Should Older Kids Get More Allowance
for the Same Chore?

Should older kids get more allowance than younger ones for the same chore? Usually no. In our house, the older kid doesn't automatically earn more than his younger brother for an identical job. Loading the dishwasher pays the same whether the thirteen-year-old or the nine-year-old does it. Older kids should earn more only when they take on more responsibility or harder jobs, not for the birthday alone. That surprises people, because the usual advice is to raise allowance as kids age, and there is a version of that which is right.

Pay should follow the job. If you pay for a specific chore, that chore is worth the same at any age, and you pay more only when the job itself is bigger or the standard is higher. Most families do give older kids a larger total allowance, and that can be fair, as long as it's tied to greater responsibility and real expenses rather than age for its own sake. Below is how to draw that line, what the typical numbers look like, and how to handle the “that's not fair” fight when it lands.

Same chore, same pay: what you're actually paying for

Separate two things that usually get tangled: the chore and the child. If the dishwasher is worth three dollars, it's worth three dollars no matter who loads it. Paying an older kid more for the identical task teaches a strange lesson, that money comes from seniority rather than effort. The cleaner rule is to price the job first, then let kids of any age earn it. When an older kid takes home more over a week, it should be because they did harder or more jobs, which keeps you from teaching them that getting older is the raise.

Why most families still pay older kids more (and when that's right)

So are you shortchanging the older one by paying flat rates per job? Probably not, and here's the part the flat rate doesn't cover. Older kids usually do end up with bigger allowances, and that can be perfectly fair. A rough, commonly used rule of thumb is about a dollar per week for each year of age, so a nine-year-old gets around nine dollars and a thirteen-year-old around thirteen, a starting point several family-finance guides suggest. Survey data also suggests allowances climb steadily with age, with teens earning noticeably more than grade-schoolers (Finder's US allowance figures show the same trend). What makes that fair is the added responsibility and expenses, not just the calendar. A thirteen-year-old who buys their own snacks with friends or covers a subscription simply has more to pay for, so a bigger total makes sense. Strip the responsibility away and pay more per year lived, and the raise stops meaning anything.

How to handle the “that's not fair” fight

When a younger sibling protests, don't pretend the amounts are equal, explain why they differ. Fairness between siblings means matching each kid's needs and responsibilities, and that rarely comes out to identical amounts. Try something concrete: “Your brother gets more because he pays for his own movie nights now. When you're there, you'll get the same.” That reframes the gap as something coming to them rather than something taken away. If the wait still stings, offer a bridge: optional bonus jobs the younger one can pick up to earn extra now. It closes the gap through effort, which is exactly the lesson you want them to take.

What we do in our house

In our house, paid jobs rotate weekly and add up to about ten dollars a kid if everything gets done, and every dollar is earned. The amount comes from the jobs and how well they're done, and age doesn't set the rate. A half-cleaned bathroom pays two or three dollars instead of the full five, and that holds for the ten-year-old and the thirteen-year-old alike. Where age shows up is in which jobs a kid can take on. The thirteen-year-old can cook a dinner or do the full bathroom, which are worth more, so he tends to earn more by doing harder work. If that sounds like a contradiction with everything above, here's the line: the rate per job is flat, the older kid just qualifies for more of the higher-value jobs. Underneath all of it, the everyday family chores aren't paid at all, because helping out is just part of being in this house. Pay is a separate track that sits on top. The full version of how we run the money side is in our allowance system post.

Keeping it straight without losing your mind

The honest obstacle here is bookkeeping, not philosophy: who did which rotating job, what it paid this week, who's saving toward what. I ran ours on a spreadsheet for too long. I eventually built GrowTide to track the rotating jobs and payouts so the totals are transparent to the kids and I'm not holding all of it in my head. Whatever you use, the rule a tool can't enforce is simple: price the work honestly, and tell your kids the plain truth about why their totals differ.

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 fair in your house is a call only you can make.

Frequently asked questions

Should siblings get the same allowance?

Not necessarily. The same chore should pay the same at any age, but a total allowance can fairly differ when older kids carry more responsibility and cover more of their own expenses. The part that matters is being transparent about why.

How much allowance should I give by age?

A rough, commonly used rule of thumb is about a dollar per week per year of age, so roughly nine dollars at nine and thirteen at thirteen. Treat it as a starting point and adjust for your budget and what the child is expected to pay for.

Should allowance be tied to chores at all?

Families split on this. In our house, everyday family chores are unpaid and a separate set of rotating paid jobs earns money, which keeps helping out from feeling like a transaction while kids still get to earn.

What if my younger kid says it's not fair?

Name the difference instead of denying it, and tie it to responsibility: the older one pays for more, so they earn more, and the younger one will get there too. Optional bonus jobs make a good bridge in the meantime.

Should I pay more for harder chores?

Yes. Pricing by difficulty is the fair version of paying more, and it applies whoever does the job. That is different from paying more just because a kid is older.