While SpongeBob may appear to be a kid due to his childish and goofy attitude, what exactly is the age of our yellow sponge guy?
A talking sponge who works in a fast food restaurant that sells burgers run by a crab underwater. Who would’ve thought that this concept would go on to be the fifth longest-running series in the US? You might’ve already guessed from the title of the article that I am talking about Spongebob: Squarepants.
Spongebob is the protagonist of the series, Spongebob: Squarepants, commonly characterized by his yellow sponge appearance, his pineapple-like house, and his job of creating patties in a fast food restaurant. SpongeBob has been one of the favorites of every child and even adult in the cartoon verse.
While we do know he is goofy and childish and loves making patties in Krusty Krab, one thing still remains a mystery in every fan’s mind and that is his age. Even though the series has never announced the age of SpongeBob directly, we can make some rough estimations for people wondering about his age with the help of some evidence.
SpongeBob’s Daily Life gives an evidence
While the age Spongebob was never mentioned directly, we can kinda guess his age from his daily lifestyle in the series.
We know SpongeBob works in a fast food chain so that means if Bikini Bottom follows any US laws then he should be at least 14 at the start of the series. He also lives alone in his house so that means he has already moved out from his parents. The age of the majority is 16 in the states so we can say he is at least 16 years old.
Now that the series has been running around for 24 years, it will mean that this year SpongeBob will turn 40 years old this year. This is a rough estimation and cannot be taken as fact since we can’t be sure that laws are applied in Bikini Bottom.
The creator has given his answer
If you can take the words of Stephen Hillenburg, the creator himself, Spongebob is apparently “ageless.” He says that Spongebob cannot be comprehended in terms of human age and states that according to Sponge years, he is about 50 years old. However, 50 sponge years would translate to a much younger human age so he isn’t really 50 human years old in the series.
This could just be a random number from Hillenburg. So, it may have no importance in the storyline but since usually most of the cartoon characters tend to not age in their respective series, we can take the word of Hillenburg that SpongeBob is ageless just like most of the cartoon characters out there.
The TV series Kamp Koral hinted his age
Released on 4th March 2021, Kamp Koral is the series that follows the story of 10-year-old SpongeBob SquarePants. This series showed Spongebob and his friends’ adventures when they were little. The daughter of Mr. Krabs, Pearl Krabs was shown in Kamp Karol to be less than a year old.
How did Pearl’s age help to determine the age of SpongeBob? Well, Pearl’s current age was already confirmed in the main series. In the episode called “Whale of a Birthday”, Pearl is shown celebrating her sixteenth birthday. This meant the event that took place in the series “Kamp Koral” was around sixteen years earlier than the timeline of that episode.
Spongebob was 10 years old when Pearl was less than a year old, this means that when the episode aired on 12th May 2006 Pearl was 16 and Spongebob was 26 years old in 2006. If the series follows the human years’ timeline, Spongebob should be turning around 43 by the year 2023 according to Kamp Koral’s timeline.
However, there is a problem in this otherwise perfect estimation too. The whole events that took place in Kamp Koral were said to be non-canon which meant that we cannot connect its timeline with the timeline of the main series.
SpongeBob’s ID provides evidence of his age
An episode of the series titled “Sleepy Time” which aired around 2000, revealed something that gives us his age. In the episode, Spongebob was issued his driving license and we know what is included in a license.
In the driving license, SpongBob’s important details were mentioned such as his name, address, his height, and finally his birth date. The birthdate of SpongeBob was mentioned as 07-14-86. This meant he was born on 14th July 1986. His birth date is the only strong evidence that we have from the series regarding his age.
If we are to calculate his age from his birthday, SpongBob will turn 37 on July 14th of this year according to the DOB on his license card. This was one of few reliable pieces of evidence to find his age since unlike other sources there are no speculations but straight proof from the series itself. However, since he was 13 years old at the time of getting his license, it would mean that our normal calendar date and Bikini Bottom’s calendar date work differently.
SpongeBob’s Awards gives away his age
In the movie “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” released on 19th November 2004, A new restaurant was seen to be opening which was called “Krusty Krab 2”. SpongeBob was very much looking forward to the ceremony as he believed he would be given the position of manager now that there was another restaurant but the title was given to Squidward.
The movie revealed that SpongeBob had won 374 Employee of the Month. That many awards probably would mean that he has been working in the Krusty Krab for almost 31 years now according to the 2004’s SpongeBob movie.
The movie is a reliable source to make assumptions from because the movie was originally supposed to be the last episode of the SpongeBob franchise but was later changed by Nickelodeon.
If we add about 14 years which is the least age to start working then SpongeBob SquarePants probably is around the age of 45 in the story of the movie.
SpongeBob’s Exact Age Explained
While there is a lot of evidence about the age of SpongeBob from movies and series, all of them seem to give us a different number on his age. So to make a proper estimation, we will be taking different pieces of evidence and giving you a rough estimation.
From all of the evidence above, SpongeBob SquarePants is at least 18 years old during the run of the series and maybe he turned old as the series ran. By taking the birth date on the license card, SpongeBob SquarePants will turn exactly 37 in 2023.
After the end of the series, if we take the 2004’s movie as the last episode, SpongeBob has already worked for 31 years in Krusty Krab and was around 45 at the end of the story.
Surprising right? I mean SpongeBob looks like some random 8/10-year-old kid with his child-like voice, goofy attitude and never changing appearance. I believe the reason behind it is that human aging and sponge aging work differently.
So, even though SpongeBob is very old according to human years, he is still a young kid according to his life span. So you might be wondering what his age is according to the human age.
SpongeBob’s Human Years Age
If we ignore the fact that Sponge won’t age differently and the same calendar applies in Bikini Bottom, then in human years, SpongeBob is exactly 37 this year as he was born around 1986 July 14th according to his ID.
SpongeBob’s age in Season 1
The license card of SpongeBob SquarePants states that he was born on 14th July 1986. Since the first season started at the start of May 1999 and ended in March 2001, SpongeBob SquarePants was at the age of 12 years old at the start of the series and 14 by the end of the first season.
SpongeBob’s age in Season 2
Using the same date given on his license card of Spongebob, we can also calculate his age for the start and end of season 2. Season 2 of SpongeBob premiered on October 2000 and ended on 26th July 2003. This means that SpongeBob was 14 years old at the start of the second season and 17 by the end of it.
