Family passport cost: adding it up for everyone
A family pays per person, with different prices and different forms for adults and children. The calculator adds them and splits the payments.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
2026 rules
Passport cost for the whole family
Total for the family
$565
| Check(s) handed in at the facility | $330 |
| Facility fees | $105 |
| Check mailed with the DS-82s | $130 |
One check may cover several applications if the memo lists every name and date of birth.
Passport fees are charged per applicant, with no family rate. In 2026, a parent who renews by mail on Form DS-82 pays $130 for a book; a child under 16 applies in person on Form DS-11 and pays $100 to the U.S. Department of State plus the $35 execution fee to the facility, $135 in all. A typical family of two renewing parents and two children therefore pays $530. If the parents’ passports are too old to renew, or one of them has never had a passport, each adult pays $165 instead, and the same family pays $600. Expediting every application with 1-3 day delivery raises the bill to $877.48. Children’s passports last 5 years and adults’ 10, so over a decade the same family renews the adults once and the children twice, about $800 at today’s fees.
Why each family member has a different price
The fee schedule does not know about families. It knows ages and forms. Age decides the book price, $130 from 16 and $100 before, because the application part is $50 for an adult and $20 for a child, with the same $80 surcharge. The form decides whether the $35 execution fee applies: every child, every first-time adult and every adult who cannot renew files Form DS-11 in person and pays it; an adult renewing by mail or online does not. The mini-calculator at the top of this page adds those amounts for any mix of adults and children, and splits the result into the checks handed in at the facility, the facility fees, and the check mailed with the renewals.
Three families, three totals
Take a couple with two children aged 7 and 11. If both parents hold passports issued within 15 years, they renew by mail for $260, and the children apply at a post office for $270: $530 in total. If the parents’ passports date from more than 15 years ago, they must apply in person too, and the total rises to $600. If the trip is close and every application is expedited with 1-3 day delivery, the family pays $877.48.
The difference between the first and second family is entirely execution fees and nothing else. It is a reason to check the renewal rules for each adult before booking a facility appointment for everyone.
Paying without errors
At the facility, the State Department part goes on checks or money orders payable to “U.S. Department of State”. One per child is preferred; one for the family is accepted when the memo lists each name, date of birth and the number of applications. The facility fees are separate and follow the facility’s rules. A check that does not match the total holds up every application it covers, so add the numbers twice, or use the calculator.
The ten-year calendar of a family
Adults’ passports last 10 years and children’s 5, so a family that applies together drifts apart. A child who gets a passport at 6 needs another at 11, and the one issued at 16 is an adult passport valid until 26. Over a decade, a family of two adults and two children pays roughly $800 at today’s fees: one renewal per adult, two passports per child. Writing the children’s expiration dates in a calendar avoids discovering at the airport that a child’s passport is under six months for Peru or Thailand.
Child passport: what to bring
Documents for the parents
Both IDs and photocopies, no extra form
| Check to the State Department | $100 |
| Acceptance facility | $35 |
| Valid for | 5 years, never renewable |
Saving where the rules allow
There are only three legitimate savings. Adults who can renew by mail or online avoid the $35 execution fee. Anyone who wants both a book and a card saves by ordering them on the same application. And applying early, ideally in the quiet months from October to December named by the State Department, avoids paying $60 per person to expedite. Paying a private service does not reduce government fees; it adds a fee of its own.
Dates for the whole family
Each application gets its own processing date. Children’s applications made at a facility travel by mail to the State Department; adults renewing online skip that leg but cannot expedite. Run each person through the full calculator with the same travel date to see which application is the tightest, and expedite only that one if the others arrive in time.