Grocery prices are expected to rise further because of costs associated with the Iran war, while higher gas prices are adding to concerns about consumer spending. For millions of people, the answer is not relief from above but more work below: nearly one in three Americans are turning to side hustles to make ends meet as essential costs rise.
Who Pays for the Costs at the Top
A USA Today report said 28% of Americans have taken on a side hustle, with nearly half of them, 49%, starting one in the past year and about 54% saying they did so to earn extra money for bills or essentials. That is the hierarchy in plain view: prices move upward, and ordinary people are told to absorb the shock by finding another stream of income. The burden lands on households already trying to keep up with groceries, gas and the rest of the basics.
A separate ZipRecruiter survey estimated that 35% of Americans have an alternate income stream. ZipRecruiter Economist Nicole Bachaud said people are relying on side hustles not only to cover essentials, but also to build a financial cushion because they fear layoffs in a job market that is weak outside of a few resilient sectors. She said, “The market sitting the way it did for the last year, I think a lot of people were saying, ‘If I were to lose my job right now, it would be really hard to find something else,'” and added, “Adding something on the side is just really to prepare themselves for the ‘what if’ environment.”
The Job Market’s Little Safety Net
That “what if” environment is not a comfort; it is a warning label on a labor system where workers are expected to self-insure against layoffs. The report says people are using side hustles to prepare for instability in a market that is weak outside of a few resilient sectors. Instead of security, workers get contingency plans. Instead of wages that cover life, they get the instruction to patch the gap themselves.
Side hustles are popular across generations and income brackets. Last year, a Bankrate survey found 34% of Gen Z, 31% of millennials, 23% of Gen X and 22% of baby boomers have sought one out. The ZipRecruiter survey found that about 45% of those earning more than $150,000 do supplemental work, compared with about 31% of workers earning less than $25,000 and about 31% of those earning between $25,000 and $50,000. Kory Kantenga, head of economics for the Americas at LinkedIn, said, “It’s the old adage: The more money you have, the easier it is to make money,” and added, “For example, you today are an AI engineer and you’re working for a company. There’s a lot of AI consulting work there available to you. It’s just sitting there waiting for the taking.”
Making Ends Meet, One Platform at a Time
E-commerce has emerged as the most popular way to make extra cash, with people selling handmade goods, secondhand items and various digital products on sites like eBay, Etsy and Facebook Marketplace. The Omnisend report found that of those with side hustles, about 46% sell or resell products online, 31% do freelance work and 21% do social media content creation or run a blog. Greg Zakowicz, an ecommerce advisor to Omnisend, said, “People are going out less, especially if they have less money. They’re wearing their clothes less, wearing their shoes less – it’s easier to resell this stuff,” and added that the popularity of resale markets leads him to believe Americans are asking, “How do I get the money for the least amount of effort?”
Of respondents to the Omnisend survey, about 39% of e-commerce side hustlers said they make more than $1,000 each month, compared with about 28% of freelancers, 26% of food delivery workers and 19% of content creators. The numbers show a marketplace where people are pushed to monetize whatever they can, from used clothes to digital labor, because the basics keep getting more expensive.
Using income data from Upwork, a BestBrokers analysis ranked popular side hustles based on profitability and career potential. It found that life coaches make the most per hour, $150 on average, but noted that demand depends heavily on personal brand and reputation. Content creators for brands are next, making an average of $40 per hour, though income is inconsistent early on. Affiliate marketers make an average of $37.50 per hour. E-commerce freelancers, photographers, T-shirt designers, influencer marketing freelancers, copywriters and tutors all make upward of $30 per hour on average, the analysis said. Photo editors, proofreaders, Canva designers, blog writers and digital artists earn upward of $20 per hour on average.
Zakowicz said those looking to start a side hustle should remember three things: time is money, understanding your finances is key and being realistic doesn’t hurt. He said, “The thing people don’t realize is you’ve got to look at that next step ahead,” and added, “That next step might be a cliff, and you got to be willing to pack a parachute.”