British families would face up to 820,000 job losses and the country would plunge into a year-long recession if the UK left the EU, the Chancellor has warned.
George Osborne said there would be a "DIY recession", the pound would slump, food prices would rise, holidays would be more expensive and house prices would fall in the event of Brexit.
And he warned that wages would take a hit - with a cut of £800 a year in income for the average worker.
He was quoting the second and final Treasury analysis ahead of the EU referendum. It gives short-term economic forecasts for leaving the EU based on a "shock" and "severe shock" scenario.
Speaking alongside the Prime Minister at B&Q headquarters in Hampshire, Mr Osborne said the country was just climbing out of recession and should not "do it to ourselves all over again" by voting for Brexit and triggering a "DIY recession".
In a stark warning aimed at family budgets, Mr Osborne reeled out a number of figures saying if the UK left the EU:
:: The economy could be 6% smaller within two years
:: The pound would fall in value by up to 15%
:: 820,000 jobs could go under the "severe shock" forecast; 500,000 under the "shock" forecast
:: House prices could drop by up to 18% by 2018
The average wage would take a £800-a-year hit
:: Inflation would increase by 2% - hitting food and energy bills
He said: "With exactly one month to go to the referendum, the British people must ask themselves this question: can we knowingly vote for a recession?"
He added: "It’s the working people of Britain who will pay the price if we leave the EU. None of this needs to happen if we vote to remain."
Mr Cameron said voting to leave the EU would be like surviving a fall, from the recession in 2008, and "running straight back to the cliff edge".
Responding to the Treasury's latest report, Vote Leave campaigner Iain Duncan Smith said: "As George Osborne has himself admitted, the reason he created the independent forecaster, the OBR, was because by 2010 the public simply did not believe the Government's own economic forecasts.
"The Treasury has consistently got its predictions wrong in the past.
"This Treasury document is not an honest assessment but a deeply biased view of the future and it should not be believed by anyone."
Mr Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, said he was "deeply disappointed" with Business Secretary Sajid Javid for backing the Treasury after privately telling him and others that he wanted the UK to leave the EU.
A Whitehall source later denied Mr Javid had made such claims in private.
The Treasury asked the former deputy Bank of England governor Sir Charles Bean to rubber stamp the analysis.
He found it was a "reasonable estimate of the likely size of the short-term impact" of Brexit on the UK economy.
Last month's long-term Treasury analysis, which was also heavily criticised by Leave campaigners, claimed Brexit would cost each household £4,300 by 2030.
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