Allowance calculator: how much should you give?
Choose your child's age and what the allowance will cover. You'll see what US parents actually pay, based on a 2025 survey of more than 1,000 parents, plus a simple way to split it. For kids ages 5 to 18.
What US parents pay, age 10
$20 a week
Based on our research, US parents pay a median of about $20 a week at age 10, and an average of about $34. We suggested the median, the middle amount parents pay. That is about $87 a month.
One way to split it
U.S. Bank describes a simple split: one third to save, one third to spend and one third to give. Any split works if your child knows it before the money arrives.
Save
$6.66
Spend
$6.68
Give
$6.66
Want to make saving feel worth it? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggests a match, for example 25 cents for every dollar your child saves. If your child saves $6.66 this week, a 25-cent match adds $1.67.
How we calculate
These amounts come from Babalata's research into what US families actually pay. They use the Wells Fargo family banking survey, conducted by Ipsos from April 28 to May 8, 2025, with 1,073 US parents who give an allowance (the top 4% of very large answers were left out). The median is the middle answer parents gave; the average is pulled up by larger allowances. The survey reports four age groups (5 to 8, 9 to 11, 12 to 14 and 15 to 17), so we estimate each single age by drawing a smooth line between those groups, rounded to whole dollars.
More on choosing an amount in our allowance by age guide. Your answers stay in your browser and are not saved or sent anywhere.
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Track the savings part with our free savings goal tracker and chore chart printables.
Turn the save part into a goal with the savings goal calculator.
Made by Babalata, a savings-goal and money-habits app for US families with kids ages 6 to 18. No debit card, no bank account: parents keep the real money. Available on the App Store and Google Play, in the United States only.