"How much allowance should we give?" is one of those parenting questions with no single right answer — but there are sensible guidelines. The amount matters less than the consistency, the expectations around it, and what you want your child to learn. Here is a practical, age-by-age guide.
First, what is allowance for?
Before the number, the purpose. Allowance isn't really about the money — it is a teaching tool. A regular, predictable sum gives a child something real to practise with: saving, waiting, making trade-offs, and recovering from the odd bad decision while the stakes are still small. Decide what you want your child to learn, and the amount becomes much easier to set.
A common rule of thumb
One widely used starting point is to give a small weekly amount tied loosely to age — for example, a modest sum per year of age, paid weekly. It is only a starting point. What you can afford, where you live, and what the allowance is expected to cover all matter more than any formula. Consistency — the same amount, on the same day — matters most of all.
Allowance by age
Ages 4-6
Keep it small and concrete. Young children have no sense of large numbers; a few coins they can hold, sort and drop into a clear jar teach more than a larger sum they can't picture. The lesson here is simply that money exists, it runs out, and saving means waiting.
Ages 7-10
This is the age to introduce structure. A common approach is to split allowance into save, spend and give — three jars, or three digital pots. Let them make small spending choices, including poor ones; a wasted week's allowance on something disappointing is a cheap and powerful lesson.
Ages 11-13
Tweens can handle a larger amount and more responsibility for it. Consider expanding what the allowance is expected to cover — small outings, app purchases, gifts for friends — so they start budgeting across competing wants rather than spending freely.
Ages 14-17
Teenagers can manage a monthly rather than weekly amount, which forces real budgeting. Many families fold in a clothing or activity budget at this stage. The goal by the late teens is a young person who can manage a sum over time without running out.
Should allowance be tied to chores?
This is the big debate, and there is no consensus even among experts. Tying allowance to chores teaches that work earns money — but it can also imply that contributing to your own home is optional unless paid. The most common middle path: pay allowance as a fixed, unconditional teaching tool, keep basic chores as an unpaid family expectation, and let "extra" jobs earn bonus money. We go deeper in Should You Pay Kids for Chores?
Making allowance actually teach something
- Be consistent — same amount, same day. Reliability is the lesson.
- Don't rescue. If they spend it all, let them feel the wait until next time.
- Encourage saving with a visible goal — a jar, a chart, a savings pot.
- Introduce giving early, even a small amount.
- Talk about your own money trade-offs out loud; kids learn money by watching.
- Let the amount grow with age and responsibility.
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