Heifer rearing costs represent a substantial financial investment for a dairy operation. While costly, raising heifers are necessary for maintaining herd size and continuing genetic improvement. The objective of this project was to develop a stochastic simulation model for the total cost of raising a single heifer from birth to 60 d pre-calving under different post-weaning management styles. Situations modeled include: situation 1 (S1), confinement facilities and fed stored feeds including silage, situation 2 (S2), managed on a dry lot with shade and fed stored feeds including silage, situation 3 (S3), housed on pasture and supplemented as needed with grain and hay. Pre-weaning (group housed, 10 L/d milk replacer in automatic feeder) and breeding expenses (CIDR with visual heat detection) were constant for all situations. Post-weaning costs estimates for S1 and S2 included feed with storage and feeding losses, housing infrastructure and equipment, manure management, paid and unpaid labor, and veterinary expenses. Costs were calculated the same for S3 with the addition of land value and annual pasture management, reflective labor and manure costs. An economic simulation with 10,000 iterations was completed for each situation using @Risk (Palisade Corporation, Ithaca, NY). To account for variation expected between farms, pre-weaning mortality rate varied between 2 and 10% and age at first calving from 22 to 25 mo. Each simulation assumed 1000 heifers were raised from birth to 60 d pre-calving. Cost and biological responses were determined based on USDA market reports (2014–2018), published surveys, and literature. Average total costs were, S1: $1,899.49 ± $57.37, S2: $1,582.69 ± $42.25, S3: $1,324.16 ± $28.42. Feed was the largest contributing expense to each situation at 53, 63, and 57% of total cost, respectively. Labor accounted for 20% in S1, 24% in S2, and 19% in S3. Additional housing infrastructure accounted for most of the increase in cost between S1 and S2. Reducing facility and labor needs as well as feed costs are reflected in the lower total cost in S3.