Scoring extra cash as a teenager has never been easier. With all the side gigs and odd jobs available online and offline, you can certainly find the job that matches your skills and preferences, even without prior experience.
We’ve done the legwork of compiling the 50 best side hustles for teens this year. Keep reading to discover some awesome, high-paying gigs that can get you closer to financial independence.
Key Takeaways
- Some of the best side hustles for teens include walking dogs, babysitting, and hosting a yard sale.
- Having a side hustle as a teenager can help you become more responsible and gain life skills.
- One potential downside of working as a teen is negatively impacting your grades if you have poor time management.
Best Side Hustles for Teens
1. Walk Dogs
Offer dog walking services to clients who don’t have enough time to help their beloved pets exercise. You can use apps like Rover to find legitimate and trusted furparents who can pay you up to $30/hour to enjoy outdoor walks with their furry friends.
2. Babysitting
If you’re good with kids, consider offering professional babysitting services to earn at least the minimum hourly wage. When choosing this side hustle, it’s best to complete one or two babysitting courses first, so you’ll get equipped with the necessary skills to look after younger kids safely.
3. Pet Sitting
Apart from walking dogs, teens who love furry pets can also work as pet sitters. This gig requires you to take care of someone’s pet, either at their place or yours, for a set period of time. One reputable site you can use to hop on this gig is Petsitter.com.
4. Sell Things You Don’t Need
Help to declutter your house while earning extra cash by selling things you or your family no longer needs. You can opt for the classic route of hosting a garage sale or try the modern way of selling used items through online marketplaces.
5. Find a Part-Time Job
If you want income stability, find a part-time job within or near your city. Ask your family and friends for leads, and don’t forget to check online job postings as well.
6. Mow Your Neighbour’s Lawns
Do you prefer a job without fixed weekly hours? Try working as a freelance mower for your neighbours’ lawns. Many homeowners would be delighted to pay you handsomely to take the chore of mowing off their hands.
7. Shovel Snow
After earning through lawn mowing in the warmer months, consider transitioning to snow shovelling in the winter. I recommend offering this service to your parents first and then branching out to neighbours that you think may need a helping hand dealing with snow.
8. Do Odd Jobs Around Your Neighbourhood
Many of your neighbours likely have odd tasks, like fence painting or raking leaves, that they’d be more than willing to pay someone else to complete. So, don’t be too shy about going around a couple of blocks and asking your friendly neighbours if you can offer them a helping hand for a fee.
9. Deliver With UberEats or DoorDash
Once you turn 18, you can start working as a delivery driver for UberEats or DoorDash. Just note that while DoorDash allows car deliveries once you’re 18, UberEats only allows you to deliver by bike or foot until you reach 19.
10. Host a Yard Sale
Round up unused or unwanted items from your home and host a yard sale in your front yard or at the park. To make this earning venture even more exciting, you can even partner up with a couple of friends to offer more items to passersby!
11. Flip Items For Profit
Purchase bargain-priced items online, at yard sales, or through other resources and resell them for a higher price to earn profit. The beauty of flipping items is that you can do this with pretty much anything, including toys, clothes, and furniture.
12. Become a Part-Time Life Guard or Swim Instructor
If you have a knack for swimming, you can get paid as a part-time lifeguard or swimming instructor. As early as 15 years old, you may take the required courses to become a certified professional in both fields.
13. Work as a Summer Camp Counselor
Why not relive the passionate months of summer camps and rejoin them as a camp counsellor? Your responsibilities in this job range from mentoring children and leading activities to ensuring campers’ safety. On average, you’ll get paid from $15 to $20 an hour.
14. Be a Caddie
For teens who fancy golf, working as a caddie is another viable side hustle that pays good money. By helping athletes carry their equipment, such as golf clubs and completing small tasks within the field, you’ll get paid an average of $22 an hour.
15. Operate a Lemonade Stand
Bring some nostalgic vibes into your neighbourhood and earn money at the same time by running a lemonade stand. Depending on the demand, this side hustle can easily rack you up more than $50 a day, especially during the hottest summer days.
16. Do Household Chores
One of the best side hustles for kids is to do household chores in exchange for extra pocket money. While this isn’t the most profitable gig you can try, it’s certainly the easiest starting point that can ease you into the world of earning income.
17. Be a Barista
Make and serve beverages for customers as a teenage barista. While experience is not necessarily required to get a job placement, completing barista training courses will certainly help you get hired.
18. Work as a Fast Food Crew Member
It goes without saying that fast food chains are one of the fastest-hiring employers in the market. So, if you want a very good chance of scoring an interview even as a teen, consider applying at a couple of fast food branches near you.
19. Be a Ski Instructor
Teens who are skilled at skiing can become ski instructors and get paid at least minimum wage doing what they love. For potential coaches aged 14 years old, a CSIA Level 1 certification will be required, and a CASI Level 1 will be needed for teens who are older.
20. Tutor Younger Kids
Reach out to parents of younger kids in your school or within your social circle and offer tutoring services for subjects you excel at. Many parents like having teenagers as tutors because they can relate well to kids and make learning more engaging.
21. Sell Used Textbooks
Textbooks are some of the most expensive and in-demand books out there. Luckily, you can benefit from their crazy prices by selling used ones you find at home. You can use over a dozen websites to sell used textbooks, so finding a buyer shouldn’t take too long.
22. Consider Acting
Despite being relatively more competitive than other gigs, acting is also a great side hustle teenagers can try. This gig opens up the opportunity to work in exciting locations such as theatres, movie sets, and theme parks, which are great environments for teens to cultivate their social skills.
23. Be a Busser
If you’re interested in working in a restaurant, a great starting position to familiarize yourself with the environment is to be a busser. As one, you’ll be responsible for setting tables, serving food, and supporting other employees to improve the restaurant’s customer service.
24. Work as a Cashier
Another classic part-time position that’s popular for students is to work as a cashier. You can apply at grocery stores, fast-food restaurants, and coffee shops, increasing your chances of securing a position that’s guaranteed to pay at least minimum wage.
25. Offer Car Washing Services
Offering car washing services is a low-cost business idea that teens can absolutely excel at. If your house has a spacious driveway, you can conveniently offer this service at home. Alternatively, you can wash clients’ cars at their homes at an agreed-upon time and date.
26. Clean Houses
If you’re skilled at tidying up the nooks and crannies of your own home, why not transform your house cleaning expertise into a money-making freelance service? Depending on the scope of your services and your rate, earning over $100 per house you clean is, no doubt, achievable.
How to Make Money as a Teenager Online
27. Take Surveys Online
Many websites online, including Swagbucks and Survey Junkie, allow teenagers to complete surveys in exchange for real money. With this side hustle, you can decide your own working hours and use your phone to work anywhere.
Just be sure to inform an adult before signing up for a survey website so you can avoid risks that may be associated with online financial transactions.
28. Tutor or Teach Online
On top of offering tutoring services in person, you can also teach other people online. As a native English speaker, teaching English would be a great and decent-paying starting point. But, of course, you may also qualify for teaching some of your favourite subjects.
29. Start a Blog
Capitalize the writer in you and start blogging to earn passive income for life. Although it may take time for you to generate revenue, you can focus on the topics you’re passionate about, making your hustle enjoyable.
30. Start a YouTube Channel
Starting a YouTube channel is a completely free side hustle that lets you work on your own time. Once you’re monetized and have a substantial audience, you can expect consistent earnings from ads, sponsorships, and more revenue streams.
31. Become an Influencer
Regularly post content on some of the hottest social media platforms to be a rising teen influencer. As you build your brand and gain popularity, you can start generating income through affiliate links, product reviews, sponsorships, and other opportunities.
32. Sell Crafts on Etsy
Handmade items are highly in demand on Etsy, a popular online marketplace. So, if crafting is something you think you might enjoy or already love doing in your free time, why not explore the option of selling your creations on this platform?
Check out these Etsy alternative sites to sell handcrafts.
33. Become a Freelancer
Utilize your existing skillset and offer freelancing services to those in need. Whether your talents lie in writing, designing, or video editing, there’s a market waiting for your skills to shine.
34. Stream Videos Online
Did you know you can get paid simply for streaming videos online? There are many sites that pay you to watch videos, and a good number of them allow teens to earn through this hustle.
35. Test Websites
Many companies pay individuals to test their websites and offer feedback. You can try this gig even if you have no technical knowledge about website development, as they value the perspective of everyday consumers like you, not necessarily professionals.
36. Sell Your Photography
Love taking pictures? Well, you’ll be glad to know that you can turn your passion into a good-paying gig. You may sell your photos as stock images on platforms like Shutterstock and iStockPhoto or sell them to creatives who may want your shots’ copyright on marketplaces like Etsy.
37. Get Paid to Play Video Games
Similar to some companies that pay you to test their websites, others also pay you to play their games. If playing online games is already your go-to leisure activity, it’ll be a no-brainer to earn through this gig.
38. Be a Transcriptionist
As a transcriptionist, you’ll get paid to listen to recorded audio or videos and transcribe what you hear into texts. As long as you have a laptop or PC and decent audio equipment with high-quality sound, you can start offering your services as a transcriber.
39. Design Graphics
Design graphics like book covers, social media content, and advertisement posters, and get paid according to your rates. Even without experience, you’ll have a good chance of scoring clients if you have a strong portfolio showcasing your design skills.
40. Edit Videos
With thousands of new video content pieces emerging daily, it’s no wonder that video editors are in high demand. If you have a knack for video editing, consider turning your talent into a rewarding gig that can turn into a lifelong career.
41. Be a Translator
If you know two languages or more, you can potentially earn at least $10/hour as a translator. There are some technical aspects you must know about translating professionally, but luckily, there are plenty of free courses you can use to learn the skill online.
42. Be a Voice Over Artist
Voice over artists are paid to narrate books, scripts, and other content for various mediums like games and advertisements. Your teenage voice can be valuable to clients who seek fresh and relatable voices for their projects.
43. Sell Digital Products
Digital products, like digital templates or ebooks, are goods that you can create, sell and use online. Unless you sell them exclusively, you can potentially sell each digital product an unlimited number of times, allowing you to earn passive income for years.
44. Rate Music
If you want to make money pursuing your passion for music, one of the best starting gigs is to rate others’ music for a fee. Some platforms that allow you to start this side hustle are SlicethePie and MusicXRay.
45. Be a Social Media Manager
Help influencers, brands, or organizations manage their social media as a social media manager. To excel in this side hustle, you must be knowledgeable about how social media platforms work and how to effectively engage audiences.
46. Design 3D Models
Step into the thriving world of 3D printing as a 3D model designer. With the industry booming, many companies and artists constantly seek talented designers who can transform their ideas into tangible creations.
47. Be a Virtual Assistant
Become a virtual assistant who’s responsible for providing general admin support for your clients. Some of your tasks may include data entry, customer service support and social media management. Generally, you’ll earn between $10 to $30 hourly.
48. Get Paid to Walk
Did you know that you can get rewarded in cash just for walking? Believe it or not, this is a very legitimate money-making side hustle, and the best part is you can choose from up to 10 apps to earn to earn by hitting your daily step goals!
49. Optimize Cash Back Apps
You may not be splurging on shopping and groceries right now, but your parents are likely doing so. Why not suggest the idea of maximizing cashback apps to them and then negotiate to keep the rewards for yourself?
Depending on the apps you use, you can easily get up to 5% cashback. That’s up to $50 for every $1,000 your parents spend!
50. Sell Baked Goods
Whip up delicious treats like cookies, pastries, and more, and explore selling them either in person or online. You may want to consider setting up your very own bakery stand right in front of your home instead of the traditional lemonade stand for a fun twist for you and your neighbourhood.
Pros and Cons of Having a Side Hustle as a Teen
Earning money as a teen surely is an impressive feat, but this endeavour also has its disadvantages. Here are the main pros and cons of having a side hustle as a teen to help you decide whether this pursuit is worth it.
Pros
- Develop a sense of responsibility and be disciplined.
- Learn how to earn, manage and be responsible for your money.
- Develop and improve life skills that you can financially benefit from even in the future.
Cons
- Without proper time management, working as a teen may negatively impact your grades.
- Depending on your side hustle, you can potentially reduce social interactions, which are necessary for personal development.
How Much Can You Earn From a Side Hustle as a Teenager?
How much you can earn from side hustle jobs as a teenager widely varies based on several factors, including your:
- Type of job
- Hourly rate
- Amount of working hours
- Income stability
Some teens manage to earn over a thousand dollars a month from their part-time jobs, while others only make less than a hundred dollars a week. The outcomes widely vary, so remember to set realistic expectations for yourself as a working teen.
Moreover, note that even if you don’t earn as much as you want initially, there are still plenty of opportunities for you to develop high-paying skills that can help you increase your earnings in the future.
