How Much Does the Tooth Fairy Pay?

From our UK student intern Sam Rogers:

     As little kids, the whole world is filled with magic! From Santa Claus, the man with a little round belly that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly, flying around the world delivering presents to children, to the Easter Bunny, decorating our lawns with colored eggs filled with chocolate and coins, the Tooth Fairy had to be one of my favorites.

     Having money magically appear under my pillow was one of the coolest things ever. Nothing was as exciting as leaving a small, pearly white under my pillow at night and finding a  bright, shiny silver dollar the next morning; I would squeal in excitement and run to my closet to store it in my special bank hidden on the highest shelf (I doubt even the Tooth Fairy knew where it was).
 

     But, according to Visa, the Tooth Fairy (a.k.a. Mom and Dad) the price of a tooth is on the rise. According to a national survey, most parents left an average of $3 under the pillow per tooth this year. That’s a 15 percent increase from $2.60 a year ago.

     “The tooth fairy may be the canary in the economic coal mine,” said Jason Alderman, Visa's senior director of global financial education.

     How much kids are getting from the Tooth Fairy also depends on where they live. Kids in the Northeast are raking in the dough, according to the Visa study, at $4.10 per tooth. In the west and south, kids received $3.70 and $3.60 per tooth, respectively. Midwestern kids received the least, at $3.30 a tooth.  Forget the stock market and Wall Street; we should all start investing in our kids’ teeth! 

     Visa is also promoting a downloadable smartphone app called the Tooth Fairy Calculator. It’s designed to help parents determine the going rate of a tooth by showing what the Tooth Fairy is leaving under the pillows of other children. 

     By entering information into the free app, including gender, education, state, age, family size, marital status and household income, you can get a better idea of how much parents in your age group, income bracket and education level are giving their kids, says Alderman. 

     Looks like the Tooth Fairy is more popular than ever! How much are you shelling out for those pearly whites? Comment below!