Allowance for a 12 year old in the United States
Twelve is when the payslip grows up: the first deduction appears, and the rate is now real money by any measure.
A 12 year old in the United States earns
$6.21an hour
About $24.84 a week if they do 4 hours of paid jobs. That's 85.7% of the minimum wage in the United States.
Worked out from US Department of Labor — State Minimum Wage Laws, rates from July 24, 2009.
The rate at every age in the United States.
Pocket Wage is a straight line, one step every birthday, until it meets the real minimum wage. Here's the whole ladder in the United States.
- Pocket wage, paid by you
- Real minimum wage, paid by a boss
At 14, the legal minimum in the United States is $7.25 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 12 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.
Twelve year olds can run most household jobs end to end: the weekly shop with a list, dinner two nights a week, the lawn and edges, the whole bathroom and kitchen clean. Hour-long jobs on a weekend are normal. They are also capable of managing a small budget, which is why this is the year the locked savings slice starts.
Set the slice together. Ten percent of each payslip, locked until a date they choose, at an interest rate you set. The first time the locked balance passes what they have in their pocket is a moment most families remember.
The payslip at 12
Jobs, pay, interest, a locked savings deduction, and the balance in two parts: spendable and locked. Twelve is the first payslip that looks like a payslip.
The Jobs Board at age 12, $6.21 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Do the weekly shop from a list | 1 hr | $6.21 |
| Cook dinner two nights a week | 45 min | $4.66 |
| Mow the lawn and do the edges | 1 hr | $6.21 |
| Deep clean the kitchen | 40 min | $4.14 |
Example jobs and times. Family Duties, like clearing your own plate, are unpaid: belonging isn't billable.
How junior wages work in the United States.
The United States has a federal minimum wage that has not changed since 2009, and thirty states plus DC set a higher one. The federal minimum working age for most jobs is fourteen, and a fourteen year old is owed the full minimum wage where they live, apart from a few states that permit lower youth rates.
Pocket Wage anchors on your state's minimum wage at fourteen and draws a straight line back to zero. Choose your state at the top: a five year old in California is on a very different ladder from one in Georgia, because their parents are too.
Fourteen for most non-farm work under federal law, with limits on hours during school. Some states set their own rules. The minimum wage applies from the first hour.
Source: US Department of Labor — State Minimum Wage Laws, rates from July 24, 2009.
By state
The rate for an 8 year old, worked out from each one's own minimum wage.
- Alabama$4.14
- Alaska$8.00
- Arizona$8.66
- Arkansas$6.29
- California$9.66
- Colorado$8.66
- Connecticut$9.68
- Delaware$8.57
- District of Columbia$10.51
- Florida$8.00
- Georgia$4.14
- Hawaii$9.14
- Idaho$4.14
- Illinois$8.57
- Indiana$4.14
- Iowa$4.14
- Kansas$4.14
- Kentucky$4.14
- Louisiana$4.14
- Maine$8.63
- Maryland$8.57
- Massachusetts$8.57
- Michigan$7.85
- Minnesota$6.52
- Mississippi$4.14
- Missouri$8.57
- Montana$6.20
- Nebraska$8.57
- Nevada$6.86
- New Hampshire$4.14
- New Jersey$9.10
- New Mexico$6.86
- New York$9.14
- North Carolina$4.14
- North Dakota$4.14
- Ohio$6.29
- Oklahoma$4.14
- Oregon$8.89
- Pennsylvania$4.14
- Rhode Island$9.14
- South Carolina$4.14
- South Dakota$6.77
- Tennessee$4.14
- Texas$4.14
- Utah$4.14
- Vermont$8.24
- Virginia$7.30
- Washington$9.79
- West Virginia$5.00
- Wisconsin$4.14
- Wyoming$4.14
Questions parents ask about 12 year olds.
How much pocket money should a twelve year old get?
Enough that a deduction means something. At the rate for a twelve year old and about four hours of jobs a week, the weekly figure on this page is where to start, with a slice of it locked away.
Why lock part of their money away?
Because at twelve they can understand delayed reward, and a locked balance that grows with interest teaches saving better than any lecture. They chose the date; the money is still theirs.
What jobs are worth paying a twelve year old for?
Anything you would otherwise do yourself: the shop, dinner, the lawn, a proper clean. Price each by the time it should take at their rate, and let them beat it.
How much allowance should a kid get by age?
The old rule of a dollar per year of age per week gives a ten year old ten dollars for nothing. Pocket Wage pays a rate instead: your state's minimum wage scaled to their age, for the jobs they do.
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.