10 Easy Online Jobs for High Schoolers That Pay Well

Just because your parents are footing the bill for housing and food right now doesn’t mean you’re living free of expenses. As a teenager, you may need cash on hand for clothes, cell phone bills, car insurance, and school activities, not to mention future funds for college tuition. Finding an online job for high schoolers is a great way to earn a little spending money while developing skills that can benefit you down the line.

Getting a job offers far-reaching benefits that you might not anticipate. Admissions committees tend to view students who hold jobs — or better yet, start their own businesses — as more responsible, innovative, and experienced. Along with bolstering your college application, a job can help you decide what type of career you want to pursue. For example, you might discover a passion for writing, social media, or working with children. 

While many teens opt to work at local shops and restaurants, others may find that their options are limited by geography or driving ability. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many businesses to close their doors, limiting options for teen workers. If you want to earn money while gaining valuable professional exposure and expertise, consider trying out one of the many online jobs for teens and high schoolers. 

10 Online Jobs for High Schoolers

The internet makes it possible to find jobs you can do without leaving the comfort of your own couch. However, securing online jobs for teenagers that pay is often more of a challenge. Here are 10 of the most lucrative at-home jobs for high schoolers to consider:

1. Design Your Own Products

Age requirement: 13 (CafePress) to 16 (Redbubble and Society6)

Earning potential: Dependent on sales

One of the most popular online jobs for students with a flair for design, selling products online is a great way to earn extra cash while showcasing your creativity. Online retailers like CafePress, Redbubble, and Society6 allow you to create custom designs for a variety of products, including shirts, mugs, tote bags, buttons, and stickers. 

Creators generally earn 10-20% of the sale price. Additionally, sites may offer bonuses for designers who sell more of their wares. To showcase your goods on this site, simply create a domain name, upload a cover image and avatar, enter payment details, and then start listing your artwork.

2. Become a Freelance Writer or Blogger

Age requirement: 13 for Fiverr

Earning potential: $5 per task to much more

Do you excel in your English and language arts classes? If you have a talent for writing and an understanding of online marketing, freelancing blogging may be the ideal online job to pursue. 

Sites like Fiverr allow wannabe writers to post about the kind of assignments they want to take and set a desired rate. For example, you could offer to write a beauty blog post for $15 or a fitness website page for $20. You can also look for long-term and one-off employment listings for writers on sites like Craigslist, UpWork, and FlexJobs (minimum age 18 years old).

If you want to start your own blog, that’s also another way to earn money. Just be aware that it takes a lot of time and effort to build up an audience before you can start making money with ads, affiliates, or sponsorships. Blogging successfully requires strategies like SEO (search engine optimization) and social media, so be honest with yourself about your willingness to commit.

3. Teach an Exercise Class

Age Requirement: 13 with parental permission (YouTube)

Earning potential: Varies dramatically. Potential revenue streams include advertiser funds, channel memberships, and merchandise. 

Online fitness is enjoying a serious moment, with many gyms and studios offering virtual classes to keep customers in shape during the pandemic. If you’re a student athlete, dancer, or fitness fiend, then you may want to consider teaching exercise classes to earn extra income. 

One of the best online jobs for teenagers that pays well, fitness instruction requires little more than a reliable internet connection. You can create a YouTube channel (you’ll need parental permission if you’re under 18) or promote your classes on Facebook. 

To add credibility to your classes, you may also want to consider getting an official teacher certification (be sure to check minimum age requirements). This can also help you make sure you don’t accidentally teach improper moves, too. 

4. Become a Tutor

Age requirement: 13 (Facebook) to 18 (Wyzant)

Earnings: $10-40 per hour for a high school student

If you excel in one or more academic subjects, you may already have some experience instructing your fellow students. However, you might not realize that tutoring is also one of the top online jobs for high schoolers. You can find tutoring jobs or advertise your services on Facebook. If you’re 18 or older, you may be able to find clients through a tutoring site like Wyzant. Along with connecting tutors with clients, Wyzant lets you choose your areas of expertise, set an hourly rate, and get paid via direct deposit. 

5. Provide Customer Service

Age requirement: 16 years old

Earning potential: $10+ per hour

U-Haul is one of a handful of businesses offering at-home jobs for high schoolers in the customer service sector. Typically available to candidates 16 and older with a USB headset and high-speed internet, these positions involve assisting customers with various concerns. 

Along with gaining exposure to different kinds of people and businesses, customer service professionals develop their skills for problem solving and oral communication. While the base pay starts around $10 per hour, employees have the opportunity to increase their rate through bonuses.

6. Do Voice-overs

Age requirement: 13 for Fiverr, 18 for Upwork

Earning potential: $5 or more, depending on the script

Do you have a buttery smooth voice, or once that commands attention? Are you able to speak in different accents and take on different voice “personas?”

If so, you might consider offering your services as a voice actor. Businesses often need voice actors for things like commercials, videos, audiobooks, games, and more. 

You will likely need to buy professional recording equipment, so be sure to research the demand and profitability of your voice before investing in equipment. 

7. Tackle Programming Projects

Age requirement: 13 for Fiverr, 18 for Upwork

Earning potential: $10-20 per hour

Technologically-adept teens may want to pursue work as a programmer. If you know HTML 5, CSS, Java, Python, or another programming language, consider putting your expertise to use with a job in coding. You can advertise your skills and availability on Fiverr or Upwork, or look for open assignments on Craigslist. 

While salary varies dramatically depending on your skill level and experience, teen coders can easily earn up to $20 per hour. You may even be able to find a paid STEM internship that lets you do the work online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

8. Sell Your Old Stuff

Age requirement: 13 years old

Earning potential: Unlimited

Is your attic or garage full of items your family no longer uses? If so, you may be able to sell these unwanted products online for a profit. Facebook yard sales are local groups that allow people to find buyers for everything from electronics to musical instruments, video game consoles, exercise equipment, and rare books. You can search on Facebook to find a yard sale group in your neighborhood. 

Because this online job for teens requires sellers to meet buyers in person to hand over goods, it’s important to use caution. Take an adult with you when exchanging goods and avoid meeting people in isolated locations. If the buyer is coming to your house, make sure you aren’t home alone when the transfer occurs.

If you don’t want to meet buyers in-person, you can also try platforms like eBay and ship out any items sold. For clothing, you can also use online platforms like Depop and Poshmark, which provide shipping labels.

9. Transcribe videos or audio

Age requirement: 13 for Fiverr

Earning potential: $5 or much more, depending on the task

If you’re a fast typer and good listener, you might consider transcribing audio or video on a platform on Fiverr. People commonly need transcriptions of things like lectures, videos, webinars, or interviews.

If you speak another language, you might also consider tackling transcription in that language. You could even do some translation tasks, making your skills even more valuable.

10. Be a Virtual Assistant

Age requirement: Varies

Earning potential: $10-16 per hour

Are you social media savvy? Do you excel at marketing, web design, or simply keeping an organized calendar? If so, you may be able to score a position as a virtual assistant for an individual or small business. While some companies hire virtual assistants for short-term projects or assignments, others need permanent help. Additionally, companies may need a temporary virtual assistant to replace someone who’s sick or on maternity leave. Find open positions on Craigslist or talk to your parents, friends’ parents, and teachers to see if they know anyone in need of assistance.

Are Online Jobs Impressive for College Applications?

High school students often wonder if part-time jobs qualify as extracurriculars. As a rule of thumb, any activities you engage in outside the classroom may qualify as extracurriculars on a college application. However, applicants should note that the best extracurriculars are valuable to your development as a student or an individual. 

Colleges generally separate extracurriculars into four tiers, with the first tier representing the rarest and most impressive activities and the fourth tier representing more common ones. With that in mind, jobs that demonstrate entrepreneurship — such as selling crafts or starting a tutoring business — will likely have a more profound influence on ad coms. Additionally, students who work part time to help support their family will generally be given extra consideration. 

Online jobs for teens are typically self-directed. In other words, you may not have a manager or supervisor reporting on your efforts or praising your successes. To that end, students who hold down online jobs should attempt to quantify their work achievements for their college applications whenever possible. For example, if your job is selling artwork on CafePress, let the admissions committee know how many shirts and stickers you sold on a yearly basis. On the other hand, applicants with YouTube channel could mention how many subscribers they have. The goal is to show colleges how you took initiative and monetized your passion.

Applying to colleges is more challenging than ever. With admissions becoming increasingly competitive at top schools, many students are applying to a dozen or more institutions. As a result, high schoolers need to keep track of multiple deadlines and to-dos while juggling essay writing, test taking, interviewing, and more. We created our college applications platform to simplify the process of getting into school. Simply sign up for your free account today and let CollegeVine provide the tools and expertise you need to achieve your goals.