The best money making ideas for teens are local jobs you can start this week, like dog walking, babysitting, yard work and tutoring, plus a few phone apps for small extra cash. Local work pays more per hour. Apps pay less, but they fit around school.
Below are 15 ideas, split into things you can do in your neighborhood and things you can do online. For each one you get what the idea is, what it takes to start, and what it realistically pays. A few ideas come down to a single app, and those are shown as cards.
Before You Start: Age Rules and Getting Paid
Many apps set a minimum age, and it is often 18. Rover and Fundrise both require you to be 18, for example. Check the terms of any app before you sign up, and ask a parent if the rules are not clear.
Getting paid can also need an adult. You cannot open your own PayPal account until you are 18, so a parent may have to receive app payouts for you. Local jobs avoid this problem because neighbors can pay you in cash.
How To Make Money As A Teen In Your Neighborhood
These ideas need you to show up in person. They are the quickest way to earn real money as a teen, and most need nothing more than time and a few neighbors who know you. For a longer list, see the best side hustles for teens.
1. Scan gas receipts with Upside
Cash Back on GasIf you drive, or ride with someone who does, Upside gives cash back on gas you were buying anyway. You claim an offer in the app before you fill up, pay as usual, and snap a photo of your receipt. You can cash out by PayPal or gift card. What you earn depends on how much gas you buy, so treat this as a small rebate and not as income.
Go deeper: gas is only one kind of receipt that pays. See the full list of apps that scan receipts for money.
2. Scan grocery receipts for money
Fetch Rewards is a free app that gives you points for photos of shopping receipts from any grocery store. Points turn into gift cards. If your family already shops every week, ask to scan the receipts before they get thrown away.
- What it takes: A phone and a steady supply of receipts.
- What it pays: Small amounts. Expect an occasional gift card, not a paycheck.
- Go deeper: Read the Fetch Rewards review to see how the points work.
3. Get paid to walk dogs and babysit
Pet owners and parents are always looking for someone they trust, and a teen who lives down the street is a natural fit. Start with neighbors and family friends, do a good job, and ask them to pass your name along. A few regular clients add up fast.
- What it takes: Reliability, references from people who know you, and a parent who knows where you are working.
- What it pays: Dog walkers typically earn $15 to $20 per walk. Teen babysitters often earn $8 to $10 an hour.
- Go deeper: If you are 18 or older, Rover lets you create a profile and offer dog walking and pet sitting to owners near you. Rover does not accept sitters under 18, so younger teens should find clients by word of mouth.
- Get paid to walk dogs on Rover 🐶
- Set your own hours and rates
- Easy cash if you love animals
4. Taking down Christmas trees
Every January plenty of people still have a tree up because they do not want to deal with it. Make flyers, hang them around the neighborhood, and offer to take trees down, box up the artificial ones, and haul away the real ones.
- What it takes: Flyers, work gloves, and a way to move a real tree to the curb or a drop off site.
- What it pays: You can charge up to $50 a tree. At that price, 20 homes is $1,000, but it is a once a year job.
- Go deeper: More one time jobs like this are in the guide to making $1,000 fast.
5. Tutor other students
If you are strong in a subject, other students and their parents will pay for help with it. You can also proofread papers and give feedback. Do not write assignments for other people. That is cheating, and it can get both of you in trouble with your school.
- What it takes: Good grades in the subject, patience, and a quiet place to meet, such as a library.
- What it pays: You set the hourly rate. Ask what tutors in your area charge and start a little lower.
- Go deeper: The guide to selling your skills online covers how to find paying clients.
6. Mow lawns and do yard work
Yard work is steady because grass keeps growing and leaves keep falling. Offer mowing, raking, weeding or snow shoveling to the houses on your street, and try to sign people up for a weekly visit instead of a single job.
- What it takes: Access to a mower or basic tools. Many customers will let you use theirs.
- What it pays: You set a price per yard. Repeat customers matter more than a high price on one job.
- Go deeper: For more work you can do on your own schedule, see the best side hustles.
How To Make Money As A Teen Online
Online ideas pay less than local jobs, but you can do them from your phone at any hour. Remember the age rules above before you sign up for anything.
7. Earn money playing games
Some apps pay you to try mobile games and reach set goals in them. Bigcash pays you to test apps and play games, with a $15 welcome bonus and a $1 minimum cash out. Branded has been featured on CBS, and some of its game and app tasks pay $100 or more, though those take a lot longer to finish.
- What it takes: A phone and time you were going to spend on games anyway.
- What it pays: Small offers pay a few dollars. Bigger payouts can take a week or more of play.
- Go deeper: See which games are worth it in the guide to making money playing video games.
8. Collect $60 from an app with Nielsen
Up to $60/YearThis idea takes the least work of anything on this page. Nielsen pays you to keep its app on the phone or computer you browse with. You register the device once, and after that there is nothing left to do. It earns up to $60 a year, so think of it as a slow extra and not as quick cash.
Go deeper: Nielsen is one of several ways to earn without daily work. More are in the list of passive income ideas.
9. Grab sign-up bonuses
Many rewards apps pay a bonus to new members, but often only if you join with a working referral code, and a lot of the codes you find online are expired. ReferralCodes collects current codes in one place, so take 30 seconds to check it before you download a new app.
- What it takes: An email address, and for most bonuses, meeting the app's age rule.
- What it pays: Bonuses usually run from $5 to $50, and each one is paid only once.
- Go deeper: The best current offers are in the list of sign up bonus apps.
10. Get paid to watch videos with InboxDollars
$5 Sign-Up BonusInboxDollars pays cash, not points, for watching short videos and taking surveys. New members get a $5 bonus for signing up. Each video or survey pays a small amount, so this suits spare minutes more than a long work session. You need $30 in your account before you can cash out, and that takes a while at this pace.
11. Earn free gift cards playing games with Mistplay
Free Gift CardsMistplay rewards you for playing mobile games that you pick from its list. The longer you play, the more units you collect, and units convert to gift cards. It only works on Android phones. It is free to download from the Google Play store.
Go deeper: if you want gift cards and do not have an Android phone, compare the other gift card apps.
12. Take paid surveys
Survey sites pay you for your opinions on products and ads. You answer questions on your phone, and you get paid in cash or gift cards. It is easy work, but you will not qualify for every survey you start.
- What it takes: A phone, honest answers, and meeting the site's age rule.
- What it pays: Often $0.50 to $3 per survey. Think of it as pocket money.
- Go deeper: The sites worth joining are ranked in the guide to paid surveys.
13. Invest in real estate
Fundrise is an online platform that lets people invest in real estate projects, from homes to commercial buildings, without buying a property or managing one. This is an idea to plan for, not one a teen can start today. You must be 18 to invest with Fundrise, and it does not offer custodial accounts for minors.
- What it takes: Being 18, and money you will not need for a long time.
- What it pays: Returns are not guaranteed and investments can lose value. Any income comes slowly, through dividends.
- Go deeper: Until you turn 18, the useful step is saving part of what you earn from the other ideas so you have something to invest later.
- Earn passive income with real estate investing starting at just $10
- Easy-to-use app for seamless access to crowd-funded real estate deals
- Perfect for those who want their money to work for them
14. Become an app tester
App testing is close to idea 7, but the work is trying new apps and completing set tasks in them instead of only playing games. It is one of my favorite ways for teens to make extra money, because the tasks are clear and you can see the payout before you start. The best apps that we have reviewed include:
- Branded: As seen on CBS. Some tasks testing games and apps pay $100 or more.
- Bigcash: Get paid to test apps, with a $15 welcome bonus and a $1 minimum cash out.
- What it takes: A phone, and the patience to follow each task's steps exactly so it tracks.
- What it pays: Quick tasks pay a few dollars. Larger ones pay more and can take days.
- Go deeper: Both apps are compared with others in the best money making apps.
15. Cut your expenses
Money you do not spend counts too. Rocket Money is an app for tracking your spending, finding subscriptions you forgot about, and building a budget. Some features need a paid premium plan, so start with the free version.
- What it takes: A bank account or card to connect, which for most teens means doing this with a parent.
- What it pays: Nothing directly. The gain is whatever you stop wasting each month.
- Go deeper: Other options are compared in the best budgeting apps.
Do You Need Money? Or Do You Want Extra Money?
The answer changes which idea you should pick. If you need money soon, choose a local job from the first list. Dog walking, babysitting, yard work and tutoring can pay you the same day, in cash. If you only want a little extra, the online ideas are fine, because they are slow but take almost no effort.
A good mix is one local job for real income and one or two apps in the background.
Frequently Asked Questions
Local jobs are the fastest. Dog walking, babysitting, yard work and tutoring can pay you in cash the same day. Apps are slower because most have a minimum balance before you can cash out.
It depends on each app's age rule, and many require you to be 18. Rover and Fundrise both do. Check the terms before you sign up, and ask a parent to help if you are under the minimum age.
Dog walkers typically earn $15 to $20 per walk, and teen babysitters often earn $8 to $10 an hour. Apps pay much less. Nielsen pays up to $60 a year, and most other apps pay a few dollars at a time.
Often, yes. You cannot open your own PayPal account until you are 18, so a parent may need to receive payouts for you. Cash jobs in your neighborhood do not have this problem.
Online, it is Nielsen, because you install it once and leave it. In your neighborhood, it is pet sitting or dog walking for someone you already know.
Ready to Earn With These Money-Making Ideas for Teens?
Pick one idea from each list and start this week. Tell five neighbors what you offer, set up one app with a parent's help, and see which one you would keep doing. If you are still deciding, the guide on how to make money at 15 has more ideas sorted for younger teens.
But remember: earning is half of it. Save part of everything you make so that you are not starting from zero the next time you need money.
I love these ideas. Especailly renting out a vehicle for extra cash.
Glad you like the ideas!
I really appreciate these ideas there are very genuine..Hope it helps someone out there