If you’re a high schooler but you need some extra money or you’re looking for a fun and lucrative side hustle, you don’t have to assume that getting a high-paying job is going to be difficult due to your lack of professional experience and age group. In today’s technologically advanced world, there are plenty of job opportunities to make decent money that are well within your reach, even if you are a resource-strapped, experience-lacking high school teenager.
Gone are the days where your only option is to work in a restaurant for lowly tips to supplement the paltry federal minimum wage, but you have to know what to look for first and where to find these jobs, whether you’re seeking remote work, open positions with local businesses, or to start your own venture and start seeking out new customers. To help you out, we’ve listed 21 of the best paying jobs for 16 year olds that any teen may love and qualify for, regardless of their prior experience, busy schedule, and young age.
- Babysitter
Being a babysitter is always a useful skill, in part because the average rate is more than $18 per hour. If you’re going to be a babysitter, you’ll make more money if you take a babysitting or even a CPR class. This can teach you a lot about tending to children of all ages, and it shows the parents that you’re serious about the job. After all, babysitting is more than just playing with kids and staying alert while they’re asleep. You also have to keep them safe. That said, another benefit of this job is that depending on the babysitting gig at hand, the age of the child, and the parents’ requests or requirements, you may find yourself with significant downtime during which you can actually work on additional money-making ventures, like starting your own blog or YouTube channel.
The first thing you should do if you’re interested in babysitting is to check with other babysitters in the area about what to charge or seeking out babysitting marketplaces (like Care.com) and assessing local sitters’ rates. You don’t want to charge too much, but don’t charge too little, either, since there is an established average hourly rate that’s likely the respectable minimum for that industry. As a professional and someone tasked with the hard work and serious task of keeping your clients’ kids safe and well, you deserve to be paid a respectable professional wage for that effort.
- Dog Walker
This is a job for which you’ll never run out of work, and while you may seek it as an after-school, weekend, or summer gig, there are plenty of adults making good money (even 6 to 7 figures) pursuing full-time jobs as dog walkers. Simply put, people are busy, dogs need to be walked daily, and dog owners will pay well for you to be their regular and trusted dog walker. Make no mistake, however, that it takes a lot more than being a lover of animals to be good at this. You’ll need to be interviewed and prove that you will take good care of the dogs before most pet parents will allow you to do this. You may also want to be bonded and insured to give clients an extra level of comfort in entrusting you with their furry friends on a daily or weekly basis.
The good news is, being a dog walker is simple, has flexible hours, and for all practical purposes, doesn’t require any formal experience, credentials, or certifications. You can even walk several dogs at the same time, which allows you to make even more money. This is how one famous celebrity dog walker in Los Angeles has turned his dog walking practice into a million-dollar-a-year venture.
- Housecleaner
The bottom line is, this is one of the best jobs for teens because people are willing to pay good money to have someone clean their home on a regular basis, and the risk here is much lower than babysitting or dog walking, since you aren’t responsible for a living, breathing child or animal, yet you’re paid similarly. Most housekeepers charge per hour for their services, and the national average is $17-18 per hour. If you’re conscientious about your work and do a good job, you’ll end up with more clients than you can handle.
You’ll have to purchase your own cleaning supplies, but other than that the job doesn’t have a lot of overhead. Even better, word-of-mouth advertising can keep you as busy as you want to be, regardless of where you live. You can make this into a reliable source of recurring income if you offer clients weekly or biweekly packages and offer discounts for clients who pre-pay or commit to 6 months or longer.
- Pet Sitter
If you love animals, being a pet sitter is the perfect job. When people are on vacation, they’ll pay you to come in and feed their animals and check on their well-being to ensure they’re comfortable and fed. The best part about the job is that they usually pay you per day, and you can charge any reasonable price that you like. Considering how little time it takes you at each house – usually less than an hour – this is good money for very little work. Plus, you can do it on your own time so it’s a very flexible job. Sometimes, clients offer a certain amount of money per day, but the rate is always negotiable.
- Blog Writer
If you’re a good writer, writing blogs can bring in some great additional income. You can charge per word or even a certain amount per post. Depending on the type of writing and length of required post, the pay can be very good, especially considering the fact that you can often write from the comfort of your home, on your own time, and it can be a lot of fun because you’ll be writing about a variety of topics. The main thing you want to concentrate on is to make sure you edit your posts before turning them into the client. No one wants a typo or grammatical error on their website, so make sure the blog posts are perfect before submitting them.
This is another job that you can do on your own time, provided you pay attention to the deadlines required by the client, and it can be one of the best online jobs for teens who don’t yet have a car or means to get to a physical job location, but who do have a computer, good writing skills, and some downtime at home in the evenings, mornings, summers, or weekends.
- Graphic Artist
Almost everyone needs a website these days, but there are tons of people who have no idea how to create one that is professional and looks good. If you’re good at being a graphic designer, this can be a very lucrative job because the money is good and you can do it on your own time. You’ll be working closely with your client the whole time to make sure they get what they want, but it’s a great way to show off your skills and create something you’ll be proud of in the end.
You’ll also get an opportunity to work on numerous types of websites, and it’s a great way to add to your professional portfolio. You can use resources like free logo builders and Canva to edit the designs without having to invest in expensive technology or software, and you can market yourself in local business directories, on social media, and on freelancer marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork.
- Video Game Reviewer
This job can be difficult to find, but if you love playing video games and you consider yourself an expert at them, being a video game reviewer is a great way to make some extra money. Explore opportunities online and you might be surprised at what you’ll find. One thing you should do is make sure the opportunities are legitimate. Check out the company offering the job, and if they require any money from you, just know that this isn’t usually a legitimate job.
The point is that if the opportunity is legit, being a video game reviewer is a great way to make some extra income regardless of your age (there aren’t often stringent age requirements for this type of opportunity), and it’s a lot of fun as well. This is an opportunity you might need to seek out by reaching out to game developers or networking in gamer and video game tester groups and forums.
- Virtual Assistant
Being a virtual assistant is fun and lucrative, but you first have to be organized, honest, professional, and most of all, dependable. If you think that all VA jobs are full-time, think again. The fact is, you can do this job on a part-time basis, and they’re so easy to find that they’re even available on common job sites such as Indeed and many others. Once again, you’ll want to check out the company and make sure it’s legitimate, but this is easy to do if you start online. You’ll also want a complete office setup with a dedicated phone line, updated computer system, copier, and a quiet area for when you’re working.
These jobs can also be found in social media groups, as many online entrepreneurs and digital business owners are regularly looking for virtual assistants on a temporary or project-by-project basis, though some jobs can turn into long-term engagements. One other benefit of a VA job is that, depending on the tasks and hourly commitment required, you may be able to take on multiple clients and make great pay across multiple simultaneous part-time jobs that don’t actually take up all your free time.
- Golf Caddy
If you love playing golf and spending time on a golf course, this is a great part-time job that may not have a very high minimum age requirement. Public golf courses don’t hire as many caddies as they once did, but if you apply at a private country club course, you should be able to find a job there. Some of your duties will include following the golfers around, cleaning their golf clubs when needed, and even calculating their yardage to the pin, among other tasks. The best part of the job is that golfers are usually great tippers, and this is where you’ll get most of your pay. You can also look forward to learning a little more about the game of golf, which is always worth it.
- Lifeguard
When it comes to great summer jobs, this is one of the best. If you’re a strong swimmer and you take a class to become certified, being a lifeguard can also be very lucrative because the average hourly wage is roughly $10-15 per hour. You can check out the Red Cross website to discover any classes in your area, but keep in mind that this is not a job you can do all year long. Nevertheless, during the summer months you can both stay very busy, be in a career where you’re there to help people, and make some good money in the meantime. Plus, you’ll be at the pool every day having a lot of fun. A recent article shed light on just how much money lifeguards make in certain parts of the country (like Southern California), and the pay was shockingly high.
- Catering Staff
Catering companies stay busy, and they always need staff to help work each job. They almost always pay way more than minimum wage, and the average pay for a catering staff member is $14-16 per hour. It’s a lot of work that will keep you busy throughout the event, but it’s great for learning organizational skills and people skills. If you love working with people and you have a lot of energy, being a member of a catering staff can be a very fulfilling job. Even better, in any given city there are usually several different catering companies, which means you’ll always have a job once the weekend arrives thanks to weddings and many other events.
- Tutoring
As far as lucrative part-time jobs go, online tutoring (or even in-person tutoring) offers a great hourly rate. You should start by finding out what other local tutors charge so your rate is neither too high nor too low, but you can expect to earn an average of $20-25 per hour, though for more advanced subject tutoring or test-specific tutoring (like that for SATs, ACTs, or other important college entry exams), you may be able to charge significantly more if you’re an expert in the subject or test.
Tutoring is a great job for academically-inclined high school students who are strong in a certain subject area, especially if that subject is something as core and common as English and math, as these classes are both required and common enough that students in all schools and locations will likely need to pass them. People pay good money for their kids to be tutored, so there is no end to the number of clients you can get. Even better, tutoring has very little overhead costs, so most of the money you earn will go straight to your bank account.
- Data Entry
Data entry jobs are easier to find these days and can give you excellent work experience. To do this job, you’ll need to type fairly fast without making a lot of mistakes, so if you can type and you are detail-oriented, this is a great job. There are numerous companies looking for data entry employees, and most of them are now found online, including on sites such as Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Upwork, and others. These jobs are usually needed by large corporations who like hiring remote workers, and once you check out the company to make sure it’s legitimate, you’ll likely never run out of work.
- Transcription
If you have an Internet connection, you can usually find a good transcription job, and the average pay is $10-18 per hour. Most of these jobs are posted online, but keep in mind that they often pay per-minute of the recorded tape, not the amount of time it takes you to finish transcribing the tape or video. In other words, if it takes you 2.5 hours to transcribe a 1-hour tape (or video), you’ll get paid for that one hour and not the 2.5 hours. This is important to remember, but it doesn’t negate the fact that most of the companies that need transcriptionists pay very well.
In fact, with the increase of video content, there are many more jobs popping up for transcribing YouTube videos for reliable, accurate captions. Doing so pretty much allows you to get paid to watch videos, so long as you can type while watching. The equipment you need will vary depending on the software you use, but some software allows you to do the job without a foot pedal, and much of the software is free and downloadable. That said, these jobs may simply be happy with you sending over a word document or entering the transcription into their website text form.
- Scheduler
Believe it or not, there are companies that pay people to call other people and schedule appointments for them. Don’t worry – this is not a “cold calling” job, so you don’t have to call strangers who have no clue who you are. Instead, these are people who have shown an interest in what the company is offering, and you’ll be simply scheduling an appointment so they can come in and learn more information on the product or service the company is offering. This job may be advertised as a customer service role or consultation planner. If you find an online company that advertises these types of jobs, you’ll usually find lots of them, and the average salary is around $12-22 per hour.
- Barista
Baristas are common jobs because there are coffee shops on practically every street corner. Some of these shops start out paying minimum wage, but it’s super-easy to make a lot more money once you get good at what you’re doing, especially from tips if you’re extra personable with customers. The average salary is around $14-15 per hour, and even better, you don’t have to have any experience to apply. These shops always offer on-the-job training, so even if you’re a high schooler looking for your first job, they’re very likely to hire you. It’s also a great skill to learn because once you learn how to make all different types of coffee, you can go just about anywhere and get a great-paying job, including events that would far more than a regular coffee shop.
- Customer Service Representative
One of the best ways to find work helping people is to get a customer service job. Many of these jobs are now remote, and what you’ll be doing is taking incoming calls and helping them with certain problems. You can find these jobs with companies that offer healthcare, credit cards, and certain memberships, and you’ll be answering customers’ questions and looking up their accounts to help them address their concerns. You do have to have an updated computer, but the companies usually provide everything else, and the jobs usually start at around $10 per hour.
- Assistant for Social Media
All businesses have social media accounts to help promote themselves, but not all of them have time to post regularly and keep up with user comments. If you take care of this for them, they are more than happy to pay you for it. You usually have to be at least 14 years old, sometimes even older, and the companies will usually pay you a few hundred dollars per month. That said, if you can get several clients, this will equal a lot of money, especially for a job that’s only part-time and allows you to be creative and interactive on social media.
- Selling Crafts on Etsy
Etsy is an extremely popular site for people trying to sell things they make themselves. If you’re a crafter looking to turn your talent into income, you need to be on Etsy. It doesn’t cost that much to be a seller, and just about everything you can imagine is for sale there. If you’re just starting out as a crafter, it’s probably best if you have a lot of products made before registering for an account. This will give you more credibility as a seller and will make it more likely for you to build up your client base. Etsy also gives you valuable experience as a businessperson.
- Freelance Copywriter
If the idea of getting paid to write interests you, you might consider being a freelance copywriter. You’ll be writing mostly ad copy and product descriptions, as well as material for people’s websites. This is a job you’ll likely have to start by promoting yourself heavily, which you can do with social media and through sites such as Fiverr.com. You’ll have to edit your work as well because most people you’ll be working for are paying you to do just that. If you’re a good writer and need some extra income and a flexible schedule, freelance copywriting work might be a great option for you.
- Voiceover Actor
E-book companies always need people to lend them their voice so that their books can be recorded for people to listen to. These types of jobs are sometimes difficult to find, but you can start with the companies you already know offer e-books, such as Audible. The jobs don’t usually require any previous experience, but you should concentrate on speaking clearly and articulating yourself properly. You can also do commercials, podcasts, radio ads, and so much more. Voices.com is another smart place to start, but any of these sites should give plenty of work.
