- The top 10 hottest remote side hustles include therapists, translators, graphic designers, and bookkeepers, according to a new report FlexJobs.
As more companies like AT&T, JPMorgan, and Amazon drag employees back into the office, remote work is becoming increasingly like gold dust.
Although only 10% of open job positions were remote in December 2023, they received 46% of all applications, according to 2024 data from LinkedIn.
For many, these prized roles aren’t just an opportunity to log on from the couch in their pajamas and enjoy a better work-life balance. With the high cost of living, professionals want to work from home to avoid the costs of commuting, lunches, and workwear. And this is a popular phenomenon—about 78% of workers responded that they currently have a side hustle, or would consider taking one on, in order to bump their income, according to a previous report from FlexJobs.
Whether you’re facing a return-to-office mandate or want to make some coin on the side from the comfort of your home, FlexJobs has just revealed the top remote side hustles for 2024—and one pays $56 an hour.
The top 10 remote side hustles
- Nurse Practitioner ($56/hour)
- Therapist ($30/hour)
- Translator ($24/hour)
- Accountant ($23/hour)
- Content Writer ($22/hour)
- Graphic Designer ($20/hour)
- Bookkeeper ($19/hour)
- Administrative Assistant ($18/hour)
- Customer Service Representative ($16/hour)
- Sales Associate ($13/hour)
There are a few side hustles that rose as the hottest gigs over the past year, but healthcare roles have topped the charts.
Nurse practitioners came out on top as the highest-paid remote side job at $56 per hour, and therapists were ranked second with a $30 hourly wage. This should come as no surprise, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated nurse practitioner roles would grow 46% between 2021 and 2031. The job does require a degree, specialization, and certification, but professionals could make a pretty penny taking up the opportunity. The rise of this role and others, like therapists, reaffirms that the healthcare industry only continues to grow.
Other less conventional roles, like translators, are making $24 hourly meanwhile graphic designers are bringing in $20 per hour and becoming increasingly popular.
Notably, AI and other tech gigs were absent from this year’s list. Despite chatbots, copilot, and other AI tools becoming some of the hottest innovations in recent years, remote side hustles in the industry are comparatively scant. Even full-time opportunities in tech are teetering off—the endless opportunities that computer science graduates were once promised are no longer around.
The popularity of WFH gigs as workers are hit with RTO
Having the flexibility of remote or hybrid when you’re taking on a second (or third) job or going solo can be crucial—but it might feel like a dream as companies bring down the RTO hammer.
Late last year, AT&T told its staffers that they would have to be back in the office five days every week starting this month. The telecommunications company was following in the footsteps of Amazon, who also enforced a five-day-in-office return in 2024. Employing over one million U.S. workers, the e-commerce giant then faced intense employee pushback; staffers called for a reversal of the RTO mandate in an anonymous survey, workers began rage-applying to jobs to jump ship, and employees even penned an open letter to an Amazon executive slamming the decision.
JPMorgan’s recent RTO enforcement also spurred similar outrage from employees, to the point where the bank muted comments on its internal messaging board after being flooded with protests. Last year, Starbucks also threatened to fire staffers who didn’t come to the office at least three days per week. Consequences for disobeying the rule could be “up to, and including, separation,” according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News.
