Allowance for a 15 year old in Canada
Fifteen is where the family rate meets the real one in much of the world. Every birthday since five has been leading here.
A 15 year old in Canada earns
$16.60an hour
About $83.00 a week if they do 5 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 15 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.
A fifteen year old can do any job in the house at the standard an adult would, and in Australia and New Zealand is now owed a real junior wage by any employer. The pocket wage at fifteen is that wage, or the last step below it, depending on the country. Whatever they do at home should be priced the same way a boss would price it: by the hour, at the legal rate, for the time it should take.
Use this year to make the payslip look exactly like the one they will get from a first employer: gross pay, deductions, net, year to date. When the first real payslip arrives, it should be boring.
The payslip at 15
A complete payslip: gross, interest, locked savings, household tax, net, year to date. The same shape as a real one, because a real one is next.
The Jobs Board at age 15, $16.60 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Run the whole house for a day while parents are out | 3 hr | $49.80 |
| Full garden maintenance | 2 hr | $33.20 |
| Wash, vacuum and detail the car | 1 hr 30 min | $24.90 |
| Cook and clean up dinner all week | 4 hr | $66.40 |
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 15 year olds.
How much should a fifteen year old earn at home?
The rate on this page, which in several countries is the actual legal minimum for their age. For about five hours a week of jobs, the weekly figure is what a first casual job would pay for the same hours.
Should they get a real job instead?
Both. A first job is a promotion from the Jobs Board, not a replacement for it. If they take one, keep the pocket wage running for the jobs at home they still do.
What is the Allowance Cliff?
The jump from flat pocket money to hours, rates and a payslip, all in the same week a kid starts work. A pocket wage replaces the cliff with a staircase, one step a birthday, and fifteen is near the top.
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.