Whole life is a product poorly suited to address the income replacement problem. The argument for whole life is that it will provide a level premium. This is in contrast to term insurance which gets more expensive as you get older. While term does get expensive later, the much lower initial cost fits most consumers' insurance needs. As noted, young families have the greatest insurance need, and term insurance is the most affordable way to buy that protection.
Term only gets more expensive when it is needed less.
Make sure you have adequate amounts of insurance to replace your paycheck while you are still working, and adequate amounts of retirement savings to replace your paycheck when you retire and stop working. Only after these two basic needs have been addressed should you look into using life insurance for estate planning. Most people have a hard time believing there can be so much difference in premiums from life insurance company to life insurance company. Frankly, this is one of the biggest reasons there is such a difference. If you think the premiums are the same from company to company, then you won't shop.