Pocket money and chores for teenagers

The teenage years are when pocket money stops being about sweets and starts being rehearsal for adult money. It's the last stage where a mistake costs a few euros rather than a missed rent payment — which makes it the best time to let a teenager practise, stumble and learn while the stakes are still small.

How much is normal?

There's no single right number — it depends on your family budget, local norms, and what the money is expected to cover. As a rough sense of scale, a 2025 survey of families using the Greenlight app found weekly amounts rising steadily with age: around US$11.59 at 13, US$15.26 at 15 and US$21.47 at 17, with teenagers averaging roughly US$18 a week. Treat those as a pattern, not a prescription: the figures are US data and will differ where you live. What matters more than the exact amount is that it's consistent, predictable, and matched to a clear expectation of what it should stretch to cover.

Should it be tied to chores?

This is the question every family runs into, and it's the same one we cover in depth in Should you pay children for chores? The short version: many families keep everyday chores as an unpaid part of belonging to the household, and treat pocket money as a separate tool for learning to manage money — while paying, if at all, only for larger optional jobs. Tying every chore to a payment risks teaching a teenager that helping at home is a transaction rather than a contribution.

The conversation around the money teaches more than the money itself.

Give real autonomy — and let them stumble

Pocket money only builds money sense if the teenager actually gets to make the decisions. Give them a genuine say in how it's split between spending, saving and giving, and then let them live with the results — including the ones that don't work out. A teenager who blows a fortnight's money in two days has learned something far more useful than one who was never allowed to. Small failures now are cheap lessons; the same mistake at twenty-five is not.

Make saving visible with a goal

Money sense grows fastest when saving has a point. Help your teenager attach their saving to something they actually want — the thing that makes putting money aside feel worth it. It's the same principle as any good goal: concrete, owned by them, and broken into steps. Our guide on setting goals that stick covers how.

Sources

• Average weekly allowance by age (2025 figures) and the chores question — Greenlight, “Average allowance by age for kids and teens.”
• Allowance and financial literacy — CNBC, “How allowance teaches children about money.”