To find legit online jobs for teens, you don’t have to be experienced or know someone. You can literally make money sitting in your room with nothing more than a phone and an internet connection.
Maybe you’re looking to get a side hustle started now that will help you stay debt-free as your expenses get more complex. Or maybe you want some low-key work you can squeeze into your busy schedule to provide a little extra bank each week.
Either way, online jobs for teens have never been easier to find. Read on to see our top picks so you can start working right away.
1. Take Online Surveys
Minimum age requirement: 13 with parental consent
Earning potential: $1 to $3 per survey
How to get started: Join Branded Surveys or Survey Junkie
Taking surveys online might just be the easiest online job for teens. It’s a relatively mindless activity, so you can do it on your phone while binge-watching or waiting in line. Pro tip: do fill out the surveys with real information and type real sentences into open comment fields, so that you develop credibility as a survey taker. That’s how the app will keep feeding you more surveys.
Once you set up an account, you fill out surveys on products and services so businesses know what customers think and want. The more surveys you take, the more points you earn, and the points convert to cash or gift cards. This work pays on the lower end of online jobs for teens, but it’s easy to add to a busy schedule and requires zero experience.
Survey Junkie makes it easy to get started
It’s free to sign up on Survey Junkie and you can take surveys right away.
Learn more
2. Sell Gently Used Clothes
Minimum age requirement: 13 with consent of parent or guardian
Earning potential: Varies depending on what you sell
How to get started: ThredUp and Poshmark for clothes and accessories.
Selling items online is about using digital platforms to unload your gently used clothes, electronics, and more. You start by selecting what you want to sell, setting up an online store or using your Facebook marketplace login, and promoting your products to attract customers.
The pay per hour can vary greatly depending on product demand and your marketing efforts, but many sites make it simple to get your item priced and listed quickly. Some sites like ThredUp let you ship all your items to them, and then they ship to the customer, saving you time and money.
3. Trade in Your Electronics
Minimum age requirement: 18 for most sites
Earning potential: Varies depending on what you sell
How to get started: Decluttr and Amazon Trade-In
For old tech you’ve outgrown, check out Decluttr or Amazon Trade-In. They will pay you cash for your gently-used cell phones, video games, game consoles, tablets, e-readers and more.
This site works great for teens who want to make money online because you don’t have to deal directly with buyers. You don’t have the hassle of listing things for sale or dealing with buyers — Decluttr buys from you and then resells on its online marketplace and you get paid 24 hours after they’ve received and reviewed your item.
4. Proofreading
Minimum age requirement: 18
Earning potential: $15 to $25 per hour
How to get started: Check out our free training
If you love being right, then this is one of the best online jobs for teens! Proofreaders catch mistakes like spelling and grammar errors in other writers’ blog articles, websites, advertising copy, social media posts, and more.
You don’t need a degree or experience, but we do recommend learning how to get clients and set your rates by taking an online course, especially if you have never done freelance work before. Your investment in training can really pay off, because this side hustle can pay as much as $1,000 or more per month.
Make money proofreading
This FREE seminar teaches you the five steps to becoming a well-paid proofreader.
5. Get Paid to Shop
Minimum age requirement: 13 with consent of parent or guardian
Earning potential: $5 to $50 a month
How to get started: Get a free account on Swagbucks
Points-to-cash apps offer points for shopping online through their links or for watching videos, taking surveys, and more. It’s a great way to take advantage of habits you may already have like online buying and a love of shopping.
You get points for your activity, and then redeem those points for gift cards either from stores or Mastercard. Since apps like Swagbucks connect to more than 1,500 different retailers, you’ll find lots of your favorite brands. And because you only have to be 13 or older to get started, this is one of the best online jobs for teens of all ages.
6. Watch Videos
Minimum age requirement: 13
Earning potential: $1 an hour
How to get started: Sign up with MyPoints
You can turn doom-scrolling into market research for cash! Companies pay people to watch short ads, trending news videos, music videos and more. You won’t get rich this way, but it’s better than scrolling your phone for free!
MyPoints pays for all of those activities, plus they offer coupons and deals that not only save you money but earn you points to redeem for gift cards. You might wonder if this business model is legit, so read our full MyPoints review for more information.
7. Test Products
Minimum age requirement: 18
Earning potential: From a few dollars to a few hundred dollars depending on the company
How to get started: Vindale Research
A great online job for teens is as simple as telling companies what you think. You can have fun and make money online when you test products and make short videos of yourself giving your reaction.
The more products you test, the better the app matches products to your buying demographic, and you can earn more money. Bonus, you can either keep the product or sell it, squeezing multiple income sources out of one job.
8. Test Websites
Minimum age requirement: 18
Earning potential: $4 to $10 per test
How to get started: UserTesting.com
Testing websites and mobile apps is a great side hustle for teens and helps companies identify and fix common problems often before the site goes live.
Businesses pay on the lower side for this online job, but most tests take 20 minutes at the maximum so it’s not a huge time investment and you can work it around your schedule. You can make more if you participate in a live interview, which takes longer but pays $30 to $120 per test.
9. Make and Sell Digital Creations
Minimum age requirement: 13 with consent of parent or guardian
Earning potential: $15 to $20 per hour
How to get started:
For natural doodlers, your artistic talents can earn you money through your designs for stationery, t-shirts, stickers and more on sites like Cafepress. This online job works well for creative teenagers who love to see their work on an item you can hold, like mugs or picture frames.
It’s also a great gig for beginners, and as your skills grow you could potentially build this into a career or side hustle in graphic design.
10. Sell Your Pics
Minimum age requirement: 18
Earning potential: $15 to $20 per hour
How to get started: Sign up with Adobe Stock or Shutterstock
You share your best photos with your friends for free, but did you know you can sell them? As a contributor to stock photo sites like Adobe Stock, Getty Images, or Shutterstock, you can earn royalties when users download your pics.
With a good photo editing app and a profile on stock platforms, it’s easy to manage this online job from your phone. You can set yourself apart by reading up on how to get the best shot. Because you don’t get paid until one of your photos is used, it can take a little time to build your income. But this side hustle can grow with you for years as a wonderful source of passive income.
Final Word on the Best Online Jobs for Teens
You don’t need a car, experience, or a love for mowing lawns or babysitting to get a job when you’re young. The fastest way to earn money online as a teen is to start by doing things you already know how to do online like read, comment, shop, and buy.
Also, be sure to keep your parents or guardian in the loop on your activities, especially if you are under 18. They can help you with setting up a bank account so you can get paid as well as provide permission to use certain sites and apps.
FAQs
It helps to know your preferences. If you want to chill out with mindless repetition, go for taking surveys or watching videos. For creative outlets, consider selling your original designs or photos. By nailing down how you work best, you can target your search for those job types and will be more likely to stick with it.
Definitely, but you might be surprised how much experience you already have. If you know how to use a smartphone to download apps, scroll social media or shop online, you can jump right into several of these gigs. Taking surveys online is a lot like taking tests online for school, only way more fun and you get paid for it!
No. Unlike mowing lawns, you don’t have to have any equipment other than a smartphone and an internet connection. For more technical jobs taking pictures and creating graphic designs, you may prefer access to a laptop, but it’s amazing what can be done on your phone with the right app.
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.
