Allowance for a 6 year old in the United States
At six the jobs get a little longer and the money becomes something they can plan with.
A 6 year old in the United States earns
$3.11an hour
About $5.44 a week if they do 1¾ hours of paid jobs. That's 42.9% 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 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, $3.11 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Set the whole table | 10 min | $0.52 |
| Water the plants | 10 min | $0.52 |
| Sort the recycling | 10 min | $0.52 |
| Make your bed properly | 5 min | $0.26 |
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 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 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.