Tooth Fairy Pays Well

NEW YORK (AP) – Days of finding a quarter under your pillow are long gone. The Tooth Fairy no longer leaves loose change.

Kids this year are getting an average of $3.70 per lost tooth, a 23 percent jump over last year’s rate of $3 a tooth, according to a new survey by payment processor Visa Inc. released Friday. That’s a 42 percent spike from the $2.60 per tooth that the Tooth Fairy gave in 2011.

An improving economy means parents are giving more as well as trying to keep up with what other families’ kids are getting.

The survey results are based on 3,000 phone interviews conducted in July.