We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. Learn more.

  1. Career Advice
  2. Highest Paying Jobs

These Are the 25 Highest-Paying Side Hustles

By:
Alicia Adamczyk
5 min read
Paris Hilton performs during the International Fashion Fair on August 28, 2015 in Rzgow, Poland. This is an unique opportunity to see her DJ in Poland for the first time. - Lukasz Szelag—Getty Images
Paris Hilton performs during the International Fashion Fair on August 28, 2015 in Rzgow, Poland. This is an unique opportunity to see her DJ in Poland for the first time. Lukasz Szelag—Getty Images

Tech start-ups like Uber and TaskRabbit seem to always get credit for popularizing the "side hustle." In fact, there are plenty of ways to make money without taking a full-time job -- and many of them pay a lot better than what you can earn through an app.

Always on the lookout for ways readers can grab a little extra cash, Money asked PayScale, a compensation software and data company, for the highest-paid part-time jobs -- ones you do when you only want to work a handful of hours a week. The most-lucrative among these ultra-part-time gigs: DJing, with median pay of $65.70 an hour, followed by musician or singer at $43.40 per hour hour, and photographer at $36.20 per hour, according to PayScale.

PayScale analyzed jobs by type of occupation, without considering whether workers got paid through any particular marketplace or app. But Uber drivers would fall in the middle of the pack, based on a previous study that found drivers averaged $15.68 per hour -- although that was before factoring in expenses like gas, maintenance, and depreciation.

TaskRabbit, a popular website for finding one-off handy-man jobs like hanging shelves and fixing leaky faucets, nets workers a wide range of payouts, typically between $8 to $40 an hour, depending on if the worker is an unskilled "tasker" or a contractor who can handle more complicated projects, according to self-reported data on salary Web site Glassdoor.

And while it will take time to hone your DJing skills, most of the gigs PayScale found don't require a degree or advanced training.

"Many of these jobs have certification systems available, but most just require specialized knowledge or talent," says Chris Martin, PayScale's lead data analyst, noting that bus driver, substitute teacher, and phlebotomist require the most training or some sort of certification.

To compile the list, PayScale analyzed 32,177 profiles of workers who self-reported working less than 10 hours per week. (While some jobs require certificates, none require degrees). The side gigs are ranked by median hourly earnings, and the median number of hours worked per week is included.

Here's the full list:

1. Disc Jockey — $65.70 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
2. Musician or singer — $43.40 per hour (typically work 4 hours per week)
3. Photographer — $36.20 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
4. Makeup Artist — $34.00 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
5. Piano Teacher — $31.20 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
6. Pilates Instructor — $26.30 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
7. Interpreter — $25.50 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
8. Personal Trainer — $23.10 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
9. Dance Teacher — $22.00 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
10. Handyman — $21.60 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
11. Tutor — $20.10 per hour (typically work 4 hours per week)
12. Postal Service Mail Carrier — $17.60 per hour (typically work 8 hours per week)
13. School Bus Driver — $16.90 per hour (typically work 6 hours per week)
14. Property Manager — $15.50 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
15. Phlebotomist — $14.80 per hour (typically work 4 hours per week)
16. Delivery Driver — $14.30 per hour (typically work 6 hours per week)
17. Dog Walker — $12.80 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
18. Data Entry Clerk — $12.70 per hour (typically work 5 hours per week)
19. Security Officer — $12.00 per hour (typically work 7 hours per week)
20. Line Cook — $11.50 per hour (typically work 6 hours per week)
21. Custodian — $11.30 per hour (typically work 8 hours per week)
22. Home Health Aide — $11.20 per hour (typically work 8 hours per week)
23. K-12 Substitute Teacher — $11.20 per hour (typically work 7 hours per week)
24. Housekeeper — $11.20 per hour (typically work 6 hours per week)
25. Caregiver — $11.10 per hour (typically work 7 hours per week)

Tags