Free tool
Kid allowance calculator
Pick an age for each child and get a weekly allowance, split into save, spend and give — plus what the whole thing costs your household. The amounts follow the “$1 per year of age” rule, smoothed toward what families actually pay.
$3 a week — At this age the money is mostly symbolic. They don't need an allowance to buy anything — they need to learn what it feels like to be in charge of a small amount. Keep it small; the lesson is conceptual.
$10 a week — This is when kids start actually spending, so the amount starts to matter. There are real stakes now — the snack at the pool, the game credit, the thing they want at the bookstore — and real trade-offs to learn from.
Weekly allowance by age
The smoothed curve this calculator uses, with the default 50/40/10 split applied to each amount.
| Age | Per week | Save (50%) | Spend (40%) | Give (10%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | $1 | $0.50 | $0.40 | $0.10 |
| 6 | $2 | $1 | $0.80 | $0.20 |
| 7 | $3 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $0.30 |
| 8 | $4 | $2 | $1.60 | $0.40 |
| 9 | $5 | $2.50 | $2 | $0.50 |
| 10 | $7 | $3.50 | $2.80 | $0.70 |
| 11 | $8 | $4 | $3.20 | $0.80 |
| 12 | $10 | $5 | $4 | $1 |
| 13 | $12 | $6 | $4.80 | $1.20 |
| 14 | $14 | $7 | $5.60 | $1.40 |
| 15 | $16 | $8 | $6.40 | $1.60 |
| 16 | $18 | $9 | $7.20 | $1.80 |
| 17 | $20 | $10 | $8 | $2 |
How the amounts are worked out
The starting point is the most-cited rule of thumb: $1 per week per year of age. A six-year-old gets $6, a twelve-year-old $12, a sixteen-year-old $16.
Most families don’t pay it that cleanly, so the curve above is smoothed. Under age 8 it runs flatter, because a dollar goes further than the rule suggests and the money is mostly symbolic anyway. Through the teens it runs steeper, because $1 per year of age stops keeping pace with what a teenager is actually paying for. If your budget is tight, scale the whole curve down — override any amount in the calculator. What matters more is the system, not the exact dollars.
Common questions
How much allowance should a 14-year-old get?
About $14 a week, on the common "$1 per year of age" rule smoothed toward what families actually pay. That assumes a teen who isn't earning their own income yet — if they have a job, or you already cover their activities and phone, scale it down.
How much allowance for a 5-year-old?
Around $1 a week. At that age the money is mostly symbolic: a five-year-old doesn't need an allowance to buy anything, they need to learn what it feels like to be in charge of a small amount. Keep it small — the lesson is conceptual, not financial.
What is a good allowance for a 12-year-old?
About $10 a week. Nine to twelve is when kids start genuinely spending, so the amount begins to matter — there are real trade-offs to learn from at this age, which is exactly the point.
What is the average allowance by age?
The most-cited rule is $1 per week per year of age, so a ten-year-old gets $10. In practice families smooth it: less per year of age under 8, where small amounts are plenty, and steeper through the teens, where $1 per year stops keeping up. The table on this page shows the smoothed curve from age 5 to 17.
Should allowance be tied to chores?
Families split on this and both approaches work. Tying allowance entirely to chores teaches that money follows work, but it also gives kids the option to opt out of helping. A common middle ground is a base allowance for being part of the household, plus paid extras for bigger optional jobs.
How often should you pay allowance?
Weekly. The reason is pedagogical rather than financial: kids have a short time horizon for cause and effect, so a month-long gap breaks the connection between the work and the money. Pick a day and hold it — inconsistency kills allowance systems faster than the amount ever does.
How should kids split their allowance?
A 50/40/10 split across save, spend and give works well: half toward a specific goal, most of the rest to spend freely, a small share to give away. The ratios aren't sacred — some families run 33/33/33, some skip giving until kids are older. What matters is that the money has more than one job.
Keep reading
The full guide covers the four payout structures families use, whether to tie allowance to chores, and how to run the three-jar split in practice.
How much allowance to give kids, by age →Age-appropriate chores, ages 3 to 17 →