NJ Child-Raising Costs Shoot Through The Roof [AUDIO]

Raising a child from birth to adulthood is incredibly expensive. Some estimates put the cost between 200 and 250 thousand dollars in most parts of the country. But in Jersey, chances are, it'll cost you more.

An analysis done by the online investing site, Investopedia, finds Jersey is the second most expensive state in America to raise a child in, only New Hampshire is more expensive.

Rutgers economist James Hughes says, "This is not surprising, most things in New Jersey cost more than they do nationally -we have the second highest median household income, and so everything is ratcheted up from that figure."

He says, "We rank number one in housing costs, we have high energy costs…Labor costs are very, very high here, so child care is very labor intensive…Since the costing of housing is high demand for it is high, because of New York and Philadelphia being major employment centers, and we're a major employment center ourself…We're a mature state, there's very little develop-able land left. It's very, very hard to build, so supply is constrained and when supply is constrained, prices are pushed up."

After New Hampshire and New Jersey, the study finds Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont are the third, fourth and fifth most expensive child-rearing states.

Investopedia is considered one of the Internet's largest sites devoted entirely to investing education. The site was started by Cory Janssen and Cory Wagner in June of 1999 as an unbiased investing resource.