Tooth Fairy Inflation Hits $5.84 a Tooth as $20 Stays the Outlier

The going rate went up, but $20 is still rare

The claim that some parents now leave $20 under the pillow for each lost tooth has spread quickly as a story about inflation reaching the Tooth Fairy. Survey data tells a quieter story. Delta Dental's 2026 Original Tooth Fairy Poll put the average payout at $5.84 per tooth, up 17% from $5.01 a year earlier, and the company said this was the first annual increase since 2023, ending two years of decline.34 The survey covered 1,000 parents of children ages 6 to 12, was conducted January 5–15, 2026, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.1

At that average, a $20 bill is about 3.4 times the typical payout.21 Most of the evidence for $20-a-tooth households comes from anecdotes. In parent forums, some people say $20 is normal in their neighborhood, and one Los Angeles parent called it the local going rate. Many others in the same threads say they pay $1 coins or $2 bills.32 Columnists have treated the figure as a warning for years. One parenting writer pointed out back in 2022 that $20 for each of a child's 20 baby teeth adds up to $400.31

Our reading is that the $20 tooth is a real habit among a small group of affluent parents, often a first-tooth splurge or whatever bill was in the wallet that night. It is not a sign of a new national price level.

A 'raise' that just gets back to 2024

The 17% jump looks less impressive with some history. Delta Dental's own releases show the average hit a record $6.23 in 2023, slipped to $5.84 in 2024, and fell 14% to $5.01 in 2025, one of the steepest drops in the poll's history.4 Axios's chart shows the 2026 figure is exactly the 2024 level, not a new high.6 In nominal terms, children are still below where they were three years ago.

The long view is more dramatic. Since the poll began in 1998, the average gift has risen 349%, from $1.30 to $5.84.2 Axios said that climb reflects both general inflation and changing parental spending habits.6 Prices have gone up broadly over that time, so the tooth's purchasing power has not risen nearly as much as the headline percentage suggests.

Delta Dental compares its poll with the stock market rather than with consumer prices. It says payouts have historically followed the S&P 500, and that this year's 17% gain roughly matched a 16% rise in the index, with the January average moving from 5,960 to 6,941.4 That link has been unreliable. In the 2025 survey, payouts fell 14% while the S&P 500 rose 26%.4 In 2023, payouts rose 16% while the index fell 11%.4 Financial outlets including Archyde and PYMNTS reported the market match at face value.2425 The poll's own history suggests treating the correlation as a fun coincidence, not a gauge of the economy.

The averages hide big swings by region and by tooth

The regional figures moved sharply. The Northeast led at $6.45 per tooth after a 41% jump, followed by the West at $5.99, the South at $5.89 and the Midwest at $5.27, which rose 52%.5 The West shows how volatile the numbers are: its average went from $8.54 in 2024 to $5.69 in 2025 before edging back up.2 With roughly 1,000 respondents split across four regions, swings like these probably say as much about sampling noise as about family budgets.

The first tooth is paid more. It averaged $7.17 in 2026, up from $6.24, and 38% of parents said the Tooth Fairy leaves extra for it.2 Several advice writers suggest using that pattern to handle the $20 question: make the first tooth the big one and keep later teeth at a lower amount parents can sustain.21 Many families on parent forums already do some version of this.32

The most telling change for a cost-of-living story is not about cash. Delta Dental found that 32% of children received a physical gift from the Tooth Fairy this year, up from 19% in 2025.2 That could reflect families looking for cheaper ways to make the moment special, or just a fashion for notes and trinkets. Either way, the data shows parents are not simply paying more cash.

The grocery bill: slower increases, still painful

The Tooth Fairy rate is a fun number, but grocery prices are where shoppers actually feel inflation, and there the picture is mixed. August consumer price data showed food-at-home prices flat for the month and 2.2% higher than a year earlier, while overall CPI rose 3.4% year over year.11 Reports differ slightly on the monthly headline figure. The USDA's Economic Research Service put the all-items increase at 0.3%, while FMI's analyst cited 0.4%.1119 Both agree that groceries are rising more slowly than the economy-wide price level right now.

The USDA lowered its 2026 grocery forecast to 2.4%, below the 20-year average of 2.6%. It expects all food to rise 2.9% and restaurant meals 3.5%.1115 The averages hide large differences between categories. Beef and veal are forecast to rise 9.4% this year, fresh vegetables 5.7% and sugar and sweets 6.6%, while eggs are expected to fall about 29%.15 That beef forecast has risen sharply since March, when the USDA projected only 5.5%.20

The industry is not convinced the relief will last. Ricky Volpe of Cal Poly, speaking in an FMI briefing, warned that diesel, transportation, storage, fertilizer and tariff costs are still moving through the supply chain. He also said tighter corn supplies, which feed into a large share of supermarket products, could push prices higher.1619 He said annual food inflation could end at 2.7% to 2.9%, above the USDA midpoint.19

For households, the bigger issue is how much prices have risen in total. FMI says food-at-home prices are up more than 30% since 2020.16 One grocery tracker built on federal data puts the increase since January 2021 at 27.6%, with ground beef up 73.6%.14 FMI's polling found 68% of consumers highly concerned about food prices and 70% saying their income has fallen behind inflation.16 Against that backdrop, a $5.84 tooth is a small expense, and a $20 tooth is a luxury.

Subscriptions are rising faster than inflation

If any household cost shows true runaway inflation, it is streaming, not the Tooth Fairy. Disney raised its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans by $2.50 to $21.49 a month each, a 13% increase and its fourth price hike in four years.36 The Hollywood Reporter said streaming prices have risen about three times faster than general inflation since 2022.36

Disney had plenty of company. Netflix raised all three U.S. tiers in March, putting Standard at $19.99 and Premium at $26.99.34 Peacock raised every tier in August, with Premium Plus going to $19.99 from $16.99.33 Apple TV went to $14.99 a month and its annual plan to $119.99.33 Amazon raised the fee to remove ads from Prime Video from $2.99 to $4.99, about a 67% increase, and Fubo raised its core plan 20% to $88.99.41 Coverage disagrees on some details. One tracker says Netflix's ad tier rose from $6.99, while others say $7.99.3339 All agree it now costs $8.99.

One analysis estimates that a household with four common ad-free services pays about $73 a month, rising to roughly $156 with a live TV service.38 Disney's pricing is designed to push customers toward bundles and ad-supported tiers: its ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu bundle stayed at $12.99.35 Analysts say the increases pay for content costs and steer viewers toward ad-supported plans that bring in revenue twice, from subscriptions and from advertisers.37

What it adds up to

Put together, the coverage suggests the Tooth Fairy story is more of a cultural quirk than an inflation trend. The national average has roughly tracked general price increases over the long run and only just returned to its 2024 level. The parents who pay $20 are the exception that makes headlines. Groceries are rising more slowly, though they are still well above pre-pandemic prices and may pick up again. Subscription costs are rising faster than inflation year after year.

This does not make the Tooth Fairy irrelevant to family finances. A financial planner at Ameriprise suggests treating the payout as a child's first lesson in spending versus saving.27 The National Foundation for Credit Counseling also recommends the tradition as a way to introduce money basics.21 For parents managing grocery and streaming bills that keep rising, a $5 payout is close to what most families leave and easy to keep up for all 20 teeth.