It heavily depends on the agency you go with. Will you be using a California Surrogacy Agency? Will you be going with a larger surrogate agency or a more boutique or agile agency? When you consider the surrogacy cost in California, you can bet you may be paying some of the highest surrogacy costs in the industry. But these surrogacy costs in California are mostly related on the surrogate agency you hire. Also, how much does a surrogate cost varies among agencies as well.

This is because multiple factors affect your surrogacy costs in California, such as base compensation, agency fees, surrogate lawyer fees, and extra benefits you choose to have with your surrogacy. For some of the larger surrogate agencies in California, such as Growing Generations and West Coast Surrogacy. These agencies quote surrogacy costs in California to be as much as $190,000-$250,000.

With Made in the USA Surrogacy, your surrogacy cost is $140,000-$150,000.

This number includes agency fees, surrogate compensation, and surrogate health insurance.

$140,000 is the lower end, but this is for how much a surrogacy costs for a California surrogate and a California Surrogacy Agency. 

As you can see, how much a surrogacy costs will directly depend on the surrogacy agency you hire. All benefits packages differ in great ways, as do agency fees.

Keep in mind these numbers do not include IVF costs.

Let’s consider how much does surrogacy cost is below:

What makes up Surrogate Cost?

Base Compensation

The main answer to the question of how much does a surrogate cost is a number of factors. These include base compensation, lost wages calculation, and surrogate benefits package.

Your surrogate is the vessel to help you complete your family. She is compensated for the disruption and discomfort, as well as any risks associated with this pregnancy. The base compensation begins at $60,000. This fee may increase to $65,000 depending on if you choose a surrogate who has previously been a gestational surrogate or if she carries multiple babies. Carrying multiple babies is another $5,000 worked into her compensation over 10 months.

The surrogate benefits package will include items such as a monthly allowance, and maternity clothing stipend. Also includes housekeeping, lost wages, and childcare if needed. These items help the surrogate to navigate the immediate needs she will encounter while carrying your baby.

If you’re looking for how much does a surrogate cost as a specific number, a surrogate in California could cost as much as $80,000+. If she is experienced, working and a prior surrogate mother this number could climb higher. Keep in mind these numbers are just the compensation figures, and not the total of how much a surrogacy costs, listed above.

For more information regarding surrogate compensation and benefits package, please visit our surrogate compensation page or fill out a parent inquiry form.

Agency Fee

The second part of surrogacy cost in California is the agency fee. It’s almost as important as your surrogate’s base compensation and plays a critical role in how your agency will help you find your surrogate. Agency Fees for California Agencies can range from $35,000-$150,000 depending on the surrogacy agency you work with.

As your agency, we coordinate matching you with your ideal surrogate based on the parent profile you create and our extensive conversations together. We will present a fully-screened candidate once we feel we have the right match, and it is up to you if you would like to proceed.

Once you are matched we will assist you in finding your legal representation, escrow services, and insurance providers. We will also begin screening your surrogate with psychological evaluation and medical screening. Once we are approved by your fertility clinic to move forward with your match, we will find your surrogate health and life insurance coverage. We will also assist in helping her find a suitable OBGYN and delivering hospital.

Your surrogate will undergo medications to prepare her body for your embryo and follow through with several appointments to ensure her body is responding appropriately. Made in the USA Surrogacy will help your surrogate remember her medications according to her unique calendar, follow up on medication refills, and appointments. We will strive to be present at the major milestones, such as the embryo transfer day!

More jobs the Agency performs

We will be the point of contact for both you and your surrogate throughout the duration of the pregnancy. As your agency, we maintain regular communication with your attorneys to ensure all necessary documentation is completed in a timely manner. We will also ensure your surrogate, and any medical bills that are accumulated are paid from the escrow account.

Once your baby arrives, we will be present to support you and your new family! We will make sure a birth plan is in place in order for everyone to know what to expect. Made in the USA Surrogacy knows this is the time we have all been waiting for. We will help you make sure you didn’t forget any necessary baby supplies to get you through your first weeks as a new parent. Also, we ensure that your surrogate is taken care in her days recovering.

Many of these actions above are jobs that the agency performs. Your agency fee pays for those jobs to be done as well as the actual finding of a surrogate.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked, but important functions of your surrogacy cost is marketing. Whether that’s through ads, surrogate events, website marketing, and or billboards etc. The most important function of your agency fee goes toward marketing for the wonderful surrogate mothers described above.

Without a healthy marketing budget, it would be impossible for surrogacy agencies in California to survive or to find a surrogate worth going the distance with.

Medical Screening and Psychological Screening

Upon being matched your surrogate and her spouse will undergo a medical screening that is completed by the fertility clinic you are using. Your Reproductive Endocrinologist will do a complete screening to ensure she is a viable candidate and has the potential to carry a healthy pregnancy.

It is a huge psychological step to choose to build your family through surrogacy and third-party reproduction. Most clinics will require a minimum of one visit with a psychologist for both the parents and the surrogate. The psychologist is there to measure the stability of the match and the individuals. They are interested in ensuring the future parents are fully prepared for the journey ahead of them. They are also ensuring the surrogate is fully prepared to be committed to the journey, and her level of stability. The psychologist is trained to remain neutral and provide support to both parties involved.

The fees for medical screening and psychological screening vary depending on your IVF clinic, but this surrogacy cost will usually be between $4,000-$8,000.

Legal Representation

Obtaining legal representation is a must while going through the complex surrogacy process. Made in the USA Surrogacy encourages their future parents and surrogates to obtain an attorney who is well versed in the area of assisted reproduction. It is the attorney’s job to ensure that everything is clearly spelled out in the contract and everyone understands their rights and obligations. They will complete all the appropriate documentation to establish parental rights as early as possible. Additionally, an ART attorney will also understand the various laws that are associated with the specific state in which your surrogate resides. This is due to the differences in each state has. We are able to provide a list of recommended attorneys to choose from. Please keep in mind, that as future parents you are responsible for the cost associated with your attorney, and that of the surrogate.

Our Intended Parent lawyers cost is a range between $7500-$10,000 depending on the lawyer of your choice. They will prepare your gestational agreement and pre-birth order.

Surrogate Lawyer fees for reviewing Gestational Agreement as well as Pre-birth orders typically cost an additional $2,000.

Health and Life Insurance

Choosing to build your family through surrogacy can be very costly. It is very important to plan your budget and be able to follow through financially with each step. Your surrogate will need the appropriate health insurance in place to cover any medical related treatment associated with the surrogacy pregnancy. Additionally, you will also need to budget for the newborns to have the appropriate insurance in place once they are delivered. We will evaluate each potential surrogate’s health insurance to see if her policy covers her as a surrogate. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to provide a surrogate who has an already surrogate-friendly insurance policy (most are not surrogate-friendly).

Total health insurance policies usually ranges from $15,000-$35,000 depending on the policy needed. This does not usually include premium costs either that are separate.

When an individual decides to become a surrogate and carry a baby for a family, consideration needs to be given to the risk she is putting on her life.  As with any pregnancy, death is always a risk, therefore a surrogate will be provided the opportunity to a life insurance policy to be available to her family in the unfortunate event.

Surrogate Life insurance policies are not usually costly- $450-750/year.

Lost Wages

Your surrogate in California will most likely be a hard-working mom with dreams, aspirations and goals. Most of our California surrogates are mothers that work, they may be married as well. Surrogates with Made in the USA Surrogacy are entitled to 6 weeks of their actual lost wages. This is for mandatory bed-rest or in the case of taking off work for surrogacy-related appointments. We do not discriminate or “loop-in” the cost of their lost wages into our base surrogate compensation rate as other agencies do. If your surrogate mother is married, her spouse also is entitled to 10 days of lost wages at his actual daily rate.

If your surrogate mother works, lost wages usually account for $4,000-$8,000 depending on her and her spouses rate of pay.

Financing your surrogacy

We understand that $140,000-$150,000 is a large investment, and can impact your ability to use a surrogate to complete your family. At Made in the USA Surrogacy, we make this decision a little easier by offering financing partners.

Please check out Prosper Lending at to see if you qualify.

All Surrogacy Costs Provided Above Are Estimates

Most of the above costs are included in your $140,000-$150,000 figure that we have provided above. It’s important to keep in mind that budgeting extra for unforseen issues is a wise choice.  Individual surrogates and their costs will vary depending on things such as experienced surrogate, and her marital status. The surrogacy costs listed above are estimates and provided for your information only. They are not guarantees, but are provided to help you along the process of your surrogacy. Made in the USA Surrogacy provides detailed surrogacy

FOR MORE IN-DEPTH INFORMATION ON COSTS OR OTHERWISE, PLEASE FILL OUT A PARENT INQUIRY.