How Much Allowance Should You Give Kids?
(What the 2025 Data Says by Age)

How much allowance should you give your kids? Less than the scary headline. A 2025 Wells Fargo study pegged the average kid's weekly allowance at $37, but that is an all-ages average skewed upward by older teens. Greenlight's 2025 account data is closer to typical: about $6 to $7 a week for young kids, climbing to roughly $21 for older teens. The right number depends less on the average and more on what the money is for.

Age	Typical weekly allowance (2025)	Rough guide
5–7	~$6–$7	Small and weekly; participation, not payroll
8–10	~$7–$10	The “$1 per year of age” zone
11–13	~$10–$15	More independence, more to cover
14–17	~$18–$25	Bigger costs, bigger number

What is the average kids' allowance in 2025?

The most-cited number is $37 a week, from a 2025 Wells Fargo study of parents with kids aged 5 to 17. Treat it as a headline, not a target. It is an average across every age, and averages get pulled up by older teens. That $37 figure even made me double-check my own house, where the paid-jobs cap is about $10. Greenlight's 2025 data, drawn from actual kid accounts, lands much lower: about $13 a week on average, and roughly $6 to $7 for the youngest kids. There is a reason the big number sticks. Psychologists call it the anchoring effect, our well-documented tendency to lean on the first figure we hear, which Kahneman and Tversky named decades ago. That is my analogy rather than an allowance study, but it fits: anchor on $37 and $10 feels stingy; anchor on the by-age reality and $10 feels about right.

How much allowance should you give by age?

Allowance climbs steadily with age. In Greenlight's 2025 figures it runs from about $6 a week at age five to roughly $21 by seventeen. Till Financial's 2025 data shows a similar shape, with a median around $10 a week. A common shortcut is the $1-per-year-of-age rule: a 10-year-old gets $10, a 15-year-old $15. It is a fine starting point, not a law. Use the table above as a range, then adjust two ways: down if your budget is tight, and up if your kid is expected to cover more of their own costs. The point of the by-age numbers is not to hit the average. It is to give you a sane floor and ceiling so you are picking on purpose, not guessing, and not anchored to a headline built from a broader question than the one you are asking.

Should the amount go up as they get older?

Yes, but tie the raise to responsibility, not the calendar. Older kids cover more of their own costs, a movie with friends, a subscription, a bigger lunch, so a larger number genuinely makes sense. The trap is bumping the amount for age alone. A raise nobody earned rewards getting older instead of doing more, and kids read the difference fast. The cleaner move is to let the number rise as what they are responsible for rises, then say that out loud so the raise actually means something. And if a younger sibling protests that it is not fair, name the gap and tie it to responsibility instead of pretending the amounts should match. I worked through that exact fight, same chore and different pay, in should older kids get more allowance for the same chore.

How do you decide what's right for your family?

Start from what the money is for, not the size of the average. In our house the paid-jobs cap is about $10 a week per kid, and every dollar is earned and quality-based, so a half-done job pays less than a finished one. We run three separate buckets: everyday family chores that are unpaid, a set of rotating paid jobs, and extra optional jobs a kid can pick up for more when they want it. Whatever a kid earns gets split into Save, Spend, and Give, and the long-term savings get a parent match that stays locked until they turn eighteen. The dollar amount matters less than what it teaches them about earning and waiting. So pick a number you can fund every single week without resentment, tell your kid exactly what it is meant to cover, and let the buckets do the teaching instead of a lecture.

Keeping the number honest

The hard part is not choosing the amount. It is tracking who earned what this week, what got saved, and what is still owed, without all of it living in your head. I ran ours on a spreadsheet for too long before I built GrowTide to handle the earning, saving, and payouts so the number I picked actually gets followed through. If you want to see how that loop works, here is how it works. Whatever tool you use, the rule is the same: pick the amount on purpose, say what it is for, and let the system rather than your memory keep it honest.

Vince is a dad of four, holds a Master's in Finance, and is the founder of GrowTide — a family chore and rewards app built by a parent who needed it to actually work.

This post is one parent's experience, not professional parenting, financial, or psychological advice. Every family is different, and what's right in your house is a call only you can make.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average weekly allowance for kids in 2025?

About $37 a week across all ages, per a 2025 Wells Fargo study, but that average is skewed upward by older teens. Greenlight's 2025 account data is closer to typical: around $13 a week overall, and roughly $6 to $7 for the youngest kids climbing to about $21 for older teens.

How much allowance should a 10-year-old get?

Commonly $7 to $10 a week in 2025 data, and the $1-per-year-of-age rule lands at $10. Treat it as a starting point and adjust for your budget and what the child is expected to pay for themselves.

Is $37 a week too much for a kid?

For most kids, yes. The $37 figure is an all-ages average skewed by older teens, not a per-kid target. The by-age numbers are much lower, so anchor on those and on what the money is for rather than the headline.

Should allowance increase as kids get older?

Yes, but tie the increase to added responsibility and expenses, not just age. Older kids who cover more of their own costs reasonably get more, while a raise for age alone rewards getting older instead of doing more.

Should allowance be tied to chores?

It is a personal call. In our house, everyday family chores are unpaid and a separate set of rotating paid jobs earns money based on quality, which keeps helping out from feeling like a transaction while kids still get to earn.