Allowance for a 6 year old in Canada
At six the jobs get a little longer and the money becomes something they can plan with.
A 6 year old in Canada earns
$7.11an hour
About $12.44 a week if they do 1¾ hours of paid jobs. That's 40.4% of the minimum wage in Canada.
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 6 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.
Six year olds can hold a job that has steps: set the whole table, not just carry the forks. Water the plants on the deck. Sort the recycling. Ten-minute jobs are now realistic, and a six year old will happily race the standard time once they understand that finishing faster does not cut the pay.
This is also the age to introduce the idea of saving up. Not a savings rate or a rule, just a thing they want that costs three paydays, and the discovery that it arrives if they wait.
The payslip at 6
Jobs done and what they paid, plus a running balance. Six year olds like watching the balance climb toward something.
The Jobs Board at age 6, $7.11 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Set the whole table | 10 min | $1.19 |
| Water the plants | 10 min | $1.19 |
| Sort the recycling | 10 min | $1.19 |
| Make your bed properly | 5 min | $0.59 |
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 6 year olds.
What should a six year old spend pocket money on?
Whatever they like, within the family's rules. The wage is theirs because they earned it. Talk about choices; do not veto them, or the money stops feeling earned.
Should pocket money be tied to chores at six?
Some of it. Family Duties, like clearing their plate, are unpaid because belonging is not billable. The Jobs Board is paid because it is work someone else would otherwise do.
How much is a ten-minute job worth?
One sixth of the hourly rate, every time. Standard-time pricing means the job pays for the time it should take, so a fast six year old earns more per minute, not less.
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.