70 Best Ways to Make Extra Money on the Side in 2024: $500+


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It’s never been easier to make extra money on your own time and on your own terms.

Whether you’re looking for a side hustle to replace your day job income, or just for a way to make a few extra bucks, I’ve got you covered.

The ideas below were selected based on:

  • 15+ years of side hustle experience
  • interviews with over 500 side hustlers entrepreneurs
  • feedback from the 50,000-member Side Hustle Nation community

Just a few of the ideas have helped me earn hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last decade. 

Ready? Let’s do it!

how to make extra money

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1. Online and In-Person Research Studies: Up to $140 an Hour

Best Overall

Earn $50-150/hr, with thousands of new studies added each month.

Best for Industry Pros

Earn an average of $75 per project, and get notified of upcoming studies you may qualify for.

Best for Medical Research

Patients and caregivers can earn $120/hour while helping advance medical research.

There are a couple online research companies everyone should sign up for.

User Interviews is a great resource for connecting with remote consumer research studies. I’ve made $105 in about an hour and a half so far — here’s my full User Interviews review.

user interviews

Respondent is one of the best paying online survey companies I’ve found. Usually the surveys are one-on-one interviews either in-person or over the phone / video chat, and they pay an average of $140 an hour.

respondent paid research studies

Rare Patient Voice pays patients and caregivers $120 an hour to assist with medical research. You can browse a full list of available studies on their site—nearly all of which are phone or webcam interviews.

rare patient voice homepage

If you suffer from any sort of medical condition (even if it’s not super rare), this one is worth a look.

The site is open to residents of United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.

2. Online Surveys: $1 a Day

No list of money-making ideas would be complete without an old favorite: online surveys. Power users of these apps earn $30 a month or more.

Here are some of Side Hustle Nation’s favorite options:

  • Swagbucks – Earn up to $35 a survey with this mega-popular app, and get a $10 bonus just for signing up!
  • Survey Junkie – Take 3 surveys a day and earn up to $100 a month.
  • KashKick – Get paid to answer surveys, test games, and try new products.
  • InboxDollars – Get a $5 bonus just for signing up!
  • American Consumer Opinion – Join millions of free members and earn up to $50 per survey.
  • Branded Surveys – One of the best-rated survey sites with millions paid out.

Don’t expect to earn an amazing hourly rate with these options, but you can earn gift cards, cash, and other rewards by answering surveys, watching videos, playing games, and shopping online.

3. Find a Virtual Job

Side Hustle Nation Approved


FlexJobs: #1 For Remote Jobs


4.7

The best place to find legit work from home jobs. Established in 2007, FlexJobs has 1000s of listings including part-time, full-time, and freelance options in tons of industries.

FlexJobs is the leading work from home jobs site. With over 50 career categories, FlexJobs has jobs ranging from entry-level to executive and freelance to full-time.

flexjobs homepage

There is a nominal monthly fee to access their listings, but you’ll earn that back (and then some!) with one job.

KashKick

KashKick is a newer app that pays you to test new mobile games (up to $150 each!), answer surveys, and redeem money-saving offers.

With the slogan “get paid to have fun,” KashKick is rated 4.2-stars in the Google Play store.

Best for Testing New Games


KashKick

Get paid to test new games, complete offers, and answer short surveys.

5. Rental Properties

Rental real estate is one of the oldest side hustles in the books, and is still viable today.

My friend Dustin Heiner built up his rental portfolio and was able to retire before 40 on the cash flow.

If your local market is too expensive, take a look at Arrived, a cool online marketplace built for busy investors. For as little as $100, you can buy shares of cash-flowing rental properties.

arrived real estate

6. Commercial Real Estate

Fundrise allows you to invest in a portfolio of commercial properties all around the country. I’ve been a Fundrise investor for years and they’ve consistently paid quarterly dividends in the 5-10% yield range.

(Disclosure: when you sign up, I earn a commission. All opinions are my own.)

fundrise app

Plus, you can get started with as little as $10.

7. Start an Online Business

This probably isn’t the right path if you need to make extra money quickly, but can build into a full-time income stream over time.

My primary revenue stream is affiliate marketing, but website creators can make money in lots of different ways, including:

  • selling your own products and services
  • advertising
  • live events
  • reader donations
  • and more

Click here to check out my free video course on how to start a website.