Americans Are Relying on Side Hustles to Pay Bills. Which Pay Best?

Whether they’re delivering food late into the night, selling handmade crafts online or creating social media content with the hopes of landing a brand deal, nearly one in three Americans are turning to side hustles to make ends meet as essential costs rise.

Side hustles and small business creation boomed following the start of the pandemic, as inflation surged and remote work gave employees back time that would have otherwise been spent commuting.

Years later, prices are climbing again, and new research from Omnisend finds 28% of Americans have taken on a side hustle. Nearly half of them – 49% – started one in the past year, and about 54% said they took one up “to earn extra money for bills or essentials.”

A separate ZipRecruiter survey estimates the share of Americans with a side hustle is even higher, finding that 35% have an alternate income stream. Following a year of historically weak job growth in 2025, ZipRecruiter Economist Nicole Bachaud said people are relying on side hustles not only to cover essentials, but also to build a financial cushion because they fear layoffs in a job market that is weak outside of a few resilient sectors.

“The market sitting the way it did for the last year, I think a lot of people were saying, ‘If I were to lose my job right now, it would be really hard to find something else,’” Bachaud said. “Adding something on the side is just really to prepare themselves for the ‘what if’ environment.”

Who Has a Side Hustle?

Side hustles are popular across generations and income brackets.

Gen Z’s entrepreneurial mindset makes them the most likely to have one, but they’re not alone. Last year, a Bankrate survey found 34% of Gen Z, 31% of millennials, 23% of Gen X and 22% of baby boomers have sought one out.

And they aren’t just for people scraping by.

In fact, high earners are most likely to have a side hustle. The ZipRecruiter survey found that about 45% of those earning more than $150,000 do supplemental work, compared to about 31% of workers earning less than $25,000 and about 31% of those earning between $25,000 and $50,000.

“It’s the old adage: The more money you have, the easier it is to make money,” Kory Kantenga, head of economics for the Americas at LinkedIn, said. “For example, you today are an AI engineer and you’re working for a company. There’s a lot of AI consulting work there available to you. It’s just sitting there waiting for the taking.”

What Are the Most Popular Side Hustles?

E-commerce has emerged as the most popular way to make extra cash, with people selling handmade goods, secondhand items and various digital products on sites like eBay, Etsy and Facebook Marketplace.

The Omnisend report found of those with side hustles, about 46% sell or resell products online, 31% do freelance work and 21% do social media content creation or run a blog.

“People are going out less, especially if they have less money. They’re wearing their clothes less, wearing their shoes less – it’s easier to resell this stuff,” Greg Zakowicz, an ecommerce advisor to Omnisend, said, adding the popularity of resale markets leads him to believe Americans are asking, “How do I get the money for the least amount of effort?”

E-commerce seems to be an answer. Of respondents to the Omnisend survey, about 39% of e-commerce side hustlers said they make more than $1,000 each month. That’s compared to about 28% of freelancers, 26% of food delivery workers and 19% of content creators.

What Are the Most Profitable Side Hustles?

Using income data from Upwork, a BestBrokers analysis ranked popular side hustles based on their profitability and career potential.

It found that life coaches make the most per hour – $150 on average – but noted “demand depends heavily on personal brand and reputation.” Content creators for brands are next on the list, making an average of $40 per hour, though income is inconsistent early on. While income depends on traffic and conversions, affiliate marketers make an average of $37.50 per hour.

E-commerce freelancers, photographers, T-shirt designers, influencer marketing freelancers, copywriters and tutors all make upward of $30 per hour on average, the analysis said. It found photo editors, proofreaders, Canva designers, blog writers and digital artists earn upward of $20 per hour on average.

Zakowicz said those looking to start a side hustle should remember three things: time is money, understanding your finances is key and being realistic doesn’t hurt.

“The thing people don’t realize is you’ve got to look at that next step ahead,” he said. “That next step might be a cliff, and you got to be willing to pack a parachute.”