How Old Do You Have to Be to Be a Bank Teller?

To work as a bank teller, you generally have to be at least 18. That’s the standard almost every bank uses, though federal law itself doesn’t set a teller-specific minimum, and some community banks and credit unions will hire 16- and 17-year-olds into supervised teller roles with limited transaction authority.

Why Most Banks Set the Minimum at 18

No federal statute names a minimum age for tellers. The 18-year-old floor comes from contract law, insurance practice, and risk management. Tellers process transactions that create legally binding records every day, and adults carry full accountability for those records. Minors can generally void contracts under state law, which makes every transaction they handle harder for a bank to enforce.

Federal regulations also require every officer and employee of a national bank to be covered by a fidelity bond, which is insurance protecting the bank against employee dishonesty or error.¹ The regulation doesn’t specify an age, but bond underwriters generally prefer to cover workers who have reached the age of majority, because legal accountability is cleaner. That preference pushes most banks toward an 18-and-over hiring policy.

Can You Be a Bank Teller Under 18?

Yes, under federal law. The Fair Labor Standards Act sets 16 as the general minimum age for employment in non-hazardous occupations, and 16- and 17-year-olds can work unlimited hours in any job the Secretary of Labor has not declared hazardous.² Banking is not on the federal hazardous-occupations list, so a 16- or 17-year-old can legally be hired as a teller.³

Workers who are 14 or 15 face much tighter rules. They can hold office and cashiering jobs, but only outside school hours and within strict daily and weekly hour limits.² In practice, very few banks will hire tellers younger than 16, and the ones that do usually build the role into a vocational program or student internship with close oversight from a senior teller or branch manager.

Where to Look if You’re 16 or 17

Skip the large national banks and start with local community banks and credit unions. Smaller institutions are more open to junior teller roles, though the position will come with limits: reduced drawer amounts, no vault access, and restrictions on the types of transactions you can authorize on your own. State labor laws may also add hour restrictions beyond the federal rules, so check what your state requires.

What Else Banks Require

Age is only one piece of the eligibility picture. Whether you’re 17 or 47, you’ll run into the same set of hiring requirements.

Diploma and Work Authorization

Nearly every bank asks for a high school diploma or GED. Some prefer coursework in accounting, business, or finance, and a few list an associate degree as a plus, though a degree isn’t typical for entry-level teller work.

On your first day you’ll complete a Form I-9. You can present one document from List A, such as a U.S. passport, which covers both identity and work authorization. Or you can present one List B document (like a state-issued driver’s license) together with one List C document (like a Social Security card).⁴ The documents must be presented within three business days of starting work. Your employer cannot demand a specific document; if you show a valid passport, the bank cannot then also require a Social Security card.

The Section 19 Background Check

Every federally insured bank and credit union has to comply with Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act before hiring anyone. The law bars anyone convicted of a crime involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering, or anyone who entered a pretrial diversion program for such an offense, from working at an insured institution unless the FDIC gives written consent.⁵ The bar reaches tellers, officers, directors, and anyone else involved in the institution’s affairs.⁶

A conviction doesn’t automatically end your candidacy. The FDIC has a formal application process for written consent, which weighs the nature of the offense, how much time has passed, and your conduct since.⁷ There’s also a de minimis exemption that applies automatically, with no FDIC filing needed, when all of the following are true:

You have no more than two covered offenses.
Each offense carried a possible sentence of three years or less and/or a fine of $3,500 or less, and you actually served three days or less of jail time.
If there are two convictions, each was entered at least three years before an application would otherwise be required.
The offense was not against a bank or credit union.

A separate provision exempts offenses committed at age 21 or younger if the same criteria are met.⁸ If your record falls inside these limits, the bank doesn’t need FDIC consent to hire you.

Credit Check

Expect a credit screening. Banks read your credit history as a signal of how you handle financial responsibility, and unpaid debts or judgments may raise concerns. Roughly ten states restrict employer credit checks, but financial institutions are exempt from those restrictions in nearly all of them.

Before pulling your report, the bank must give you a clear written disclosure in a standalone document, and you must authorize the check in writing.⁹ If the bank decides not to hire you because of the report, it has to tell you, give you a copy, and let you dispute errors before finalizing the decision. Pulling your own report ahead of time and fixing any inaccuracies is worth doing.

Fingerprinting

Many banks fingerprint new hires as part of the background process. Fingerprint-based FBI checks are the most reliable way to surface prior criminal history and are specifically required for Section 19 reviews and certain other FDIC applications.¹⁰ Cost varies by location, generally from free up to about $35. Ask whether your employer covers it.

What the Job Pays

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, bank tellers earned a median annual wage of $39,340 as of May 2024, roughly $18.91 an hour. The lowest-paid 10 percent earned less than $31,270; the highest-paid 10 percent earned more than $48,270.¹¹ Pay varies with region, institution size, and experience. Bilingual tellers and those with professional certifications often start at the higher end.

The overall job outlook is declining. BLS projects a 13 percent drop in teller employment between 2024 and 2034, a loss of roughly 44,900 positions, driven mostly by the shift to online and mobile banking.¹¹ Turnover in the role stays high, though, so openings continue to appear, and many people use a teller job as a step toward roles like personal banker, loan officer, or branch manager.

1
eCFR. 12 CFR 7.2013 – Fidelity Bonds Covering National Bank Officers and Employees
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations
3
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 570, Subpart E – Occupations Particularly Hazardous for the Employment of Minors Between 16 and 18 Years of Age
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 13.0 Acceptable Documents for Verifying Employment Authorization and Identity
5
GovInfo. 12 USC 1829 – Penalty for Unauthorized Participation by Convicted Individual
6
FDIC.gov. Prohibition Under Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act
7
FDIC.gov. Section 19 Application Instructions
8
eCFR. 12 CFR Part 303, Subpart L – Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
10
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Applications Procedures Manual – Section 1.5 Background Investigations
11
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Tellers – Occupational Outlook Handbook