Best paying part-time jobs, no experience: $15 to $21.53 an hour

The best-paying no-experience job where part-time shifts exist is customer service representative, at a national median of $21.53 an hour. After a short commute and an estimated tax bill, that leaves about $16.35 an hour. At the bottom of the common options, hosts and fast food counter workers earn a median of $15.00 gross, or about $10.84 net. This is arithmetic on public figures, not tax, legal or financial advice, and your own numbers will differ.

The numbers

Assumptions: gross is the BLS May 2025 median for customer service representatives. Costs assume a 10-mile round-trip commute for each 4-hour shift, priced at the IRS 2026 rate of 72.5¢ a mile. Tax is 7.65% (the employee half of the IRS 15.3% Social Security and Medicare rate) plus an assumed 8% for income tax. All figures are rounded to the nearest cent.

The rest of this article shows the working and ranks the other no-experience jobs the same way. It then covers what changes the answer: your state’s minimum wage, your age, whether the job is W-2 or a gig app, and the scams aimed at people searching for this.

The ranking: no-experience jobs by median pay, before and after costs

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists every job below as needing no formal credential or only a high school diploma, with short on-the-job training. The gross column is the BLS national median for May 2025. The net column applies the same commute and tax assumptions as the table above. BLS counts you as part-time if you usually work fewer than 35 hours a week.

Here is the formula behind the net column, so you can plug in your own numbers:

• Net after tax = gross × (1 − 0.1565) − commute cost per hour
• Commute cost per hour = 10 miles × $0.725 ÷ 4 hours = $1.8125

From top to bottom, the gross gap is $6.53 an hour ($21.53 − $15.00). After costs and tax it shrinks to $5.51 ($16.35 − $10.84). The commute costs the same in every job, so it doesn’t change the gap. Tax does, because it takes a percentage: $6.53 × 0.8435 = $5.51.

Two jobs near the top are poor fits for most people who want part-time work. Most delivery truck drivers and security guards work full time, and guards usually need a state licence first. That makes material moving the realistic runner-up to customer service. If you are a student, the same logic applies to campus and flexible work in best ways to make money in college, ranked by net pay.

Employers that publish their pay

National medians mix every employer together. A few large employers publish their own figures, but they don’t all measure the same thing.

UPS part-time and Costco entry clerks start at $21, about 53 cents below the customer service median, and a starting rate is a lower bar than a median. Amazon’s “more than $23” looks higher, but an average includes people who have been there for years, so a new hire shouldn’t expect it.

Worked example: 80 hours a month at three jobs

We assume 20 hours a week for 4 weeks, worked as five 4-hour shifts a week (20 shifts a month).

Customer service at the $21.53 median

• Gross: 80 × $21.53 = $1,722.40
• Commute: 20 shifts × 10 miles × $0.725 = $145.00
• Tax: $1,722.40 × 15.65% = $269.56
• Net: $1,722.40 − $145.00 − $269.56 = $1,307.84
• Per hour: $1,307.84 ÷ 80 = $16.35

UPS part-time at the $21 contract starting rate

• Gross: 80 × $21.00 = $1,680.00
• Commute: $145.00
• Tax: $1,680.00 × 15.65% = $262.92
• Net: $1,680.00 − $145.00 − $262.92 = $1,272.08
• Per hour: $1,272.08 ÷ 80 = $15.90

Cashier at the $15.81 median

• Gross: 80 × $15.81 = $1,264.80
• Commute: $145.00
• Tax: $1,264.80 × 15.65% = $197.94
• Net: $1,264.80 − $145.00 − $197.94 = $921.86
• Per hour: $921.86 ÷ 80 = $11.52

For the same hours, customer service pays $385.98 a month more than cashiering. The commute costs $145 in all three jobs, which is 11.5% of the cashier’s gross and 8.4% of the customer service rep’s.

The hourly figure hides one thing: 20 hours a week is below Target’s 25-hour benefits line. At Target, five more hours a week moves you from wage only to wage plus health benefits. If you would otherwise pay for your own coverage, that can matter more than the hourly differences on this page.

Assumptions

Swap in your own numbers for any of these.

1. Pay is the BLS May 2025 national median. Half of workers earn less and half earn more.
2. Each shift is 4 hours, with a 10-mile round-trip commute.
3. Car costs use the IRS 2026 business mileage rate of 72.5 cents a mile as a stand-in for the full cost of running a car. Fuel alone is far less: AAA puts it at 13 cents a mile, based on $3.15 gas.
4. W-2 tax is 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare plus an assumed 8% for federal and state income tax. The 8% is a placeholder rate for the worked math, not a real rate. Many part-time earners owe less, and some owe more.
5. Commute time is unpaid and isn’t counted in the hourly figures above. “What changes the answer” adds it back in.
6. Each line is rounded to the nearest cent, so a total can be a cent off the formula.

Your state’s minimum matters more than the national median

The federal minimum is $7.25 an hour, and your employer must pay whichever minimum is highest: federal, state or local. The Department of Labor’s state table shows how far apart these floors are. Rates below are as of 1 July 2026, except Florida, which rose on 30 September 2026.

Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee have no state minimum wage law. The federal $7.25 applies there unless a local rule is higher.

What the numbers say: DC’s $18.40 floor beats the national median of every job in the ranking except customer service and delivery truck driving. In Texas the floor is $7.25, so the national median is the only guide you have. Which job pays best depends partly on where you live, so look up your state and city minimum first.

Tipped jobs follow their own rules. Under federal law, an employer can pay a $2.13 cash wage and count up to $5.12 of tips toward the minimum, as long as your total reaches at least $7.25. Employers and managers may not keep your tips. The $16.94 waiter median includes tips, and the base wage on its own can be far lower.

Compared with: delivery apps

Gig apps also need no experience, but the gross figure isn’t what you keep, because you pay to run the car. The only hard pay floor in our sources is in New York City, where app delivery workers must earn at least $22.13 an hour before tips from 1 April 2026. That floor covers DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, Instacart and Shipt.

One paid hour at the NYC floor, by car (we assume 10 miles driven)

• Gross before tips: $22.13
• Car cost: 10 × $0.725 = $7.25
• Net before tax: $22.13 − $7.25 = $14.88
• Self-employment tax: $14.88 × 15.3% = $2.28
• Income tax placeholder: $14.88 × 8% = $1.19
• Net after tax: $14.88 − $2.28 − $1.19 = $11.41

That is $10.72 less than the gross, and below the cashier’s $11.52, before tips. Tips come on top, and they decide whether app work beats a W-2 job. Counting only gas (AAA’s 13 cents a mile), the car costs $1.30 and net before tax is $20.83. The $5.95 difference between $20.83 and $14.88 is depreciation, insurance and maintenance. For a new car, AAA puts the total at $11,577 a year, with depreciation alone at $4,334. Most gig drivers use older cars, so treat these as a reference point, not your actual cost.

We applied 15.3% to the full net, which simplifies the IRS calculation. A W-2 employer pays half of your Social Security and Medicare. A gig worker pays both halves, which is the extra 7.65% compared with the W-2 jobs above.

Outside NYC, no major app publishes a verifiable average hourly pay. DoorDash says base pay is $2 to $10+ per offer, plus promotions and tips, or you can choose “earn by time” for a guaranteed hourly minimum. To work out your own figure, divide total earnings by every logged-in hour, including waiting time, then subtract 72.5 cents for each mile driven. The full version of that math is in Is DoorDash worth it? Driver math after gas, wear and tax. Cashing out early also costs money: DoorDash Fast Pay has a fee in the US, and Uber Instant Pay has a fee and can be used up to 6 times a day.

Other costs to count include the phone and data plan every app requires, plus anything you pay up front. TaskRabbit charges a one-time, non-refundable $25 registration fee, and paying it doesn’t guarantee approval. Amazon Flex requires a 4-door sedan, SUV, van or truck with a covered bed.

Under 18? The rules on hours, pay and app ages

The federal child labor rules limit teen hours, which in turn limits teen earnings:

• Under 14: generally can’t work covered non-farm jobs.
• 14 and 15: up to 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week, or 8 hours on a non-school day and 40 hours in a non-school week. Work must fall between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., extended to 9 p.m. from 1 June to Labor Day.
• 16 and 17: no hour limits, but 17 hazardous-occupation orders apply. These cover, for example, driving, power saws, meat slicers, roofing and balers.

Where your state’s rules are stricter, they apply instead. Federal law also allows a youth minimum wage of $4.25 an hour for workers under 20 during their first 90 consecutive calendar days. Employers can’t displace existing workers to pay it, and your state’s minimum may still require more.

The math for a 15-year-old in a school week: 18 hours × $15.00 (the host and fast food median) = $270.00 gross at that rate.

Gig apps are mostly closed to teens:

For older students choosing between these options, best side hustles to make money in college, ranked by pay runs the same comparison.

Taxes on part-time and gig income

W-2 jobs withhold tax from each paycheck. With gig work, paying it is up to you:

• All income is taxable, whether or not you get a 1099.
• Self-employment tax is 15.3% (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare). You must file if your net self-employment earnings are $400 or more, and you can deduct the employer-equivalent half when working out adjusted gross income.
• Estimated tax deadlines are 15 April, 15 June, 15 September and 15 January.
• Form 1099-K is only sent if you had over $20,000 and more than 200 transactions. Massachusetts still requires one above $600. For payments made after 31 December 2025, the 1099-NEC threshold rises to $2,000.
• The “no tax on tips” deduction covers up to $25,000 a year of voluntary tips in IRS-listed occupations. It phases out above $150,000 modified AGI ($300,000 for joint filers), and for the self-employed it is capped at net income from that work. For a waiter, that could make the 8% income tax placeholder too high. Check whether your job is on the IRS list.

In February 2026 the Department of Labor also proposed a new independent contractor test, focused on how much control the worker has and their chance of profit or loss. Comments closed on 28 April 2026. Check whether a final rule has been published, because it affects who counts as a contractor.

The scam cost of “no experience, high pay”

This search attracts fraud. The FTC’s job scam guidance is blunt: honest employers will never ask you to pay to get a job. People reported losing $750.6 million to job and business-opportunity scams in 2024, up nearly $250 million from 2023. Task scams made up nearly 40% of job-scam reports in 2024. They start with a text or WhatsApp message about “app optimization” or “product boosting”, pay out small amounts, then ask you to deposit money. The FTC’s list also includes fake checks in nanny, caregiver and virtual assistant ads, reshipping, and work-from-home “starter kits”. Report them at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

If a listing pays far above the medians on this page with no experience required, check it carefully before you apply.

What changes the answer

• Work from home: with no commute, customer service nets $18.16 instead of $16.35 ($21.53 × 0.8435).
• Count commute time: with an unpaid 30 minutes per 4-hour shift, $16.35 × 4 ÷ 4.5 = $14.53 for every hour you’re actually out.
• Longer commute: every extra 10 miles round trip on a 4-hour shift costs another $1.81 an hour at the IRS rate.
• Your state: in California no job on the list can legally pay less than $16.90, so the lower rows rise to at least that. In a $7.25 state, nothing props up the bottom of the table.
• Benefits: Target health coverage at 25 hours and Amazon’s $5-a-week entry plan can outweigh a dollar or two of hourly pay if you would otherwise buy insurance.
• Age: under 20, the first 90 days can legally pay $4.25 under federal rules, unless your state’s minimum requires more.

Sources

• BLS Occupational Outlook: customer service representatives, cashiers, hand laborers and material movers, food and beverage serving workers (May 2025 data)
• Target pay and benefits fact sheet
• Teamsters UPS tentative agreement highlights
• AAA Your Driving Costs 2025
• DoorDash: how Dasher pay is calculated
• DOL tipped employees fact sheet
• DOL youth minimum wage fact sheet

Verdict in one number

$16.35 an hour. That is what the best-paying no-experience part-time job (customer service, at the national median) leaves after a short commute and estimated tax, so anything advertised well above it for no experience deserves a closer look.