Finding jobs that pay $20 an hour or more can feel impossible, especially when you don’t have a degree or years of experience. Don’t worry! We’ve put together a list of jobs that reward hard work and results, even if you’re a beginner.
Many of the jobs on this list are entry level. Some require special training or certification, but investing in these requirements may help you make more money in the future.
Whatever you decide, with the options below, you can start right away, in most cases, with just a high school diploma, an internet connection, or a phone and the right apps.
1. Food Delivery Driver
Earning potential: $15 to $25/hour
Remember when pizza and Chinese takeout were the only options if you wanted food delivered to your door? Now, the options are endless with food delivery apps, like DoorDash and Uber Eats. As a driver for a food delivery company, the customer orders the food or convenience items they want, and you pick it up and bring it to them.
Job Requirements
For the most popular apps, you need to be 18 or older and have access to a car, scooter, or in some cities you can use your bicycle. You’ll also need a driver’s license, auto insurance, a Social Security number, and you’ll be asked to consent to a criminal background check.
How to Get Started
Once you sign up, you can set your hours and then decide which orders you want to deliver. Some companies have an “instant work” option in case you have some time to kill.
DoorDash is hiring new drivers right now!
DoorDash drivers can pick their hours and deliver in their spare time.
2. Bookkeeper
Earning potential: $20 to $40/hour
Bookkeepers deal with a business owner’s finances. You choose the specific services you offer, like managing a client’s payroll, paying bills, keeping track of incoming payments, and producing tax documents.
Job Requirements
Bookkeeping is not accounting and does not require a degree. It’s great if you're organized, good with numbers, and familiar with financial software. You can learn the basics with a little online training and the hands-on practice you get from working with clients.
How to Get Started
The first step is learning skills like working with spreadsheets and apps like Quickbooks. You can search for free training online, or take a course that teaches you how to launch your business from A to Z.
Make $20-$40/hour as a bookkeeper
Learn the skills and strategies necessary to start a successful bookkeeping business from the comfort of your home.
3. Proofreader
Earning potential: $20 to $40/hour
Proofreading takes a skill you probably already have — spotting errors in written content — and turns it into a job that pays $20 an hour or better. It’s a fun venture if you like working online from anywhere and you get a twitch in your eyebrow whenever you catch typos.
Job Requirements
You don’t need a degree, but you do need grammar, spelling and punctuation knowledge. Using editing tools that make it easier to spot common mistakes makes it easy to jump in.
How to Get Started
Creating a profile on a freelance site like Fiverr or Upwork gets your name out there. You can also drum up business on Facebook by joining professional proofreading groups.
Want to get paid to proofread?
This FREE seminar teaches you the five steps to becoming a well-paid proofreader.
4. Freelance Writer
Earning potential $500 to $5,000/month
Writing as a freelancer is one of the best jobs that pays $20 an hour or more because it combines a creative outlet with a skill that’s in high demand. Clients pay you to write or ghostwrite blog articles, email blasts, website copy, product descriptions, and more.
Job Requirements
Successful writers need strong communication skills both to write and to listen to what clients want. Similarly to proofreading, you can use editing tools like Grammarly and Hemingway Editor to perfect your content.
How to Get Started
While you don’t need experience, even the most gifted writers need mentors to understand how to get clients, set rates, and build your reputation. Save yourself months of trial and error by taking an online class right away.
Make $500 to $5,000/month as a freelance writer
Go from “I don’t know what I’m doing” to “I landed my first client!”
5. Digital Marketer
Earning Potential $1,000 to $2,000/month
This is advertising via websites, social media platforms, and other digital forums. Business owners pay you to promote their products and services via Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns, for example.
Job Requirements
You’ll need foundational knowledge of digital marketing platforms and advertising terms. You can work from anywhere but you need the internet and a computer. Your credibility comes from your results, not from a degree or years of experience.
How to Get Started
To build your business into earning power of well over $20 per hour, invest in a step-by-step course. This will teach you how to get clients, master marketing platforms, and communicate clearly with business owners.
Start making $1,000-$2,000 running ads
Want to learn more about running Facebook ads and how you can make $1,000+ every month? Just click on that link below.
6. Virtual Assistant
Earning potential $15 to $40/hour
If you long to rescue someone struggling to keep up with email, appointments, and all the small but critical tasks in business, you’ll make a great virtual assistant (VA). This job pays $20 an hour or more because you organize and execute on behalf of busy people.
Job Requirements
VAs who have experience as an administrative assistant or office manager can apply those skills. This is a good option for beginners, too, especially if you manage your time well and excel at communication and planning.
How to Get Started
To jump start your business, take advantage of free webinars and YouTube videos to learn what VAs do. Then, nail down what services you want to provide, and get your name out there by building a profile on job sites for VAs.
Fast track your VA business
Get the FREE resources you need to start a successful side job as a virtual assistant.
7. Handyman
Earning potential $15 to $25/hour
I’m not handy. I max out at changing the filter on our HVAC, and I’m not alone. Consumers will pay for a handyman to clean gutters or anchor a heavy bookshelf anchored to the wall.
Job Requirements
Your home maintenance knowledge can earn you $20 an hour or more, and you decide what types of work you want to do. Focus on repairs and maintenance that don’t need a license or state certification — like carpentry, painting, or odd jobs rather than something like HVAC, plumbing, and electrical.
How to Get Started
These jobs rarely require a degree or experience at first. You can advertise services like putting together furniture or hanging a mirror on sites like TaskRabbit. For a long-term career, look for local construction companies that often need unskilled laborers and offer to train workers in skilled trades.
8. Social Media Manager
Earning potential $15 to $40/hour
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok — what do they all have in common? I know you’re thinking: cat videos. But they also are channels for reaching customers, so business owners hire social media managers to create captivating content.
Job Requirements
First, make sure you know how to use social media. Create an account on each of the platforms you want to work on and get to know the different audiences that follow those channels.
How to Get Started
You’ll need to demonstrate you understand each platform, so clean up your own online presence so it showcases your professional persona across all channels. To build your brand, volunteer social media management for a local non-profit and then leverage that hands-on experience to gain paying clients.
9. Photographer
Earning Potential $10 to $30/hour
If your friends always say, “Send me that!” when they see the photos you take, you might have what it takes to get paid for your pics. Sure, everybody whips out their smartphone and captures average shots, but if you’ve got that eye for true digital storytelling, there is a market for that.
Job Requirements
It’s not just about having a smartphone camera, you need to bone up on your knowledge of lighting, framing, and photo editing to take your shots from good to great. You also need to get out of the house to take pictures, so this is not a 100% work-from-home job.
How to Get Started
To make this a job that pays $20 an hour, capitalize on passive income that comes from royalties from your copyrighted photos. Upload photos to sites like Shutterstock or AdobeStock, and when a customer selects your photo, you keep a percentage of the profit.
10. Tutor
Earning potential $15 to $40/hour
Tutoring can be a great way to re-enter the workforce in a job that pays $20 or more an hour. Put that French degree you set aside to raise your kids back to work as an online or in-person tutor. Or teach elementary age students to speak English as a second language.
Job Requirements
Many programs require a degree in the topic you want to teach, but often don’t care what it’s in if you’re teaching English. There are a few companies that don’t require a degree, just a high school diploma.
How to Get Started
This is a great part-time job for teachers because you may need to get a teaching certification to be competitive, but sometimes a parent wants a high school student who's good at math to help their struggling kid. Put the word out on social media and tap into those parents who used to hire you to babysit.
11. Graphic Design
Earning potential $15 to $40/hour
Graphic designers turn concepts into art on websites, brochures, logos, advertisements, and more. This field can definitely generate $20 an hour or more, as it’s a skill that’s in high demand.
Job Requirements
Graphic designers don’t have to have a degree, but do need a knack for creating visually appealing digital content or printables. It takes time to build a portfolio and reputation, but for many it’s a labor of love because it’s such a creative job.
How to Get Started
To learn the basics, sites like Skillshare offer online courses that give you plenty of opportunity to practice your project work and develop versatility. Designers also need to invest in design software like Adobe Creative Suite.
12. Transcriptionist
Earning potential $15 to $30/hour
Transcriptionists play back audio or video recordings and type what is being said into a document or database. You may choose to specialize in medical or legal transcription, but you can get started quickly in general transcription.
Job Requirements
Good listening skills and being an accurate, fast typist are two primary skills needed to succeed as a transcriptionist. You may need some training and you can find courses online. You may also want a foot pedal to control playback of the recording and headphones in case you share your home office with kids or dogs (or both).
How to Get Started
TranscribeMe and Rev give beginners a reliable platform to find jobs and build your brand. These and other sites require you to pass accuracy tests that help them verify you know the English language and can type well.
13. Landscaper/Lawn Care
Earning potential $15 to $25/hour
You might be tempted to think landscaping is just mowing lawns like you did in high school, but this is a job that pays $20 an hour. That’s more money than I ever made at that age!
Job Requirements
Landscapers rely on tools like mowers, weed eaters and pruning shears. It can also lend to your credibility if you apprentice with a respected company to learn tricks of the trade.
How to Get Started
Word of mouth is a great way to get started in this world, or advertise on Facebook and other social media platforms.
14. Virtual Fitness Instructor
Earning potential $15 to $25/hour
Online fitness instructors teach their routines and health advice to subscribers. This means you can get paid $20 an hour or more to work out.
Job Requirements
This work requires proficiency in the sport or practice you want to teach, like getting certified to teach yoga or weightlifting. You’ll also need video and sound recording and editing skills to produce a professional product, if you want to make the most bank.
How to Get Started
Step one is to narrow down the types of workouts you want to offer, then create a video library of your routines. You might also offer free video shorts to pique the interest of potential subscribers.
15. Bartender
Earning potential $10 to $15/hour plus tips
If you mix a mean martini and are great with people, you can find bartending jobs that pay $20 an hour or more when you factor in tips. Plus, you can exercise your creativity coming up with new cocktails!
Job Requirements
Great customer service skills and some basic knowledge of bartending go a long way toward success. Every state is different, but all states will require you to be at least 18 to serve alcohol.
How to Get Started
YouTube is full of videos on how to become a bartender. It helps if you have a good memory to remember common drink recipes. You can also tailor your resume to the types of venues your skill set matches best — like a sports bar in a college town or restaurants in tourist areas.
16. Website Tester
Earning potential $15 to $30
You know how we all have that one friend who will tell us the truth, even if we won’t like it? If you’re that friend, you might be a great website tester. Businesses seek testers to give honest opinions on their websites to find out what elements will attract and retain customers.
Job Requirements
Generally speaking, testers don’t need to have a degree or experience. You do need a computer and internet access. Companies may be looking for a specific demographic so you won't be the right fit for every opportunity, but over time you can build your experience.
How to Get Started
You can set up a profile on a site that specifically helps testers and companies connect. You can also find gigs on freelance platforms like Fiverr.
17. Dog Walker
Earning potential $15 to $30/walk
If you love dogs and being outdoors, walking dogs may be the perfect job for you. You get to spend time with animals and get paid for it. And if you are the type to prefer dogs over humans, then every day has the potential to put a smile on your face.
Job Requirements
You don’t need experience, but you do need to be comfortable with controlling dogs on leash. You also need to be prepared to clean up after the dogs when you are walking them. You can work by word of mouth or through an app. Most companies require a background check and you need to be at least 18.
How to Get Started
If you want to set your own schedule, apps like Rover can help you do it. You control when and how much you work, which gives you freedom to plan your day.
18. House Cleaner
Earning potential: $20 to $50/hour
Are you a neat freak who gets excited by a tidy house? Take that passion for house cleaning and make money from it. Just offer your house cleaning services to clients who may be sloppier than you and are willing to pay for someone else to literally clean up their mess.
Job Requirements
You can expect to do household tasks like dusting, vacuuming and mopping. In most homes, you will be required to clean toilets, showers and scrub kitchen counters. You need to show up on time and understand it’s a physical job so you’re going to be on your feet.
Pro tip: Talk to your client about expectations beforehand to have a clear idea of what is required of you so no one ends up being disappointed.
How to Get Started
One helpful app that can help you get started is TaskRabbit. For a one-time $25 fee you create a profile that describes what type of cleaning services you are willing to do. This can range from the basic services we described to deep cleaning or organizing.
19. Customer Service Representative
Earning potential: $15 to $20/hour
Customer service representative work might surprise you. It’s not just answering the phone calls of angry consumers. You can provide service via chat and email, as well, which can be great if you want to work from home but don’t love talking on the phone.
Job Requirements
Most customer service jobs do not have experience or educational prerequisites beyond a high school diploma. You’ll need a computer and a strong internet signal.
How to Get Started
Many job websites like Upwork and ZipRecruiter list work-from-home customer service jobs for both phones and chat roles. You can create a profile and start as a beginner, but you can also plan for the future by expanding your search to administrative assistants or office managers once you gain experience.
The Final Word on Jobs That Pay $20 An Hour
Okay, it’s real talk time. Don’t let the lack of a degree or experience stop you from landing a job that pays $20 an hour. With this list, get started and build a business that expands as you gain work experience and credibility.
One of the quickest and simplest is food delivery, and our top recommendation is delivering for Doordash. You’ll have multiple ways to deliver, flexibility and control over your schedule, and plenty of opportunity to maximize your pay.FAQs
Yes. Most of the jobs on this list can be done remotely. Several can help you earn well over $20 an hour over time, like proofreading, freelance writing, digital marketing, and blogging.
Yes. Jobs that require certifications, experience or apprenticeships have the highest potential to earn $30 an hour or more. So, while they require some up front investment of time and money, they can pay off in the long run and you don’t need a four year degree to get to that level.
About Millennial Money Man
Bobby Hoyt is a former band director who paid off $40,000 of student loan debt in 18 months on his teaching salary and then left his job to run Millennial Money Man full-time. He helps other Millennials earn more through side hustles, save more through budgeting tools and apps, and pay off debt. He is a personal finance expert who has been seen on Forbes, Reuters, MarketWatch, CNBC, International Business Times, Business Insider, US News, Yahoo Finance, and many other personal finance and entrepreneurship media outlets.
