Key Takeaways
- 38% of Americans had a side hustle in 2025, and among fully remote workers the share is meaningfully higher, driven by schedule flexibility and eliminated commutes (LendingTree Side Hustle Survey 2025)
- The average side hustle brings in $885 per month, but the median is just $200, reflecting a wide gap between light-touch gigs and serious freelance businesses (Bankrate 2025)
- 61% of side hustlers say their life would be unaffordable without the extra income, up from prior years as cost-of-living pressures intensify (LendingTree 2025)
- Online freelancing and professional services are the top side hustle categories for remote workers, with consulting, copywriting, and web development among the highest earners
- 70 million Americans are now part of the gig economy, representing roughly 36% of the total workforce, with remote-capable knowledge workers overrepresented (MBO Partners 2025)
Remote work and side hustles have grown up together. The same shift that moved millions of knowledge workers out of offices also handed them back their commute time, loosened their schedules, and gave them a home workspace that runs around the clock. For a large share of those workers, some of that reclaimed time went straight into a second income stream.
Side hustle participation runs higher among remote-capable workers than among in-office counterparts, and the most common gig types - freelancing, consulting, content creation - happen to fit naturally into a home office setup. This report compiles remote work side hustles statistics for 2026, drawing on surveys from Bankrate, LendingTree, Upwork, MBO Partners, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and SurveyMonkey.
How many remote workers have a side hustle?
Overall participation
Getting a precise figure for side hustle participation among remote workers specifically requires stitching together several surveys, since most studies measure participation across all workers rather than segmenting by work location.
LendingTree's 2025 Side Hustle Survey found that 38% of Americans had a side hustle, down from 44% in 2022 but still well above pre-pandemic levels. SurveyMonkey's 2025 data put the share slightly higher: 37% currently running a side hustle with another 35% actively considering one, which means roughly 72% of U.S. workers are either already side hustling or thinking about it.
Bankrate's 2025 survey found a more conservative 27% of U.S. adults with an active side hustle, the lowest in their tracking since 2017. Bankrate's methodology skews toward defined "side hustle" activity rather than any secondary income source, which accounts for some of the gap.
Remote work location is not directly measured in most surveys, but the pattern is consistent: remote and hybrid workers report side hustle activity at higher rates than in-office workers, and the most popular gig categories are ones that do not require a physical location.
Multiple jobholders
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks multiple jobholders separately from side hustles. As of early 2025, 8.9 million Americans were working multiple jobs, with remote-capable workers accounting for a disproportionate share of those holding a second job alongside a primary salaried role, according to Forbes analysis of BLS data.
The BLS also noted that in the first quarter of 2024, 35.5 million people teleworked or worked at home for pay, representing 22.9% of all people at work. Workers with advanced degrees teleworked at the highest rate (43.6%), and this group overlaps substantially with freelancers and consultants who do secondary knowledge work.
Side hustle income statistics
Averages and medians
The average and median side hustle income figures sit far apart, and both numbers matter.
Bankrate's 2025 survey found average side hustle income of $885 per month, down slightly from $891 per month in 2024. The median was just $200 per month - down from $250 the year before. Many side hustlers run casual gigs that bring in a few hundred dollars, while a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up considerably.
LendingTree's 2025 data is somewhat higher, with average monthly side hustle income of $1,215 and a median of $400. The difference from Bankrate's figures likely comes down to sample composition and how each survey defines "side hustle."
| Source | Average monthly income | Median monthly income | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bankrate | $885 | $200 | 2025 |
| LendingTree | $1,215 | $400 | 2025 |
| Bankrate (prior year) | $891 | $250 | 2024 |
Income by age group
Millennials are the highest earners among side hustlers, according to LendingTree's 2025 data:
| Generation | Average monthly side hustle income |
|---|---|
| Millennials | $1,129 |
| Gen Z | $958 |
| Gen X | $751 |
| Baby Boomers | $561 |
Millennials with established professional skills - writing, design, finance, software development - can charge higher freelance rates than younger workers still building their reputations.
Income by gender
LendingTree found a sizeable income gap between male and female side hustlers. Men reported average monthly side hustle income of $1,580, compared to $749 for women. The gap mirrors the broader gender pay disparity in the primary labor market and reflects differences in which types of side hustles each group tends to pursue.
Income by type of side hustle
High-skill gigs generate the most income per hour, based on data from Upwork, Toptal, and platform-level surveys:
| Side hustle type | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Consulting / professional services | $75-$150+/hr | Marketing, finance, tech, legal |
| Software development / web dev | $50-$150/hr | Highest demand on Upwork and Toptal |
| Copywriting / content strategy | $40-$100/hr | Strong demand from brands and agencies |
| Online tutoring / coaching | $20-$50/hr | AI, languages, and test prep highest |
| Content creation (video, social) | $500-$5,000+/month | Highly variable; audience-dependent |
| Online sales / e-commerce | $500-$5,000/month | Scales with inventory and margins |
| Food and grocery delivery | $15-$25/hr (before expenses) | Most accessible; lowest earnings ceiling |
Most popular side hustles for remote workers
Current distribution
SurveyMonkey's 2025 data found these top categories across all side hustlers:
- Online sales: 15% of side hustlers
- Online freelancing: 15%
- Part-time or seasonal work: 14%
- Crafts and handmade goods: 9%
- Pet care: 7%
- Teaching or tutoring: 6%
For remote workers specifically, freelancing and professional services tend to rank higher because those gigs are a direct extension of existing skills and the home office setup supports the work without any additional overhead.
Growth in content creation
MBO Partners estimated 10.1 million independent content creators in the U.S. in 2025, a 13% jump in a single year. The category - YouTube channels, newsletters, podcasting, social media management, sponsored content - has grown among remote workers who have the equipment and the home setup to produce content without a studio.
Within digital side hustles tracked in 2025:
- Social media content creation: 35% of digital side hustlers
- E-commerce: 27%
- Gaming and streaming: 24%
- Graphic design: 14%
Freelancing platforms
Upwork's 2025 data found that 39% of U.S. workers freelanced, up from 35% in 2024, with the freelance workforce contributing an estimated $1.3 trillion in combined annual income. High-earning freelancers making $100,000 or more per year grew from 3 million in 2020 to 5.6 million in 2025.
Full-time freelancers in knowledge work roles reported a median income of $85,000 in 2024, compared to $80,000 for full-time employees in equivalent roles. That $5,000 gap is part of what draws salaried workers toward building freelance income on the side before going fully independent.
Who has a side hustle: demographic breakdown
By generation
Side hustle participation skews young. LendingTree's 2025 data shows:
- Gen Z: 60% with a side hustle
- Millennials: 55%
- Gen X: 39%
- Baby Boomers: 24%
The younger-generation dominance comes from two directions: economic pressure (student loans, housing costs, stagnant entry wages) and comfort with platforms and the freelance model in general.
By reason for having one
LendingTree's 2025 survey found overlapping motivations:
- 33% cite cost-of-living expenses as the primary driver
- 29% say they need the money for regular bills
- 28% use it for discretionary income
- 32% of workers overall say current economic conditions have made them more interested in starting a side hustle
These motivations differ from the pre-pandemic picture, when discretionary income and "passion projects" featured more prominently. Most side hustlers now treat the income as essential, not supplemental.
How remote work enables side hustles
Commute time
The most direct mechanism is time. Remote workers who eliminated a daily commute recovered hours per week that previously went to transit, driving, or parking. As covered in our remote work commute savings statistics 2026 report, the average U.S. commute ran roughly 27 minutes each way - 4.5 hours per week, or about 200 hours per year.
For workers running a side hustle in the gaps of their schedule, that recovered time is a meaningful input. A freelance writer or consultant billing 10 hours per week on the side needs somewhere to fit those hours. Remote work provides it without requiring significant schedule restructuring.
Schedule control
Remote work does not always mean flexible hours, but it tends to mean more control over when work gets done within a given day. Our remote work flexibility statistics 2026 report documents that 71% of remote workers say they have more schedule control than in-office peers - which matters when you need to handle a client call or meet a freelance deadline at 2pm on a Tuesday.
Home office infrastructure
Workers running a home office already have the broadband connection, the desk, the monitor setup, and often the software subscriptions that side hustle work requires. The fixed cost of a home office setup, once paid for primary employment, drops close to zero as a marginal cost for a second income stream.
For content creation, the home setup is the studio. A remote worker with a decent camera, a microphone, and reliable internet can produce podcast episodes, video content, or online courses in the same space they use for their primary job.
Financial picture
Our remote work financial wellness statistics 2026 report documents that remote workers save $2,000 to $7,000 per year on commuting costs. Workers already paying attention to where money goes - and watching it accumulate - tend to also think more actively about where new income could come from.
The gig economy context
MBO Partners estimated that 70 million Americans participate in the gig economy, roughly 36% of the total workforce in 2025. Full-time independent workers more than doubled from 13.6 million in 2020 to 27.7 million in 2024.
Freelance platforms captured $5.6 billion in revenue in 2024, a figure projected to reach $13.8 billion by 2030. Across Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal, and Contra, 82% of freelancers reported more job opportunities in 2025 than the year before, compared to 63% of traditional employees.
AI tools have become a real driver of freelance income growth. Freelancers who use AI tools earn approximately 40% to 56% more per hour than peers who do not, according to platform data. Among all freelancers, 60% were using AI-powered platforms for skill development in 2025, up from 35% in 2023.
That's directly relevant to virtual assistant and knowledge work roles, where AI-augmented freelancers can handle more volume and faster turnaround than was practical before.
Burnout and trade-offs
Side hustles cost something. LendingTree found that 67% of side hustlers say their additional work leads to burnout. More than half - 52% - say the burnout is only worth it if they earn more than $500 per week from the side hustle.
At the same time, 77% say their side hustle improves their quality of life overall. That's a meaningful majority, even accounting for the fatigue. Most people doing this appear to stay with it.
For remote workers already navigating home-work boundary issues, the burnout risk is worth keeping in mind alongside the broader data in our remote work burnout statistics 2026 report. A side hustle that runs on commute savings and reclaimed evening time can tip into exhaustion faster than the income data alone suggests.
Side hustle income vs. primary income
The question of whether side hustle income is supplemental or essential shifts depending on who you ask. LendingTree's data shows:
- 61% of side hustlers say their life would be unaffordable without the extra income
- 77% say side hustle income improves their quality of life
- Only a minority describe it as purely discretionary
Among workers earning $100,000 or more in their primary role, participation remains high - the motivations shift from covering bills to building savings or working toward full independence, but the activity continues.
Related research
- Remote work financial wellness statistics 2026 - commute savings, housing cost shifts, financial stress data
- Remote work commute savings statistics 2026 - detailed breakdown of cost elimination by category
- Remote work flexibility statistics 2026 - schedule control data and how workers use reclaimed time
- Remote work overemployment statistics 2026 - data on workers holding two full-time remote roles simultaneously
- Remote work statistics 2026 - broad overview of remote work adoption and trends
Sources
- LendingTree Side Hustle Income Survey 2025
- Bankrate Side Hustle Survey 2025
- Upwork Freelance Forward Report 2025
- MBO Partners State of Independence in America 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Multiple Jobholders and Telework Data 2024-2025
- SurveyMonkey Side Hustle Statistics 2025
- Forbes / BLS Multiple Jobholder Analysis 2025