Median Incomes and Stay-at-Home Parents

Here is another tidbit that bears on the declining median income phenomenon: the share of stay-at-home parents in married households with children increased every year from 1999 to 2004.

Here are the percentages:

1999 - 20.79%
2000 - 21.25%
2001 - 21.88%
2002 - 22.76%
2003 - 23.64%
2004 - 24.69%

Presumably, the median household in this category saw a decline in income. That's a tradeoff, of course, and not nearly as much of a hardship as it might seem, given that a family with young children and a stay-at-home parent saves day care or nanny costs. And let's not even get started discussing the costs of meals and transportation for a household with two employed parents. Between the savings wrought and the nonpecuniary income provided by a stay-at-home parent, it might be an economically advantageous arrangement for many.