Best Side Hustles for Millennials – Earn Some Extra Coin
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When it comes to the economy and issues of personal finance, perhaps no group has been written about as much as millennials. Born in the 1980s or 1990s, the millennial generation has lived through multiple economic downturns, a global pandemic, and on average has massive student loan debt. Because of this, many millennials have struggled to start families or own homes, so it’s no wonder millennials are constantly reaching for a side gig or extra source of income to help them out.
While money-making websites like Swagbucks (which lets you take online surveys in your spare time to earn some extra change) are nice, they’re far from a lucrative side hustle. If you’re interested in side hustle ideas that can complement your day job part-time, here are the side gigs that enable you to make serious money.
In this article
Overview of the best side hustles for millennials
Side Hustle | Best For |
Amazon Affiliate Marketing | Bloggers |
Airbnb | Homeowners |
Craigslist | Jacks of all trades |
Rover | Dog lovers |
DoorDash | Simple, night-time work |
eBay | Collectors |
Etsy | Crafty millennials |
Fiverr | Freelancers |
Rideshare Apps | Drivers who own a car |
Upwork | Competitive freelancers |
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Best side hustles for millennials
Amazon affiliate marketing
Are you a talented writer? Do you have interesting takes on pop culture or a niche interest that might appeal to people like you? If so, it may be worth pursuing affiliate marketing opportunities as a blogger.
Affiliate marketing requires a lot of upfront time and energy (after all, you have to create a website and write a bunch of blogs to even start to rank in Google’s page results)! Even so, it can be worth the effort, because once you have affiliate marketing links and other ads on your website, you can start to generate passive income. There are even online courses you can take to learn more about search engine optimization and keyword research so that your blog is a success.
Affiliate marketing works by providing you with a referral link to certain products on Amazon, which then earns you a percentage of the sale if a buyer makes a purchase after clicking on that link. Amazon makes it simple to get started with affiliate marketing, and even provides helpful onboarding materials that help you understand how to avoid breaking their affiliate rules and guidelines as you generate links and money from your blog.
Keep in mind that you’ll want to have a decent amount of web traffic in order to start to make extra cash with your blog. Using social media (or even contacting other influencers in your space) can help you get the kind of web traffic necessary in order to generate some sales. For example, if you write reviews of beauty products that can be found on Amazon’s website, having a few lifestyle and make-up tutorial pages linked to your blog could get you the boost you need to make more sales.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Airbnb
According to Freddie Mac’s report, the average millennial homeownership rate was 22% lower than the national average in 2019. Even so, if you’re one of the lucky millennials who already owns a house or bought one during the pandemic, renting out your room is a great way to make some extra money with Airbnb.
Especially if you live in a popular place for tourists to visit, Airbnb can offer a steady stream of income without requiring a lot of effort. If you’re adventurous and enjoy meeting other people, renting out a room in your home can be a great way to broaden your horizons and pad your bank account.
Airbnb makes it easy to monetize your room and offers many helpful resources to help you understand what hosting entails and how to make the most of your rental. They even allow you to use their calculator to determine what your spare room or apartment might be worth each month—and help you price it appropriately in order to maximize your rental occupancy.
One of the nicest things about websites like Airbnb is that they have become a trusted travel resource amongst millennials and younger generations. This means that people often go to websites like Airbnb and Vrbo when making travel plans, so you don’t need to worry about whether or not interested people see your sign at the local coffee shop about a spare room.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Craigslist
If you have a few different skills that you’re trying to cash in on, Craigslist is a good catch-all to consider. For example, if you’re a millennial that loves kids, you can find nannying or babysitting work on Craigslist. Or, if you’re someone who likes to work with their hands and do landscaping or yard work, it’s possible to find clients and jobs using Craigslist.
One benefit of Craigslist is that it’s all hyper-local, so you can pick and choose various odd jobs when you have free time. Another big benefit of using Craigslist is that you don’t get charged fees to respond to or search listings, unlike other platforms on this list.
Since Craigslist functions similarly to a classified ads section in the newspaper, it’s easy to search for a variety of work. Craigslist lists one-off gigs (like helping someone move) as well as longer contract jobs (there are generally a lot of sales positions listed on the jobs board), so spend some time browsing the various categories to see what speaks to you.
Craigslist lets you reap what you put in, meaning that even picking one small job to do each week could net you upwards of $300 each month. As long as you don’t spend too much time browsing the job boards, that’s a great hourly rate! Particularly for millennials who like variety but need some extra money, it’s hard to go wrong with Craigslist—just be careful of scammers!
Rover
Dog walking may sometimes be associated with middle schoolers or high schoolers looking to make some income at their first job, but it’s also a great fit for millennial animal lovers. Rover is a website that makes it super simple to start walking dogs and making money on your own schedule.
Rover is used by pet owners looking for reputable sitters and walkers to care for their animals when they don’t have time to. This makes it easy to start to build up a collection of clients and start making consistent income. You have the option to work for the same owner weekly or pick up shifts whenever you have free time.
In order to maintain its level of quality, Rover requires you to pass a background check. This ensures that everyone working for their platform provides a consistent, quality experience. It also means that you’re in good company and Rover has built a reputation for having well-qualified dog walkers and sitters work through their website.
When you set up your profile, you’ll need to determine your rates as a dog walker or sitter. Unlike working for a brick-and-mortar dog walking agency, you can set your own prices based on what you actually want to make—and can even set up preferences for the size of dogs you’re most comfortable working with. When calculating your prices, make sure to budget for a 20% fee that goes to Rover for using their platform.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
DoorDash
Do you have a car or a bike (or even a scooter)? If so, then delivering for DoorDash can be a great way to make consistent cash each week on your own time. There are dozens of food delivery apps out there, but DoorDash offers a few different perks that make it worth considering above other options.
Why is DoorDash the best option for drivers looking to make money working this gig job? For starters, it’s more popular than its rivals, with 6 out of every 10 food delivery orders being placed in the app as of March 2022. This means that if you want a steady stream of delivery jobs, your best bet is to download DoorDash’s app and get delivering!
Another big perk of using DoorDash is that dashers (the term the company uses for delivery drivers) get to keep 100% of their tips. You also aren’t locked in to a specific geographic area or city when you sign up for the platform. This means that if you’re out on a business trip for your regular 9-to-5 job and looking to make a few extra bucks, you can open the app and make a few deliveries.
Many people think of Uber and Lyft when it comes to the gig economy, but DoorDash is just as popular, and a good fit for anyone who would prefer not to have to socialize or talk to passengers in their car. DoorDash is also letting its drivers earn 10% back on purchases they make for gas, which, for drivers, can help you reduce some of the costs associated with making deliveries on the platform. If you want to maximize your er earnings, you can even share a referral code to earn even more anytime a friend or family member signs up.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
eBay
Want to make money and get some spring cleaning done at the same time? If you’re a millennial, some of your childhood belongings or collectibles may actually be worth some serious coin!
What do Pokemon cards, comic books, Magic: the Gathering cards, pogs, Transformers, Nintendo Entertainment systems, and Beanie Babies all have in common? You probably had some as a child and if you still have them collectors will pay some serious money for the right items! A holographic Charizard trading card from Pokemon can run anywhere from $250 to $25,000 depending on condition, which is a great way to make money and pay off your student loans.
eBay is an ideal platform to sell these sorts of items because they streamline the process of listing items and allow you to categorize them using a variety of filters to ensure that interested parties are able to find them. eBay uses PayPal to process payments, although in recent years they have distanced themselves from being part-and-parcel with the payment processor for all listings.
eBay doesn’t charge up-front fees to make a listing unless you’re adding on a lot of extra features to really make your item stand out. If your item does sell, your fees will generally run about $0.30 an order and up to 12.9% of the total sale price.
Etsy
Many millennials picked up crafting during the pandemic, and your hobby of making handmade goods could be a path to a lucrative side hustle. Etsy is one of the leading websites to sell handcrafted items online, making it the ideal way to jumpstart your crafting side gig.
From knitting to painting, caricatures, metalwork, embroidery, and pottery, the sky’s the limit when it comes to what sorts of crafted goods you want to sell on Etsy. Popular categories on the website are classified in a few different ways, from home goods to jewelry, art, and collectibles. Best of all, using Etsy is simple and straightforward. If you’ve created a social media or dating profile, you can sell it on Etsy.
To get started using Etsy, you’ll need to create an account. From there you can build your online storefront and add products. Similar to eBay, each product gets its own description and images so that users know what they’re buying. Etsy also makes it easy to share links to your items on your social media profiles to gain extra exposure.
Since you get to set your own prices on Etsy, you’re in total control of how much money you pay yourself for the time and materials it took to create your items. As you price your wares, make sure to calculate the cost of shipping, gift wrapping, and Etsy’s 6.5% service fee.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Fiverr
If you already have a full-time career in an in-demand industry like graphic design or editing, then sometimes the best side hustle is rounding up some extra freelance clients. When it comes to getting your name out there and attracting clients, Fiverr is one of the leading online platforms for freelancers to find more work.
Whether you’re looking for more freelance writing clients or interested in helping someone create social media graphics, Fiverr is where many companies and individuals look for qualified freelancers. When you create a profile on Fiverr, you get to build an array of gigs that you’re willing to perform, and even set different pricing tiers and other details to ensure you earn what you want.
After you’ve created your account, you just need to sit and wait for the clients to start reaching out. Some Fiverr users reach out to you directly to have you create a custom order while others will just purchase a gig from your profile and input their order details there. You can choose to accept or decline based on whether or not you think it’s a good fit. Once you’ve completed the job, you can request a payout via PayPal, and Fiverr automatically deducts their 20% fee.
In my experience using Fiverr, the clients could be hit-or-miss. Some were very clear about what they wanted while others expected you to be able to read their minds. However, as a way to find a few consistent clients, it is still a useful platform.
Rideshare apps
Want to get paid to listen to podcasts in your car in-between rideshare trips? Lyft and Uber have become some of the defacto jobs for gig workers, and for good reason. You don’t need much know-how in order to generate extra income driving for Lyft or Uber; just a driver’s license and a vehicle to drive.
In terms of ridesharing apps, it can be helpful to have both Lyft and Uber downloaded to increase your chances of getting a ride. On the other hand, each platform offers its own guarantees and incentives to keep you driving for their platform and their platform only. It can be helpful to try both out and see which makes the best sense for you and your approach.
One of the biggest reasons many people start driving with Uber or Lyft is the welcome bonuses that the platforms guarantee you. As long as you meet certain terms and conditions, you’re guaranteed $2,400 in your first month with Lyft and $2,500 with Uber. That’s a pretty good chunk of change for a side gig—assuming you can meet the requirements.
Something to be wary of when driving for Lyft and Uber is that your car will definitely take some wear and tear. As such, it’s important to talk to your tax professional and determine what car-related expenses you can (and can’t) write off as a driver for these platforms before you sign up. The last thing you want is to have to work your side gig just to pay for maintenance on your vehicle that wouldn’t have been necessary if you hadn’t driven 1,000 miles extra for the month.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Upwork
Upwork is another freelancing platform that is just about as popular as Fiverr. The only difference is that in Upwork, you are bidding on jobs rather than having clients bid on you. There are pros and cons to this, but if you’re interested in freelancing or doing virtual assistant work, Upwork is certainly worth looking into.
A benefit of Upwork is that since you are bidding on jobs, you don’t have to fend off bad clients or vague requests. The flip side of that is that you may not get every job you’re interested in—especially when you’re just starting out and your profile doesn’t have many reviews.
One nice thing about Upwork is that more businesses use it as a way to fill out their departments. For example, a company may need some extra graphic design work and make a posting on Upwork which results in a consistent side income stream. Additionally, they may be willing to pay more money for the gig than people on Fiverr.
On the other hand, if you’re just starting out, you may have to price yourself more competitively just to win bids. If you use this strategy, make sure to raise your rates each time you’ve completed a job in order to get to the rate you’d prefer to be paid. Upwork charges you 20% on all earnings under $500, with a 10% fee for earnings greater than $500 but less than $10,000. They also handled invoicing for you to streamline the payment process.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Summary of best side hustles for millennials
Side Hustle | Service Fees |
Amazon Affiliate Marketing | Website hosting ($12+/year) |
Airbnb | ~14.2% of the booking subtotal |
Craigslist | None |
Rover | 20% |
DoorDash | None |
eBay | Percentage of sale by category, plus $0.30 per order |
Etsy | 6.5% total sale plus $0.20 USD per listing |
Fiverr | 20% |
Rideshare apps | Variable |
Upwork | 10%-20% |
FAQs
Do I have to pay taxes?
Yes. As long as you make at least $600, you are expected to pay taxes due on your income from any of the above jobs. Most platforms will send you a 1099 at tax season, but it could be worth discussing with your tax professional so that you have a strategy in place to pay your taxes.
Will I be an independent contractor?
While eBay and Craigslist may not technically categorize you as an independent contractor, the majority of side hustles on this list all constitute freelance work where you are working as an independent contractor. That means that you may be able to write off certain expenses associated with your work.
What’s the best way to start a side hustle?
If you already have a full-time job, the best way to get started with a side hustle is to evaluate your calendar and what you have the time and energy for each week. From there, it can be helpful to consider how much money you’re looking to earn extra each month and then determine which types of side gigs would be a good fit for you.
Why you should (or shouldn’t) take a side hustle
If you’re trying to aggressively pay down debt or save for a vacation, the side hustles on this list can be a great way to accelerate those goals. If you have the skill and the time, there’s nothing wrong with picking up some extra work every now and then in order to help you reach your financial goals faster.
The only time you should think twice about starting up a side hustle is if you’re already doing fine financially or you feel overwhelmed at your current job. If you don’t have the time and energy to commit to your full-time job, taking on more work and spending 60 hours a week working can really burn you out. It’s great to increase your income, but it’s important to weigh the pros and cons before deciding that you have the ability to drive for Uber 20 extra hours each week.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
The bottom line
If you want a legitimate income stream, the above side hustles are a good match for many millennials looking to save for a home or pay off student loan debt. They do require more effort and skill for the most part, but, as a result, the rate of pay is much better, particularly if you’re not living in a high cost-of-living city.
Most of the side hustles on this list do require at least a part-time commitment in order to make money. While they do afford you more flexibility than picking up a part-time job delivering pizzas or working at a grocery store, it is important to understand what you’re signing up for when you decide to take on a side hustle. However, if you are serious about improving your personal finances by paying down debts or saving aggressively for the future, many of the side hustles are well worth the commitment they require.
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Writer
Brent Ervin-Eickhoff is a Chicago-based writer, stage director, and filmmaker with a background in digital marketing and content creation. In addition to Joy Wallet, Brent has written for Complex, Volkswagen, HowlRound, Picture this Post, and Third Coast Review, among others. He currently serves as the Associate Director of Marketing for Content Creation at Court Theatre at the University of Chicago. Brent graduated from Ball State University with Academic Honors in Writing.
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