Allowance for Teenagers (13–17): Amounts, Budgets and Part-Time Jobs

At 13, allowance changes. Until now it covered candy, trading cards and the occasional movie; now clothes, phones, going out and the first part-time job enter the picture. An allowance for teenagers can be sized with a chart. How to negotiate it with a teen, who pays for the phone and what they are allowed to earn on the side takes a little more. This guide gives you amounts from 13 to 17, the move to a budget for real expenses, the legal basics on jobs and contracts, and a script for the yearly allowance talk.

Allowance for teenagers: amounts at 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17

There is no official US guideline, but the most common rule of thumb – $0.50 to $1 per week for every year of age – produces sensible ranges for teens. The full chart from 4 to 18 is in allowance by age; here is the teen section, with the monthly equivalent (weekly × 4.33), the UK average from the NatWest Rooster Money Pocket Money Index 2026 and what teens typically pay for themselves.

The ranges get wider with age because families expect very different things to be covered. And the amounts assume that you still pay for needs: food, school supplies, transportation and a basic wardrobe. Once your teen takes over part of that, the money has to move with it – separately from the allowance, more on that below. In the UK, where the term is “pocket money”, the averages are lower, but the same logic applies.

From allowance to budget

An allowance is money to spend freely – your teen decides what it is for. That is exactly why it should not have to cover fixed costs like clothes or bus fare; if it does, the free part shrinks and the allowance loses its point. What belongs where is covered in what kids should pay for.

From about 14, a second model works well: a budget on top of the allowance. You work out what you spend per year on one item – clothing, phone, eating out –, divide by twelve and pay the amount monthly in addition to the allowance. Your teen then manages that item. The idea: a 15-year-old cannot plan rent yet, but can very well handle $50 a month for clothes. They learn with a real, manageable budget what will later happen with a paycheck – and you are out of the debate about brand-name sneakers. The youth welfare office in Nuremberg, Germany, recommends exactly this step from 14; in the US, families often call it a clothing allowance.

Three items are especially suitable:

• Clothing budget. The classic. Basics stay on you; everything beyond them runs through the budget. Calculate honestly with what you actually spent, not with what you would like to spend.
• Phone budget. The plan stays on your account, but your teen covers a share of it from the budget – or you deduct it directly. Anything beyond the plan comes from the same pot.
• Going-out budget. Movies, the pool, rides to friends, lunch in town. Useful from about 15, when free time happens without you.

Phone plans and subscriptions: who pays

A phone plan, a streaming service or a gaming subscription is a recurring contract. In practice, carriers and app stores tie these to an adult account, and contracts with minors are generally voidable – so the account holder is you, and you carry the bill. The details of what minors can and cannot buy on their own are in what kids can buy with their own money.

For daily life that means: you sign the phone plan, so you pay for it – or you settle it through the budget, as described above. Anything your teen uses beyond the plan is theirs to pay for: extra data, in-app purchases, a game subscription. That comes out of the allowance or the phone budget.

Part-time jobs: what teens may do

“I could babysit” – and in many cases they can. In the US, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the baseline; states can be stricter, and the stricter rule applies.

Under 14, most regular jobs are off-limits, but some work is exempt: delivering newspapers, acting, babysitting and minor chores around private homes, and work in a business owned entirely by the parents.

At 14 and 15, teens may work in many non-hazardous jobs – retail, food service, office work – within limits: no more than 3 hours on a school day (including Fridays), 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day and 40 hours in a non-school week, and only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 to Labor Day).

At 16 and 17, federal law no longer limits hours; only hazardous jobs remain off-limits. Some states still restrict hours or require work permits.

In the UK, children can usually work part-time from 14, and some local councils allow light work from 13. In term time, the limit is 12 hours a week, with at most 2 hours on school days and Sundays and 5 hours on Saturdays at 14 (8 hours at 15–16), never before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. and no more than an hour before school.

Whether and how much is your call. A first job at 14 is a good experience, but it should not have to make up for an allowance that is too tight.

Negotiate, don’t dictate: the yearly allowance talk

With an 8-year-old, you set the allowance; with a 15-year-old, you negotiate it – because a rule your teen helped make is a rule that holds. The best occasion is the birthday: once a year, predictable, without anyone having to nag first. How to set up rules that last is covered in allowance rules.

The fifth point is where families most often get tangled. A teen who wants a $300 console does not get it by having a “slightly” higher allowance for three months. A second route works better and leaves the allowance untouched: jobs that go beyond basic responsibilities and that you would otherwise do or pay for yourself – clearing out the garage, getting the bikes ready for winter, walking the neighbor’s dog for three weeks. In Pepp, families set up such jobs as extra quests with a reward; the earnings collect in your teen’s pot next to the allowance, which is credited automatically, and your teen sees their savings goal and progress. The pot only keeps count – no real money moves in the app, and you pay out when the goal is reached. The allowance stays what it is: a fixed amount, free to spend, no conditions.

Common conflicts – and what helps

“Everyone else gets more.” Usually there is a different list behind it. Ask: what does the friend pay for out of it? Bus fare, their own clothes? If your teen still has noticeably less free money than their peers afterwards, that is a reason to adjust, not to sit it out.

Debts to friends. Lending $5 for the movies is normal; it becomes a problem when it piles up. Agree early that borrowed money is paid back first from the next allowance. What does not help: quietly covering the debt. Then your teen learns that borrowing has no consequences.

“Then I’ll just earn it myself.” Good – within the law. Basic responsibilities remain, and if grades drop, the job pauses, not the allowance.

Conclusion

An allowance for teenagers by the rule of thumb runs from about $28–56 a month at 13 to $37–74 at 17, with UK averages of £4.50 to £7.95 a week – as long as you cover their needs. Once your teen takes over clothes, phone or going out, add a budget from about 14, separate from the allowance, which stays free to spend. Contracts run through you; extras are on your teen. Jobs are possible within the hour limits from 14, and whatever the grades look like, the allowance is paid on time and not cut. Negotiate it calmly once a year, and you save yourself the arguments in between.