Allowance for a 14 year old in Canada
Fourteen is a year from the real economy in most countries, and the payslip should say so.
A 14 year old in Canada earns
$16.60an hour
About $78.85 a week if they do 4¾ hours of paid jobs. That's the real legal minimum for their age. From here the law sets the rate, not us.
Worked out from Government of Canada — Minimum Wage Database, rates from October 1, 2025.
The rate at every age in Canada.
Pocket Wage is a straight line, one step every birthday, until it meets the real minimum wage. Here's the whole ladder in Canada.
- Pocket wage, paid by you
- Real minimum wage, paid by a boss
At 14, the legal minimum in Canada is $16.60 an hour. Pocket Wage draws a straight line from there back to zero, and a kid's age picks the spot on it.
What a 14 year old can do, and what it pays.
Every paid job has a standard time: how long it should take, not how long it did. Dawdle and you earn less a minute. Get good at it and you earn more. There's no timer to game and no price to haggle.
At fourteen the jobs can be anything an adult does around the house, priced at the rate for a fourteen year old. Longer projects suit them: clearing out the garage, painting a fence, a deep clean of a whole floor. Two-hour jobs on a weekend, with a standard time set in advance, work well. In the United States and Canada this is already legal working age, and the pocket wage is the real minimum wage.
This is the year the household tax starts: a small slice of each payslip toward a family goal that everyone can see. Fourteen year olds understand tax the moment they see what it is buying.
The payslip at 14
Jobs, pay, interest, locked savings, household tax, and the balance. This is a full payslip: gross, deductions, net. By fourteen they can read every line and explain it back.
The Jobs Board at age 14, $16.60 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Clear out and sweep the garage | 2 hr | $33.20 |
| Paint a fence or a wall | 2 hr | $33.20 |
| Deep clean one whole floor of the house | 1 hr 30 min | $24.90 |
| Cook a full dinner and clean up | 1 hr | $16.60 |
Example jobs and times. Family Duties, like clearing your own plate, are unpaid: belonging isn't billable.
How junior wages work in Canada.
Canada's minimum wage is set by each province and territory, not nationally, and most of them index it to inflation once a year. There is generally no youth rate: a fourteen year old with a job is owed the same minimum wage as an adult, with the exception of Ontario's and Alberta's student rates for under-18s working part time.
Pocket Wage anchors on the province's minimum wage at fourteen, the youngest age most provinces allow ordinary work, and draws a straight line back to zero. Choose your province at the top: a kid in Nunavut and a kid in Alberta are on different ladders.
Most provinces allow ordinary work from 14, some from 12 with consent for light work. The minimum wage has no lower age limit, so a working 14 year old is owed the rate shown.
Source: Government of Canada — Minimum Wage Database, rates from October 1, 2025.
By province or territory
The rate for an 8 year old, worked out from each one's own minimum wage.
- Alberta$7.43
- British Columbia$10.43
- Manitoba$9.14
- New Brunswick$9.09
- Newfoundland and Labrador$9.34
- Northwest Territories$9.83
- Nova Scotia$9.57
- Nunavut$11.53
- Ontario$9.49
- Prince Edward Island$9.71
- Quebec$9.49
- Saskatchewan$8.77
- Yukon$10.58
Questions parents ask about 14 year olds.
How much pocket money for a fourteen year old?
At the rate for a fourteen year old, for about four and three quarter hours of jobs a week, the weekly figure on this page. In some countries this is the real legal minimum wage, not a scaled one.
What is a household tax?
A small percentage of each payslip that goes toward something the family chooses together, like a holiday. It is the first time they see money leave a payslip for a shared purpose, which is what tax is.
Can a fourteen year old get a real job?
In the US and Canada, yes, in most kinds of work. In Australia, the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, some part-time work is allowed with restrictions. The pocket wage is designed to meet the real wage when they get there.
How much allowance should a kid get in Canada?
The traditional rule is a dollar a week per year of age, given for nothing. Pocket Wage replaces it with a rate: your province's minimum wage, scaled to your kid's age, paid for jobs actually done.
Every birthday is a pay rise.
The app runs the whole thing: the Jobs Board, the standard times, a sacred weekly payday with a payslip, and Pay-Rise Day on every birthday. No cards, no stored money. The parent is the bank.