How To Make Money as a Teen

An after-school or weekend job can provide both new experiences and new responsibilities, making it a rite of passage for many teens. Teens have a wide array of options for earning their own money, from online gigs to traditional part-time jobs. Learn about today’s top ways to make money as a teen.

The Benefits Teens Get From Earning Money

Learning how to make money as a teen has significant advantages. First, teens can benefit from having their own spending money and being less reliant on their parents. "Getting a job helps your teen prepare for the real world by learning about finances at an early age,” Faisa Stafford, CEO and president of Life Happens, told The Balance in an email. “You don’t want to wait until they're adults to teach them about finances."

Stafford said teaching children about financial responsibilities while they're young is key to fostering a positive financial outlook and helping them become a self-reliant adult. Teens can learn about the value of money and how to manage it as they gain job skills. Their work experience could give them an edge on their career path as an adult.

5 Ways for Teens To Make Money

Teens have many opportunities for earning their own income. Here, we've used five categories to detail the best ways to make money as a teen: traditional jobs, online hustles, side hustles, business ideas, and passive income ideas.

Traditional Ways To Make Money as a Teenager

Common ways teens have traditionally earned money for decades include:

• Part-time jobs
• After-school jobs
• Summer jobs
• Weekend jobs

Typical part-time job options for teens include working at fast-food restaurants, car washes, retail stores, grocery stores, and movie theaters. Some employers may require teens younger than 16 to have a valid work permit.

Online Side Hustles for Teens

As more employers hire for remote positions, teens may find opportunities in this trend. Online side hustles and side jobs can be great options for making money as a teen because they don't require transportation and they can allow for a flexible schedule, Stafford said.

At-home opportunities for teens include:

• Getting paid to take surveys
• Starting a blog or podcast
• Monetizing social media, like a TikTok channel or YouTube channel
• Freelancing on Fiverr
• Managing social media accounts
• Flipping clothing or other items
• Watching videos or playing games with a site like Swagbucks

Some of these online side hustles have more earning potential than others, and how much you earn will also depend on how much time you put in.

Offline Side Hustles for Teens

Offline side hustles are another way to make money as a teen. Some of these opportunities include:

• Walking dogs
• Babysitting
• Washing cars
• Cleaning houses
• Working as a youth-sports referee or lifeguard
• Delivering groceries via Instacart
• Delivering food via DoorDash
• Teaching music lessons
• Tutoring

The amount of money teens can earn with offline side hustles will depend on the job. Tutoring jobs for teens, for instance, pay $20 an hour on average as of May 2022, according to ZipRecruiter. Offline side hustles are usually flexible, so teens can make money while still keeping up with schoolwork, socializing with friends, and fulfilling responsibilities at home.

Business Ideas for Teenagers

Starting a business as a teenager can also be considered an investment that could lead to long-term financial success. Teens can develop many products and services that could lead to potential profits. Some business ideas for teenagers include:

• Selling homemade crafts or products on Etsy
• Developing an app
• Dog walking or pet sitting 
• Lawn care
• House cleaning or house sitting
• Freelancing

Passive Income Ideas for Teenagers

Passive income is money generated from activities in which you don't materially participate, according to the IRS. Rental real estate income, for example, is a form of passive income that adult investors can earn.

Passive income strategies might appeal to a teen looking for low-stress ways to make money, but they typically require an initial significant investment of your time. Some ways to make passive income as a teen might include:

• Starting a blog or niche website
• Creating a YouTube channel
• Selling digital products
• Selling photos
• Creating an online course

You may need help from an adult if you're under age 18. YouTube, for example, doesn't allow teens under 18 to monetize their channels unless they're linked to an approved Adsense account owned by a parent.

Also, remember that "passive income" streams still require work. If you want to start a blog, for example, to make money from ads or affiliate marketing, you'll first have to spend some time creating content for it. You'll also have to spend time promoting that content to build steady traffic to generate income.

How Parents Can Help Teens Learn Financial Responsibility

Talking to kids about money from an early age can lead to lifelong benefits that can keep them in financial health. Some ways parents can help teens learn financial responsibility include addressing topics such as:

• Budgeting basics
• Setting savings goals
• The benefits of investing
• The importance of managing debt

Parents can also teach financial responsibility by setting a good example and sticking to a budget, regularly setting savings goals, and managing their debt. They can talk to their teens about their own financial decisions.

The Bottom Line

Making money as a teen can be a valuable learning experience, whether it’s through a part-time job, starting a side hustle, or passive income channels. "Look at this job as another step toward you becoming financially independent," Stafford said. "It's never too early to look at what financial planning is."

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