Another day, another allowance survey.
A 2025 Wells Fargo survey reports that the average weekly allowance parents pay kids is $37.
A 2025 StudyFinds survey says children receive about $119 per month on average.
A 2024 T. Rowe Price survey found the average weekly allowance across respondents was $19.39.
Hot take: allowance surveys are completely useless.
The amount of allowance Parent A pays their child is meaningless for Parent B.
Why?
Because what really matters is what each child is expected to purchase with that allowance.
Example:
- Parent A expects their child to buy their clothing with Allowance A.
- Parent B expects their child to just have a little pocket money for everyday incidentals with Allowance B.
Which allowance should be bigger — A or B?
Exactly.
It’s not the size of the allowance that matters. It’s the purchasing expectations.
Ignore the generic surveys. Ignore what other parents are doing.
Match your child’s allowance to your purchasing expectations.
There’s a fancy word for that: budgeting.
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