If your 13-year-old has come to you asking about getting a job, you’re probably feeling a mixture of things — pride that they’re thinking about responsibility and money, and a reasonable concern about whether this is appropriate, legal, and safe for someone their age.
The good news is that some work is absolutely available to 13-year-olds, and some of it is genuinely valuable — it teaches time management, people skills, and the relationship between effort and reward in ways school simply can’t replicate. The important thing is knowing exactly what the law allows, what’s safe, and what to watch out for.
This guide is written for you — the parent — to give you a clear, honest, and complete picture before your child starts anything.
The Legal Reality: What Federal Law Actually Says
The starting point for every question about youth employment in the United States is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) — the federal law that sets the floor for child labor protections nationwide.
The FLSA sets 14 as the minimum age for most formal employment. This is not a suggestion — it is federal law, and it means that the vast majority of traditional jobs (restaurants, retail stores, grocery chains, offices) cannot legally hire your 13-year-old, regardless of what they might tell you or how mature your child is.
However — and this is important — there are specific exceptions for 13-year-olds, and they’re worth knowing in detail.
According to Paycor’s 2026 legal age-to-work analysis and LegalClarity’s FLSA guide, the categories where a 13-year-old can legally work are:
- Casual neighborhood work — babysitting, lawn mowing, snow shoveling, dog walking, and similar services performed for private individuals in your community. These are not covered by the FLSA at all, meaning the minimum wage laws, work permit requirements, and most formal employment rules simply don’t apply. This is genuinely the most accessible category of work for a 13-year-old.
- Newspaper delivery — the traditional route-based delivery of physical newspapers to individual consumers. This is one of the specific FLSA exemptions for minors under 14.
- Entertainment and performance work — acting, modeling, commercial appearances, and similar creative roles, with appropriate parental consent and often subject to state entertainment industry protections specifically designed for child performers.
- Agricultural work on small farms — with parental consent, children under 14 can perform certain farm work on farms not subject to federal minimum wage requirements. This typically means smaller family farms. This is the most geographically limited exception and comes with its own set of rules.
- Working in a parent-owned business — if you own a business outright, your 13-year-old can work there, provided the work is not in manufacturing, mining, or designated hazardous occupations. This is specifically limited to businesses solely owned by the parent — not a franchise, not a partnership.
One thing to be clear about: The major fast-food chains, grocery stores, and retail brands that come up when teens search for jobs (McDonald’s, Target, Starbucks, Walmart, Kroger, Chick-fil-A) do not hire at 13. Their minimum age is 14 or 16 depending on the company. Any website claiming these companies hire 13-year-olds is providing outdated or incorrect information. The minimum age for formal retail and food service employment under federal law is 14.
What Your State Adds on Top
Federal law is the floor, but states often build higher walls. Some states have stricter minimum age requirements than the federal baseline, additional work permit requirements, or tighter rules around entertainment industry employment.
A few important state-specific notes for parents:
California has some of the strongest child performer protections in the country — Coogan Law accounts protect minor entertainers’ earnings, and entertainment work requires permits and court approval in many cases.
New York similarly has robust entertainment industry protections for child actors and performers.
Agricultural states (Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota) may have specific exceptions for farm work that reflect their regional economies — worth checking your state’s Department of Labor website for specifics.
The important rule: Whichever is stricter — federal or state law — is what applies. When in doubt, contact your state’s Department of Labor directly. They are there to help parents understand these rules and won’t penalize you for asking.
What Can Your 13-Year-Old Actually Do? The Realistic List
Here’s what genuinely works, is age-appropriate, and where the earning potential is real.
Babysitting
This is the most common and most natural first job for a 13-year-old, and for good reason. It’s flexible, happens in familiar neighborhood settings, and rewards maturity and responsibility directly. There are no age restrictions under federal law — it’s casual work between individuals.
What they can earn: Babysitting rates for a 13-year-old typically run $8–$15 per hour depending on your region, the number of children, and the hours involved. In major metro areas, rates can run higher. The American Red Cross babysitting certification course (a one-day class available in most communities) meaningfully increases what parents are willing to pay and gives you, as a parent, peace of mind about what your child has learned.
Safety note for parents: Help your child establish only with families you know — neighbors, friends of friends, people from your school or community. Start with short, daytime sessions. Have a check-in protocol. These are reasonable parental structures that don’t diminish your child’s accomplishment; they just make sure it’s safe.
Lawn Care, Snow Shoveling, and Yard Work
Mowing lawns, weeding gardens, raking leaves, shoveling snow, and similar yard work for neighbors is another FLSA-exempt category — no minimum wage law applies, no work permit needed, and no federal age restriction.
What they can earn: Lawn mowing typically runs $20–$50 per lawn depending on size. Snow shoveling in winter regions can command $15–$40 per driveway. A 13-year-old who builds a small route of five to eight regular customers can generate meaningful, consistent income with equipment you probably already own.
What makes this work well: It’s physical, it’s outdoors, it builds customer service skills, and it has a clear service-to-payment relationship. Many teenagers who start here learn to manage a small informal business — handling scheduling, pricing conversations, and reliability — which is genuinely more useful than most things they’d learn in a first retail job.
Pet Care — Dog Walking, Pet Sitting, and Feeding
Caring for neighbors’ pets when they travel is another flexible, neighborhood-based option. Pet sitting rates vary but often run $15–$25 per day for checking in and feeding, with dog walking at $10–$20 per walk depending on your area. Apps like Rover technically require users to be 18, but informal pet care arranged directly with neighbors has no age restriction.
What makes this particularly good for younger teens: Animals require consistent care regardless of weather or mood — which builds real discipline. Pets are also naturally lower-stakes companions for a 13-year-old to manage than, say, younger children. Many parents find this a good first responsibility before their child moves on to babysitting.
Agricultural and Farm Work (Where Applicable)
If you live in a rural or agricultural area, farm work with parental consent is legally available to children under 14. This might mean picking produce, helping with planting or harvest, caring for animals, or similar tasks on family farms or small operations.
What to know: The rules vary depending on the type of farm and the specific work. Farms not subject to federal minimum wage requirements can hire children of any age with parental consent. This is more geographically specific than the other options, but for families in agricultural communities, it’s a legitimate and well-established path.
Creative and Entertainment Work
If your child has a performing interest — acting, modeling, music, dancing — the entertainment industry has specific exemptions that allow minors under 14 to work. This includes professional acting, commercial work, print modeling, and similar roles.
What parents need to know: State entertainment labor laws are specific and protective in this space, particularly in California and New York. The Coogan Law requires that 15% of a minor performer’s gross earnings be set aside in a blocked trust account that the child (not the parent) controls when they turn 18. Work permits are typically required. Reputable talent agencies and production companies are familiar with these requirements — be cautious of anyone who isn’t.
Informal Digital Work
This is a newer category that the law doesn’t always address specifically — things like helping neighbors or local businesses with social media posting, creating simple graphics, writing product descriptions, or similar tasks arranged informally. These don’t have formal job structures and aren’t covered by most employment regulations.
The earnings are variable, but the skills developed are genuinely marketable. A 13-year-old who spends a summer helping a local bakery organize their Instagram account is building a portfolio that will serve them through high school and beyond.
What 13-Year-Olds Can Earn: A Realistic Salary Guide
For casual and informal work, there’s no minimum wage requirement — the rate is negotiated directly. Here’s what’s realistic by category in 2026:
| Type of Work | Typical Earnings | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Babysitting | $8–$15/hour | Higher with certification, multiple children |
| Lawn mowing | $20–$50/lawn | Size and region dependent |
| Snow shoveling | $15–$40/driveway | Seasonal; higher demand in winter regions |
| Pet sitting | $15–$25/day | Overnight care commands more |
| Dog walking | $10–$20/walk | Route-building increases income |
| Farm work | Varies by farm | Formal rates may apply on larger operations |
| Entertainment/acting | Scale rates | Protected by state law on productions |
| Informal digital tasks | $10–$30/project | Negotiated individually |
A motivated 13-year-old working a few hours on weekends in one or two of these categories can realistically earn $100–$300 per month. That’s meaningful money for a child that age — enough to cover discretionary spending, start saving, or work toward a specific goal.
Benefits of Working at 13 — And the Real Ones, Not Just the Obvious Ones
When parents think about the benefits of their child working young, they usually think of the obvious: earning money, learning responsibility. Those are real. But research on early work experience points to a few less-obvious benefits worth knowing about.
Financial literacy develops faster through real money than through allowances. There’s something specific about earning money through effort — rather than receiving it — that changes how a 13-year-old thinks about spending, saving, and the relationship between time and value. This isn’t just a platitude; it’s documented in how early earners approach financial decisions as adults.
Customer service experience is genuinely rare at 13. A 13-year-old who has had to manage a difficult babysitting situation, negotiate pricing for lawn care, or communicate professionally with a pet owner has social and communication skills that most of their peers won’t develop until their mid-teens at the earliest. These skills compound.
Work gives structure to unstructured time. For many teenagers, the hours after school and on weekends are the highest-risk periods for poor decisions. Having a consistent commitment — even a small one — creates structure and a sense of productive purpose.
What to Watch Out For: A Parent’s Safety Checklist
Before your child starts any work at 13, run through these as a parent:
Verify the arrangement is between people you know or can verify. Casual work with neighbors, community members, and people from your existing network is appropriate. Jobs advertised online to strangers — particularly anything requiring private home access — needs significantly more vetting.
Watch for any “job” that asks for money upfront. Legitimate casual employment never requires your child (or you) to pay for anything. Any arrangement that involves startup costs, purchasing a kit, or paying for training is not a legitimate job — it’s a scam or an MLM, and these specifically target young people.
Be skeptical of “online jobs” that pay per click, per survey, or per social media post. Many platforms that advertise work for teens require users to be 18, and the ones that don’t have age verification frequently expose younger users to inappropriate content or financial exploitation. The legitimate options for a 13-year-old are almost all local and in-person.
Check any entertainment or talent opportunity carefully. Legitimate modeling agencies, talent agents, and production companies do not ask for upfront fees. They do not require you to purchase a specific portfolio package through them. If any entertainment “opportunity” involves significant money out of your pocket before your child earns anything, walk away.
Make sure school comes first, in writing. Having a clear expectation — with your child, and with whoever they’re working for — that school, homework, and sleep always take priority over work schedules prevents the most common problem with early teen employment: academic impact.
When Your Child Turns 14: What Opens Up
The reason this guide focuses heavily on informal work is because that’s genuinely what’s available at 13. When your child turns 14, the landscape changes significantly.
At 14, formal employment in retail, food service, and many other settings becomes available under federal law, with specific hour restrictions during the school year. Companies that commonly hire 14-year-olds include Chick-fil-A, Baskin-Robbins, Kroger, AMC Theatres, and various regional food service and retail businesses.
That doesn’t mean you have to wait until 14 to start building good habits. The informal work your child does at 13 — the references they build with neighbors, the simple savings habits they develop, the customer service experience they accumulate — makes them a noticeably stronger candidate when they do apply for formal work at 14 or 15.
Our guide on what jobs hire at 16 and our how old do you have to be to work at McDonald’s and Starbucks articles cover what becomes available at those ages, along with pay rates and what to expect from specific employers.
The Bottom Line for Parents
Your 13-year-old wanting to work is a genuinely good sign. It reflects initiative, a developing sense of independence, and a healthy relationship with the idea of earning rather than just receiving.
What’s available at 13 is modest in terms of formal structure — babysitting, lawn care, pet sitting, farm work, entertainment, and work in a parent-owned business are the categories the law allows. None of these are dangerous, most are flexible around school, and all of them build real skills.
The limits exist for good reasons. Federal child labor law is designed to protect education and physical safety — a 13-year-old has years of development ahead, and the law reflects that. Working within those boundaries isn’t a disappointment; it’s an appropriate scaffold for building toward the formal employment that opens up at 14 and beyond.
Your job as a parent isn’t to block this impulse — it’s to channel it safely.
Related WiseWorq Guides
- What Jobs Hire at 16? (2026 Guide) — what opens up in three years, with specific companies and honest pay data
- How Old Do You Have to Be to Work at McDonald’s? (2026) — the most common first formal employer, explained for teens and parents
- How Old Do You Have to Be to Work at Target? (2026) — Target’s hiring age, pay, and what teen employees say about the job
- How Old Do You Have to Be to Work at Starbucks? (2026) — age requirements, benefits, and what to expect at 16+
- What Jobs Can I Do From Home With No Experience? — online earning options, including those appropriate for motivated teenagers
