How can I make extra money on the side?

Pick one way that fits your free hours: online work like freelancing in the evenings, or local work like driving and cleaning on weekends. Skills pay the most per hour, so start with what you already know. Give it three months before you judge it.

How can I make extra money with a full-time job?

Use evenings for online work and weekends for local jobs, and keep a set number of hours a week. Check your employment contract for rules on outside work first. The ways in this guide are grouped by when they fit.

How can a nurse make extra money?

Nurses can join paid research studies, do AI training work in medicine, tutor, or work as a medical virtual assistant. Medical virtual assistance grew 44% on Upwork in 2025. Check your employer's rules on outside work before you start.

How can a teacher make extra money?

Teachers can tutor, sell teaching resources and printables, write for businesses, and teach lessons in the summer. Employed tutors in the US earn a median of $20.84 an hour, according to the BLS. School breaks are a good time to build something that keeps selling.

How can I make extra money from home?

Freelancing, tutoring, AI training, testing websites and selling digital products all work from home in the evenings. My guide to 50 ways to make money from home covers each one. Most of them cost nothing to start.

How can I make an extra $500 a month?

At $20 an hour, $500 a month is 25 hours, or about six hours a week. At $40 an hour, it's half that, which is why selling a skill matters. Delivery and local jobs can get you there in a few weekends.

How can I make extra money fast?

Driving, delivery and local jobs pay the fastest, often the same day. Uber lets drivers cash out after every trip, and Instacart offers Instant Cashout. My guide to 38 ways to make money fast sorts them by how fast they pay.

How can I make extra money online?

Freelancing, tutoring, AI training, paid research studies and selling digital products are the main online ways. Respondent shows an average payout of $75 per study. Online work fits evenings best.

Do I pay tax on extra money?

Yes, in the US, extra income is taxable whether it comes from an app, a client or cash. If your net self-employment earnings reach $400 in a year, you also owe self-employment tax of 15.3%. Set money aside from every payment, since your paycheck's withholding doesn't cover it.

44 ways to make extra money beside your day job in 2026

44 ways to make extra money beside a full-time job, grouped by evenings, weekends and work that keeps paying, with what each pays and the hours it takes.

by Navid Moazzez·Updated 3. 10. 2026·36 min read·

This is a list of 44 ways to make extra money beside your day job, in the hours you already have free.

That's how I started. I had a part-time job at a bank and built a blog in the evenings. My first online sale was a $65 affiliate commission, and a year later my first virtual summit made over $20,000.

Most people don't want to quit their job. They want an extra few hundred dollars a month without burning out. So every way below shows what it pays, with the source, how many hours a week it takes and when in your week it fits.

In this guide, you'll learn:

How much extra money people really make beside a job
44 ways to make extra money, grouped by when you have time: evenings, weekends, set-up-once, and your own job's skills
What each way pays per hour, with sources
Your job's rules on side work, and the taxes on extra income
How to keep a side income from burning you out

Start with the group that matches your free time, and give one way a few months before you add another.

key_takeaways.md

TL;DR

Key takeaways

27% of US adults have a side hustle, and the median one pays $200 a month (Bankrate, 2025). An extra $500 a month is 25 hours of work at $20 an hour.

Evenings suit online work like freelancing, tutoring and AI training. Weekends suit local work like driving, cleaning and photography.

Your job's skills often pay best on the side. On Upwork, business consultants charge a median of $55 an hour (Upwork).

Read your employment contract before you start, for rules on outside work, conflicts and who owns what you make.

In the US, extra income is taxable, and self-employment tax applies once your net earnings reach $400 a year (IRS).

How much extra money can you make beside a job?

Most people make a little, and some make a lot:

of US adults have a side hustle

27%

Bankrate survey of 2,616 adults, June 2025

a month, the median side hustle income

$200

Half earn more, half earn less

a month, the average side hustle income

$885

A few high earners pull it up

of side hustlers make $1 to $50 a month

28%

Bankrate, 2025

Your hours and your hourly rate decide where you land. Here's what different targets take:

$200

At $20 an hour: 10 hours
At $40 an hour: 5 hours

$500

At $20 an hour: 25 hours
At $40 an hour: 12.5 hours

$1,000

At $20 an hour: 50 hours
At $40 an hour: 25 hours

$2,000

At $20 an hour: 100 hours
At $40 an hour: 50 hours

Extra money a month	At $20 an hour	At $40 an hour
$200	10 hours	5 hours
$500	25 hours	12.5 hours
$1,000	50 hours	25 hours
$2,000	100 hours	50 hours

Here's what $500 a month takes at the median rates for the skills in this guide:

What $500 a month takes, by hourly rate ($ an hour)

1Coaching

$100 · 5 hours

2Consulting

$55 · 9 hours

3Grant writing

$50 · 10 hours

4Copywriting

$30 · 17 hours

5Technical writing

$30 · 17 hours

6Graphic design

$25 · 20 hours

7Social media

$20 · 25 hours

8Bookkeeping

$15 · 33 hours

9Customer support

$14 · 36 hours

10Virtual assistant

$13 · 38 hours

Upwork · Median rates freelancers charge, October 2026. The hours are my math, rounded, before fees

That's why skills matter: they double what each free hour is worth. Work out your own numbers with the hourly to salary calculator.

Find your way in two minutes

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