Allowance Calculator for Kids and Teens

Most 10-year-olds get between $7 and $10 per week.

At this age, allowance is less about covering real expenses and more about introducing your kid to financial basics - spending, saving, and making small decisions with real money. Keeping the amount low helps make those lessons feel real without the stakes being too high.

The typical range for a 13-year-old is $12-$18 per week.

This is the age where some kids start to spend money independently and away from their parents - grabbing food with friends, making small purchases, or maybe even paying for a subscription or two. Allowance at this stage works best when there's some expectation that kids will have to budget their money, to make decisions about whether to spend or save up for something they want.

Most 16-year-olds get $20-$35 per week, though the range really starts to widen at this age.

Some teens are starting to cover bigger expenses like gas, social outings, and clothing, and some teens have part-time jobs that can change the picture quite a bit. The right amount for your kid entirely depends on what you expect their allowance to cover and how much financial independence you want your teenager to have.

This is one of the more debated questions in parenting, and Till data shows parents are roughly split down the middle on this.

About half give a fixed allowance on a consistent schedule, treating it as a financial education tool that's separate from household responsibilities and chores. The other half ties allowance to the completion of chores, believing kids should learn that money is earned through work. There's a third option, a hybrid approach, in which kids receive a smaller base allowance but can earn more through extra tasks.

There's no wrong answer here, the best approach is the one that matches what you're trying to teach your kids. Till lets parents set up all three approaches, with automated allowance and chore payments managed separately.

It depends on your child's age and what you want them to learn.

A weekly allowance gives your kids more chances to make decisions about their money. A weekly allowance creates faster feedback loops - when a younger kid spends their money too quickly, that lesson arrives in days, not weeks. That quick lesson is what turns money from an abstract idea into something more real.

Monthly allowance more closely mirrors how adult income works, making it a better fit for older teens who are ready to think ahead and manage a larger budget over time. Till data from 2025 and 2026 shows that 72% of parents choose a weekly allowance for their kids, though both approaches have real merit depending on your child's age and ability to think long-term.

This is, of course, entirely up to you, but it's the most important thing when figuring out the right allowance amount for your kids. An allowance that's meant to cover small fun expenses, like candy or small toys, looks very different from an allowance that's expected to cover personal expenses like video games, hobbies, and social outings. And both of those look different than an allowance that covers real expenses like clothing, a phone plan, or gas for their car.

A few things to watch out for - your child is consistently running out before the next allowance payment, they've taken on more financial responsibility, or their real costs have genuinely gone up — new school year, starting to drive, a more active social life, etc. Inflation is worth factoring in over time, too. A good habit is to revisit the amount once a year,

Yes, absolutely, and meaningfully so. A teen in a high-cost-of-living city will face higher prices for the same goods than a kid in a smaller or more rural town. If allowance is expected to cover real expenses, the amount should reflect the cost of living where you are. That's the reason why this allowance calculator factors in location in addition to age and other factors.

Based on anonymized data from 9,135 U.S. families who set up allowances on Till in 2025 and 2026, the average weekly allowance was $17 — but the median was $10, which shows just how wide the range is across families. Averages can be misleading here because the right amount depends so heavily on age, location, and what the allowance is expected to cover. Use the national average as a reference point, not a target. For more information, read our guide to the average allowance amount.