I'm with Sibley. I'd plan to not spend a lot, but plan to replace quarterly. If you get longer out of them, great. I have two teens (14 & 15) & our strategy is to invest in two pair of shoes per "season". One is more of a running sneaker, the other is for whatever else is needed. (This isn't too mention sport specific shoes, because we also go through those regularly). We tend to buy Nike gift cards on sale, then hit up the Nike outlet when they have a good sale. We often also buy a size up, if the sale is particularly good. Our average price is between $40-50/pair, but now that the kids are in full adult sizes (10+), it can be harder to find anything & we often pay more. Our kids use the shoes for PE & all activities, so $40-50 seems reasonable.