Allowance by age blog by Greenlight with stats for allowances of all ages

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Average allowance by age for kids and teens

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Highlights:

- In 2023, the average weekly allowance for kids ages 5-19 was $14.72 for families who use Greenlight.

- Nearly 80% of U.S. parents give their kids an allowance and 64% require them to earn it by doing chores or other tasks.

- Nationally, the mean allowance amount is $19.39 per week, with 35% of parents paying between $11 to $20 a week.

- The majority of families that offer allowance do it to teach the value of earning and managing money.

What is an allowance — and why should kids get an allowance?

An allowance is a recurring amount of money given to kids, typically from their parents or caregivers. Many families use allowance to introduce financial literacy at an early age. Offering kids and teens an allowance can be an effective way to teach them about earning and how to manage money through real-life experiences.

But an allowance doesn’t have to be free spending money. You can use it to teach budgeting, saving, and financial responsibility. Especially when you have the right tools, like Greenlight’s debit card and money app and money app for kids and teens.

With Greenlight, parents decide how an allowance is paid out. You can set the app to pay an allowance based on completing household chores. Or you can wait to enable that feature until you feel your child is ready to learn to manage their own money.

Regardless of how it’s paid out, Greenlight helps kids learn to save, give and invest. Greenlight also helps parents teach them to manage their own money, build smart money habits and meet all their savings goals.

Greenlight flexible allowance options with yellow coins and green bills background

Average allowance for kids and teens

Now that you know where to get started, how do you decide how much allowance to give your kids? That depends on your family situation — or if you’re offering allowance for a specific purpose, like doing household duties or chores.

The national mean is $19.39. But 35% of parents report paying allowance in the range of $11-$20 a week according to T. Rowe Price’s 14th Annual Parents, Kids & Money Survey.

One popular method is to give $1 for each year of their age per week. If you have a 7-year-old, their allowance would be $7 a week. A 16-year-old would get $16 per week, and so on.

Greenlight allowance app for kids and teens with allowance history view and weekly recurring balance

Things to consider before deciding on an allowance amount

National allowance averages are just that – averages based on a broad range of families. When deciding how much allowance to give, think about your unique family circumstances.

Goals - What do you want to achieve? Do your kids want more spending autonomy, a specific item, or do you want to teach them general financial literacy?
Chores - You could pay by individual task or for a schedule of age-appropriate chores.
Incentives - What motivates them? Some parents offer rewards for achieving certain earning or saving milestones.
Budget - Only agree to give what you can afford to fit into your family budget.
Age - You can start a basic allowance as early as age 5 or 6 if you feel your child is ready.
Understanding - How well do they grasp the idea of allowance and the basics of budgeting? Do they have specific money goals and why?

It’s more about purpose than a specific dollar amount. Define what you each want to accomplish with an allowance and build from there.

Greenlight average allowance for kids and teens in 2023

According to data collected in 2023 (YTD as of 05/23/23), Greenlight found that the average weekly allowance for 5-year-olds was $6.04. Meanwhile, the average weekly allowance for 13-year-olds was $13.01. Lastly, at the top end, the average weekly allowance for 17-year-olds was $23.69.

Below is the average weekly amount paid by parents to their kids, categorized by age.

Weekly Allowance by Age 2023 - Greenlight Kids & Teens

Age	Allowance
5 years old	$6.05
6 years old	$6.69
7 years old	$7.11
8 years old	$7.73
9 years old	$8.37
10 years old	$9.27
11 years old	$10.32
12 years old	$11.64
13 years old	$13.01
14 years old	$14.96
15 years old	$17.09
16 years old	$20.54
17 years old	$23.69
18 years old	$29.69
19 years old	$34.57

While the numbers shown above are an average of all Greenlight kids that receive an allowance, they seem to be on par with the rule of thumb mentioned earlier. Six-year-olds receive a little over $6 per week at $6.69, and 13-year-olds receive a little more than $13 per week at $13.01.

Average allowance for kids and teens in 2022

According to data collected in 2022 (YTD as of 7/29/2022), Greenlight found that the average weekly allowance for 5-year-olds was $5.98. Meanwhile, the average weekly allowance for 13-year-olds was $11.78. Lastly, at the top end, the average weekly allowance for 17-year-olds was $19.80.

Below is the average weekly amount paid by parents to their kids, categorized by age.

Weekly Allowance by Age 2022 - Greenlight Kids & Teens

Age	Allowance
5 years old	$5.98
6 years old	$6.50
7 years old	$6.84
8 years old	$7.42
9 years old	$7.94
10 years old	$8.67
11 years old	$9.45
12 years old	$10.68
13 years old	$11.78
14 years old	$13.17
15 years old	$14.89
16 years old	$17.14
17 years old	$19.80
18 years old	$22.53
19 years old	$28.53

Looking back at both years — 2023 allowances are significantly higher than 2022 allowances. While 19-year-olds in 2022 were receiving a little over $28 a week, 19-year-olds are now receiving more than $34 a week in 2023. That’s a 22% increase in just one year - Woah.

How do kids and teens spend their allowance?

So where does all of the money go? Greenlight kids have the option to spend their money with a custom debit card. When kids spend, they get cash back which automatically goes to savings. They can also save any extra money — or even learn about investing it in the stock market!

Greenlight kids allowance app includes Spending, Savings, Investing, Allowance with parental controls

In fact, Greenlight kids have already saved more than $225 million collectively. Families have also invested over $10 million. And for the generous kids, Greenlight also offers a ‘Give with Greenlight’ feature where kids can donate to the charities of their choice.

Types of chores – 10 ideas to get started

Here are some of the most popular chores for Greenlight families, plus a few creative ideas to help you get started:

Clean your bedroom
Take care of a pet
Take out the trash
Wash the dishes
Read a book
Practice an instrument
Train or practice a sport
Wash the car
Do laundry
Study for a test

Greenlight kid smiling while completing chores for a partial payment as a Way to Pay allowance

Greenlight tip: Don’t be afraid to get creative with chores. We’ve seen some innovative options ranging from “Make tacos” to “Practice magic.”

Use Greenlight to teach kids and teens financial literacy — with chores and allowances

Connecting chores and allowance can go a long way toward learning the importance of saving and planning early. With all-in-one family money apps like Greenlight, they’ll also learn about budgeting and how to allocate money toward wants vs. needs.

Empower kids to earn and learn. Manage chores, jobs, and allowances. Teach kids to earn, save, and invest with the Greenlight app. Try Greenlight today!

This blog post is provided "as is" and should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice. Some content in this post may have been created using artificial intelligence; however, every blog post is reviewed by at least two human editors.