--- description: American moms and dads pay $3.19 per tooth this year title: Tooth Fairy Paying Less for Second Year in a Row image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbf84fd69b36a4a8/69885fa1428a9e4e00ccead9/tooth-fairy.jpg?branch=production ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Economy](/tag/economy/) ## Economy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Tooth Fairy Is Paying Out Less For the Second Year in a Row  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 17, 2015 5:52 PM CUT  Woman"s hand lifting a pillow showing a tooth waiting for the tooth fairy Raton Perez in Spain. Petite Souris in France. Woman"s hand lifting a pillow showing a tooth waiting for the tooth fairy Raton Perez in Spain. Petite Souris in France.Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 17, 2015 5:52 PM CUT For kids losing teeth, some tough news to chew on: Tooth Fairy payouts have [continued to decline in 2015](http://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthasharf/2015/08/17/tooth-fairy-deflation-average-payout-per-tooth-drops-to-3-19/?utm%5Fcampaign=ForbesPersFin&utm%5Fsource=TWITTER&utm%5Fmedium=social&linkId=16356541 "undefined"), with American children receiving $3.19 per tooth. That’s a 24-cent decline from last year and the second year of decline overall, _Forbes_ reports, but it’s still higher than some years past. From 2010-2012, the average per-tooth payment hovered around $3 before approaching $4 in 2013 and subsequently dropping. The data comes from Visa’s sixth annual Tooth Fairy survey, which included 4,027 people via phone interviews. The data varies by income, gender and location. Dads are more generous than moms, giving $3.63 per tooth on average, while moms give only $2.87 on average. Parents in the Northeast U.S. give the most, with an average of $3.56, while Southern parents offer the least with $3.07 per tooth. \[[_Forbes_](http://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthasharf/2015/08/17/tooth-fairy-deflation-average-payout-per-tooth-drops-to-3-19/?utm%5Fcampaign=ForbesPersFin&utm%5Fsource=TWITTER&utm%5Fmedium=social&linkId=16356541 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4000505/tooth-fairy-money/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4000505/tooth-fairy-money/"},"headline":"The Tooth Fairy Is Paying Out Less For the Second Year in a Row","datePublished":"2015-08-17T17:52:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:13:56.470Z","description":"American moms and dads are only paying out $3.19 per tooth this year","url":"https://time.com/4000505/tooth-fairy-money/","keywords":["Economy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbf84fd69b36a4a8/69885fa1428a9e4e00ccead9/tooth-fairy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbf84fd69b36a4a8/69885fa1428a9e4e00ccead9/tooth-fairy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tooth Fairy","caption":"Tooth Fairy","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/economy/","name":"Economy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4000505/tooth-fairy-money/","name":"The Tooth Fairy Is Paying Out Less For the Second Year in a Row"}}]}] ```