a year, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Sep. 2023, p.56.] But that is just the direct cost to governments. What about the costs to prisoners and their families, for everything from an email to a commissary snack? What about the indirect costs they face for wages they’ll never earn from jobs they miss, or that they’ll never even get a chance to interview for after checking the “yes” box next to an employment application question about their arrest history?
Given that nearly 1 in 2 Americans will see a family member incarcerated for at least one day during their lifetime, these are costs that affect a lot of people. To estimate them, a June 2025 report by criminal justice reform advocacy FWD.us looked at everything from bail to lost wages to the lost earnings potential of children whose parents were incarcerated. The staggering total: $348 billion every year.
At the top of the calculation are immediate costs related to incarceration, like bail, which is a $2.4 billion industry by itself. After a family member’s arrest, earnings are lost when taking time off to visit him or meet with his attorneys. It’s estimated that this adds an additional $2.4 billion annually. If he goes to prison, these costs don’t stop, continuing to pile on another $6.7 billion every year. Many families are forced to move, lacking his income for a share of housing costs, and the price tag for those moves totals $200 million a year. When he is released, the costs of re-entry—for his transportation, food and clothing, perhaps another move—total another $400 million a year.
Meanwhile, costs add up during incarceration, too. Families spend an average of $4,200 a year each to stay in touch with their incarcerated loved ones, who require nutrition and personal hygiene products beyond what the government provides. That’s how the prison telecom and prison commissary industries rake in a combined $5.5 billion a year. On top of that, families spend another $1.8 billion on visitation, including transportation to prisons that are often remote and rural. Childcare costs when a parent is locked up add up to another $2.8 billion.
Then there is the long-term hit to earnings. Those in jail lose an estimated $45 billion in income every year. Another $66 billion is lost by those in prison. More sobering: An estimated $215 billion in annual income is lost by their children, as their family’s challenge translates into lowered educational attainment that in turn lowers their own long-term economic prospects.
Citing a 2022 Center for American Progress study, the report notes that families of those incarcerated had a median wealth less than 5% of those that had no experience with the criminal justice system. As with other aspects of that system, the economic burden of incarceration on Black families greatly exceeds that on White families. For each of the latter, the cost averages $3,251 a year. For the former, it’s $8,005 because Black families have a higher likelihood that multiple family members are incarcerated.
According to Ashley Gantt, Campaigns & Advocacy Manager for FWD.us, nothing made her question what she spent when her dad was incarcerated. But the sacrifices required to do that left her feeling shame that was “a silent burden of impossible choices to be able to show up for the people I love.” See: We Can’t Afford It—Mass Incarceration and the Family Tax, FWD.us (June 2025).
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