From day care to the monthly grocery bill, the cost of raising a child is climbing at a rate that many families can't keep up with.
It will cost an estimated $241,080 for a middle-income couple to raise a child born last year for 18 years, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Wednesday. That's up almost 3% from 2011 and doesn't even include the cost of college.
At the same time, wages aren't keeping up. The country's median annual household income has fallen by more than $4,000 since 2000, after adjusting for inflation, and many of the jobs lost during the recent recession have been replaced with lower-wage positions....
Dr. Alan Cairns | 3/9/2009
