Allowance for a 9 year old in the United States
At nine the jobs start to look like the ones you do, and the rate has climbed enough to be worth planning around.
A 9 year old in the United States earns
$4.66an hour
About $13.98 a week if they do 3 hours of paid jobs. That's 64.3% 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 9 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.
Nine year olds can wash the car, clean the bathroom mirror and sink, cook a simple breakfast for the family, and rake the leaves. Half-hour jobs are fine. They are also old enough for the timer game: race the standard time and see the effective hourly rate go up when they beat it. That is the first time most kids understand what efficiency means.
Watch for the moment they ask what a job is worth before agreeing to do it. That is not greed. It is exactly what a working adult does, and it means the model is working.
The payslip at 9
Jobs, pay, interest if you pay it, balance. Nine year olds can be shown last week's payslip next to this one and asked what changed.
The Jobs Board at age 9, $4.66 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Wash the car | 30 min | $2.33 |
| Clean the bathroom mirror and sink | 15 min | $1.17 |
| Make breakfast for the family | 20 min | $1.55 |
| Rake the leaves | 30 min | $2.33 |
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 9 year olds.
Is nine old enough to earn by the hour?
Yes. The rate is scaled to their age, so an hour of a nine year old's work pays less than an hour of a fifteen year old's. That is how junior wages work in the real economy too.
How do I stop them rushing the job badly?
A job is not done until it is done properly, and it does not pay until it is done. Standard time rewards speed, but the parent still signs it off.
Can they propose their own jobs?
They should. A kid who spots that the garage needs sweeping and asks what it pays is doing exactly what the system is for. You set the standard time; it joins the board.
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.