Allowance for a 15 year old in the United States
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 the United States earns
$7.25an hour
About $36.25 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 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 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, $7.25 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Run the whole house for a day while parents are out | 3 hr | $21.75 |
| Full garden maintenance | 2 hr | $14.50 |
| Wash, vacuum and detail the car | 1 hr 30 min | $10.88 |
| Cook and clean up dinner all week | 4 hr | $29.00 |
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 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 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.