12 Best Summer Jobs for Teachers (From a Former Teacher!)

The summer is sacred to teachers. You’ve worked hard all year long, and now it’s time for a break! But it’s not uncommon for teachers to use their summer break to make extra money. And when I was a teacher, I definitely side hustled during my time off.

To help you reach your financial goals, I put together a list of the best summer jobs for teachers, and we’re talking about flexible options where you can make upwards of $5,000/month or more.

If you’re looking for a quick way to make a few extra bucks this summer, I recommend online surveys with Branded Surveys or Survey Junkie. You can take surveys from the comfort of your home, while you’re vacationing with your family, and more.

1. Food Delivery

There’s a good chance you’ve had takeout or groceries delivered by a food delivery service, and these services offer flexible work if you’re a teacher looking for a summer job.

Doordash is our top pick because it holds the largest market share in the U.S., and drivers can pick their own hours, whenever they have extra time. There are no minimum or maximum number of hours you can drive per week, and you can even bring someone with you while on deliveries.

Learn more in our full DoorDash Driver Review.

Earning Potential

Dashers (what DoorDash calls its drivers), are paid per order, not an hourly rate. And one of the reasons we like DoorDash is because they offer several promotions to help you earn more than the average food delivery driver, including Peak Pay, when there’s a higher need for drivers in those areas. You also keep 100% of your tips.

2. Bookkeeping

Freelance bookkeepers help business owners record and manage daily financial transactions. It’s an incredibly important and flexible role that can include paying bills, managing payroll, and collecting payments. If you’re good with numbers, bookkeeping is an excellent summer job for teachers!

Bookkeepers need to be familiar with financial software like Quickbooks and Xero and know how to read and create balance sheets. Fortunately, these are all very learnable skills, and bookkeeping software does the majority of the work for you — you’re plugging numbers into the software and it applies that 

Earning Potential

The average bookkeeping client pays $500 per month, and most bookkeepers work around five hours a month per client. It’s very common to stack clients so you’re servicing multiple throughout the month and increases your income with each new client.

3. Proofreading

Teachers, more than most people, see their students constantly misuse words and punctuation. And if it makes you cringe, proofreading could be one of the best summer jobs for you. 

Proofreaders are detail-oriented freelancers who help writers and business owners produce professional-looking content. Because proofreaders are freelancers, proofreading is a really flexible part-time job for teachers. You can fit it in after work, on the weekends, whenever you have a little spare time. Teachers make excellent proofreaders because you’re detail oriented and organized.

Earning Potential

Proofreading on the side of your job can bring in an extra $500 to $2,000 per month depending on how much work you get, and proofreaders make in the range of $20 to $45 per hour.

4. Freelance Writer

As a teacher, you have many core freelance writing skills — excellent communication, solid research skills,  and you can logically piece together an argument.

Freelance writing is a wide field, and you can write blog posts, sales pages, emails, web copy, product descriptions, and so much more. Freelance writing work is known for being highly flexible, and it’s scalable — so the work fits in easily with your teaching schedule and you can grow your writing business on the side.

Earning Potential

Freelance writers may be paid by word, page, or a flat rate per project. It’s not uncommon for part-time freelance writers to make $1,000 to $3,000 per month, and it can be scaled to bring in $5,000+ per month.

5. Digital Marketing

After I quit teaching to run this site full time, I need to make extra money, so I learned how to run Facebook ads for small, local businesses. I started with one client, the jeweler that sold me my wife’s engagement ring, but I quickly grew my client list and began out-earning what I made as a teacher.

Running Facebook and Instagram ads for small businesses is simply online advertising (aka digital marketing) on two of the largest social media platforms in the world. Because of the massive reach these platforms have, Facebook and Instagram continue to be the best online platforms for small businesses to increase their traffic and visibility. 

Earning Potential

You can make around $1,000-$2,000 per month/per client with just a few hours of work each week. And because it only takes a few hours a week to keep your client's ads running, this is one of the best summer jobs for teachers. 

6. Blogger

I can’t talk about summer jobs for teachers without mentioning blogging. I started my blog on the side of my teaching job and eventually left teaching to blog full time.

Overall, it’s a slow business model, but blogging has the highest overall earning potential out of anything on this list. It took me a few months to make anything from this site, but now I’m making a 7-figure income less than 10 years later.

Earning Potential

Not every blogger will have the same trajectory as me — a lot of bloggers comfortably make $1,000-$5,000 extra each month, and even more make less. I’m being honest about this because I want you to understand that blogging takes a lot of work. However, it can be well worth it in my opinion!

What I like so much about blogging is that you can build it at your own pace. You’re also in complete control of what you write about and how you monetize your site.

If you’re interested in starting a blog, I recommend:

• Check out my free, step-by-step guide: How to Start a Blog in 2023.
• Start your site with Bluehost for as little as $2.95/month. Bluehost allows you to build a professional-looking blog, and you can get discounted pricing with my exclusive Bluehost link.
• Check out my free service Launch That Blog. This service is free if you sign up through my Bluehost link, and my team will handle all of the technical aspects of building your blog.

7. Online surveys

Brands pay market research companies to create online surveys that find out what people think about their products and services. This is valuable data that helps companies create better products and services, which is why you can get paid to take online surveys. This isn’t the highest-paying summer job, but you can easily make a few extra dollars in your spare time. 

The way it works is that you sign up, answer a few demographic questions to help match you with surveys, and then get paired with surveys. Most survey sites pay you in points that convert to PayPal cash or gift cards.

Earning Potential

You can make around $1 to $3 per survey, and you can take as many surveys as you’d like a day, assuming there are enough looking for people that match your demographic data points.

8. Etsy Printables

Did you know that digital printables are one of the best things to sell on Etsy? These are things like: 

• Planner pages
• Calendars
• Lifestyle/financial trackers
• Wall art
• Printable games
• Stickers
• Business cards

Because printables are digital files, all you have to do is create the product once, and you can sell it an unlimited number of times with no additional overhead. Plus, there’s no need to store or ship physical products.

There’s a fantastic free ebook called the Seasonal Products Secret that outlines printable ideas for each month of the year and how to capitalize on each idea. You should definitely grab a copy of that free ebook if you’re interested in learning more.

Earning Potential

You can make an extra $500 to $5,000 per month selling Etsy printables. And the reason we love this as a summer job for teachers is because you can spend the summer creating products and getting them listed to bring in passive income during the school year.

9. Tutor

Tutoring is one of the most obvious summer jobs for teachers, and it’s a really great way for teachers to make extra cash. As a teacher, you already have the necessary experience and skills to tutor, and many families look for after-school or weekend tutoring for their kids.

We highly recommend BookNook, which is  an online tutoring platform that connects K-8 students with tutors who can help them develop critical math and reading skills. Tutors make $15-$22/hour and must meet at least one of these requirements:

• 3+ years teaching or tutoring or
• 1 year teaching or tutoring and at least a bachelor’s degree or
• 1 year teaching or tutoring and current enrollment in a teaching credential program

You also must be a U.S. citizen to qualify. The tutoring sessions last 30 minutes, and you will work with 1-4 students at a time. There's no lesson planning involved — BookNook handles this part for you. 

Earning Potential

Tutors can make in the range of $15 to $40+ per hour. It really depends on how you decide to offer your services. Tutoring with BookNook is a really flexible option because it’s remote, but finding students via neighborhood groups or social media will likely warrant higher pay.

10. Pet Sitting

Working with pets might just be the break you need after a long day of working with kids. This is a very flexible side job for teachers, and the sense of responsibility you need to have as a teacher translates into a valuable pet-sitting skill.

There are different kinds of pet-sitting gigs depending on your availability and interests. You can board pets in your house — they come and live with you while the pet owner is out of town. You can stay at the pet owner’s house, or go and check on their pets from time to time.

Earning Potential

Pet sitters can earn anywhere from $30-$50/day depending on where they live and the kinds of services they need to perform, like administering medication or grooming, for example.

If you’re interested in this great summer hustle for teachers, I highly recommend using Rover. It’s free to create an account and list your services, and Rover takes a 30% service fee per booking.

11. House Sitter

I’ve always thought that house sitting would be one of the best summer jobs for teachers because it’s something you can easily do in addition to another side hustle. 

Rover (the pet sitting website listed above) can also be used for house sitting services, or you can find house sitting jobs on Care.com.

Another option, while it doesn’t pay, is looking for out-of-town house-sitting jobs on TrustedHouseSitter.com. Homeowners list houses in the U.S. and different parts of the world, and in exchange for a free stay in a beautiful place, you take care of their house.

Earning Potential

House sitters make in the range of $25 to $50 per night, and the range depends a lot on the area you’re in and what kinds of things are required of you. 

12. Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants (VAs) are a huge asset to online business owners and busy professionals. VAs are responsible for all kinds of behind-the-scenes work, and they also keep business owners on task. Because teachers have to be extremely organized and able to juggle several things at a time, working as a virtual assistant is one of the best summer jobs for teachers. It doesn't hurt that virtual assistants make around $500/month per client.

Here’s a better idea of what virtual assistants do:

• Email inbox management
• Project management
• Publishing blog posts
• Maintaining and publishing to social media accounts
• Making travel arrangements
• Scheduling
• Bookkeeping
• Customer service

Your exact responsibilities can vary from client to client, but this is a fast-paced and flexible option. 

Earning Potential

The average VA client is worth about $500 per month and work for a variety of clients at a time.

Some companies hire virtual assistants for business owners, and others that match VAs with one-off tasks. But if you want to make the most money, I highly recommend going into business for yourself. The article How to Become a Virtual Assistant explains everything from finding a niche, courses, and starting your own VA side hustle.

What are the Best Summer Jobs for Teachers? The Final Word

Even though it’s been years since I was teaching, I will always have a soft spot for the profession. Not only did I teach, my wife and mom did, and I am acutely aware of your time constraints and how much you need to make extra money.

My experience means I want to provide you with the best possible summer jobs for teachers, and my top recommendations are:

• Driving for Doordash: This is an incredibly flexible way to make extra money, and you can keep delivering during the school year if you have the time. 
• Freelancing: We’ve covered a few freelance options on this list — bookkeeping, freelance writing, digital marketing, and proofreading. Starting to freelance in the summer allows you time to set up your business.