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Among college side hustles we can check against hard numbers, babysitting and pet care pay best, at roughly $17 an hour at the national median. Tutoring can beat both because you set the rate and the platform takes a fixed cut. Car delivery looks competitive until you subtract mileage, and paid online studies land close to minimum wage.
The numbers
| Babysitting, per hour | |
|---|---|
| Gross per hour | $16.82 |
| Costs per hour | $1.90 |
| Net per hour | $14.92 |
| Net after tax (estimate) | $12.64 |
Assumptions: gross is the BLS median for childcare workers (May 2025 data). Costs assume 4-hour jobs with a 10-mile round trip at 76 cents a mile (IRS business rate from 1 July 2026, per IRB 2026-29). Tax is a simplified 15.3% self-employment tax (IRS) applied to net pay, assuming you are paid as self-employed and owe no federal income tax or state tax. Rounded to the cent.
We use babysitting as the benchmark for everything else below. For a broader list, see our ranking of ways to make money in college by net pay.
The ranking, by what you keep per hour#
Most “best side hustle” lists rank by vibes, or by pay ranges the publishers wrote themselves. We split ours into three groups:
- Hustles with a verified hourly benchmark.
- Hustles with no verified average, because the pay depends on you.
- Hustles most students can’t sign up for.
Tier 1: Hustles with a verified hourly benchmark#
| Rank | Hustle | Verified hourly figure | What comes off it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pet sitting and dog walking | About $17 (our estimate) | Travel, plus the app’s cut if you use one |
| 2 | Babysitting | $16.82 (BLS median) | Travel |
| 3 | Paid research studies (Prolific) | $8 minimum, $12 recommended | Time spent beyond the median |
| Reference | Federal minimum wage | $7.25 | n/a |
The pet care figure is our own arithmetic. BLS puts the median annual wage for animal caretakers at $35,360. Divided by 2,080 working hours, that is about $17, rounded to the dollar. BLS does not publish that hourly figure itself. Both BLS numbers cover employed workers in general, not students booked through apps, so treat them as benchmarks, not promises.
On Prolific, researchers must pay at least $8 an hour and are advised to pay $12 or more. The rate is worked out from the median actual completion time. If you are slower than the median, your real hourly rate falls below the posted one. After 15.3% self-employment tax, the $8 floor leaves $6.78. That is less than the $7.25 federal minimum before any tax.
Tier 2: The pay depends on you#
| Hustle | What the platform or the job takes | Barrier to entry |
|---|---|---|
| Tutoring (Wyzant) | 25% of your rate (students also pay a 9% service fee) | None confirmed |
| Car delivery (DoorDash, Uber Eats) | Mileage, at 76 cents a mile | Age 18 to 21, depending on app and state |
| Bike or walking delivery | Small equipment costs | 18+ on Uber Eats; DoorDash allows bikes only in some cities |
| Odd jobs (TaskRabbit) | $25 one-time registration fee | 18+, SSN, checking account, credit card |
| Reselling (Mercari) | 10% of item price plus buyer-paid shipping (as of 2025) | None confirmed |
Tier 3: Closed to most students#
- Uber rideshare: you need at least 1 year of US driving experience, or 3 years if you are under 25. You also need a 4-door vehicle, insurance and a background check. Most college-age students will not qualify.
- Amazon Flex: 21 or older, with a 4-door sedan, SUV, van or truck with a covered bed.
- DoorDash for younger students: the minimum is 18, but 19 in Arizona, Colorado, Delaware and some other states, and 21 in California.
- Uber Eats by car: 19 or older, or 21 in California and New York.
Tutoring: you set the rate, the platform sets the cut#
Tutoring is the clearest case here of you setting your own hourly rate. Other lists quote $20 to $40 an hour for tutoring, but those are the publishers’ own unverified claims, so don’t plan around them.
What we can verify is the cut. Under Wyzant’s fee structure, tutors keep 75% of their posted rate. If you refer a new student yourself, you keep 100% of the rate for lessons with that student. Wyzant
The break-even math:
- To keep the babysitting benchmark of $16.82, you need to post $16.82 ÷ 0.75 = $22.43 an hour.
- At an example rate of $30 (an illustration, not a typical figure), you keep $30 × 0.75 = $22.50.
- After 15.3% self-employment tax: $22.50 × 0.847 = $19.06.
- If you tutor online (our assumption), there is no travel cost, so $19.06 is close to what you keep.
The catch is utilization. You are paid for lesson time only. Waiting for bookings, writing your profile and preparing lessons are all unpaid. Divide what you earn by every hour you put in, not just the hours you spent teaching.
Delivery: the mileage cost you never get a bill for#
DoorDash pay has three parts: base pay, promotions such as Challenges and Peak Pay, and customer tips. DoorDash advertises “up to $25 per hour,” which is a ceiling, not a typical figure. Its official pay page gives no average.
Cost is the bigger issue. The IRS business mileage rate was 72.5 cents a mile for January to June 2026, and IRB 2026-29 raised it to 76 cents from 1 July. We use it as a stand-in for fuel, wear, insurance and depreciation. Nobody sends you a bill for those costs, but you pay them anyway.
At 15 miles driven per hour logged in (our assumption), costs come to 15 × $0.76 = $11.40 an hour. To match babysitting’s $14.92 net before tax, you would need $14.92 + $11.40 = $26.32 gross. That is above DoorDash’s own advertised ceiling. We run the full numbers in Is DoorDash Worth It? Driver Math After Gas, Wear and Tax.
Bike and walking delivery change the picture. Uber Eats accepts walkers and cyclists from age 18 with a government ID and an SSN. We treat their costs as close to zero, although a bike, a lock and repairs are not free. In a dense, flat campus town, bike delivery is the delivery option where the numbers hold up best.
Worked example: a semester of babysitting#
Assumptions: 8 hours a week for 15 weeks, in 4-hour jobs, with a 10-mile round trip each time, at 76 cents a mile.
- Hours: 8 × 15 = 120 hours
- Gross: 120 × $16.82 = $2,018.40
- Jobs: 120 ÷ 4 = 30 trips
- Miles: 30 × 10 = 300 miles
- Vehicle cost: 300 × $0.76 = $228.00
- Net before tax: $2,018.40 minus $228.00 = $1,790.40
- Self-employment tax: $1,790.40 × 15.3% = $273.93
- Kept: $1,790.40 minus $273.93 = $1,516.47, or $12.64 an hour
Net self-employment earnings are over $400, so this student files Schedule SE even if a parent claims them as a dependent. $1,790.40 is far below the $12,220 FAFSA income protection allowance covered below, so this income alone would not count against aid.
What changes the answer#
For anything involving a car, mileage is the biggest variable. This table shows the gross hourly pay you need, before tax, at 76 cents a mile:
| Miles driven per hour | Cost per hour | Gross needed to net $7.25 | Gross needed to net $14.92 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | $3.80 | $11.05 | $18.72 |
| 10 | $7.60 | $14.85 | $22.52 |
| 15 | $11.40 | $18.65 | $26.32 |
Other things that move the number:
- Unpaid waiting time. This hurts delivery, tutoring and TaskRabbit most. Divide earnings by all the time you worked, not only the paid minutes.
- One-time fees. TaskRabbit’s $25 registration fee costs $2.50 an hour if you quit after 10 hours of work, and 25 cents an hour over 100 hours.
- Reselling margins. Take a Mercari item that sells for $40 with $8 of buyer-paid shipping. The 10% fee is $4.80 (10% of $48). If the $8 covers the shipping label and you paid $10 for the item, you keep $25.20 in our example. Whether that is good pay depends on how long you spent sourcing, photographing, listing and packing.
- Your city. Rates and tipping vary by market, and the BLS figures are national medians. Check local rates before you set yours.
- Plasma donation. Federal rules require at least 2 days between donations and allow no more than 2 in any 7-day period. Whatever a center pays, that caps your weekly income from it.
Compared with minimum wage#
| Option | Per hour |
|---|---|
| Federal minimum wage | $7.25 (before tax) |
| Prolific at the $8 minimum | $6.78 (after SE tax) |
| Prolific at the $12 recommended rate | $10.16 (after SE tax) |
| Babysitting | $12.64 (after mileage and SE tax) |
| Wyzant tutoring at an example $30 rate | $19.06 (after fee and SE tax, online) |
The federal minimum has been $7.25 since July 2009. Where a state sets a higher minimum, employers must pay the higher rate. Check your state’s rate and your school’s student pay scale before deciding that a gig beats a campus job. A campus job also costs you nothing in mileage.
The tax part (it starts at $400)#
This is general information, not tax advice.
- Self-employment tax is 15.3% (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare). The IRS requires Schedule SE once net self-employment earnings reach $400. That applies even if you are a dependent with no other income.
- Dependent filing rules (tax year 2025): you also have to file if your earned income is over $15,750 or your unearned income is over $1,350.
- Getting a 1099 is not the test. Payment apps and marketplaces only send a 1099-K once you pass $20,000 and 200 transactions. For payments made in 2026, the 1099-NEC threshold rose to $2,000. You must report all income either way.
- Quarterly estimated tax is due 15 April, 15 June, 15 September and 15 January. Underpaying can bring a penalty even if you end up getting a refund.
- The “no tax on tips” deduction allows up to $25,000 a year for tax years 2025 to 2028. For self-employed workers it is capped at net business income, and the tips must be reported on a 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC or 1099-K. Treasury’s preliminary list named goods delivery workers, babysitters, pet caretakers and tutors. Final regulations have since been issued, so check the final list. If you owe no income tax anyway, the deduction has nothing to reduce.
The FAFSA part#
For 2027-28, the aid formula protects $12,220 of a dependent student’s own income (Federal Register). For single independent students without dependents, the figure is $19,000. Above the allowance, federal law counts 50% of a dependent student’s available income toward the Student Aid Index (SAI).
A simplified example: a dependent student who earns $15,000 is $2,780 over the allowance. Half of that, $1,390, could be added to their SAI. The real formula subtracts other allowances first, so treat $1,390 as a rough upper bound.
Ruled out by visa: F-1 students#
F-1 students can work on campus for up to 20 hours a week during term and full time during official breaks. On-campus jobs need approval from your Designated School Official (DSO). Off-campus work needs separate authorization. The economic hardship route (Form I-765) only opens after one full academic year, and you can’t start until USCIS issues an Employment Authorization Document. University international offices generally treat gig apps and freelance platforms as off-campus work. Ask your DSO before you sign up for anything.
Scams that target students#
The FTC’s job scam guidance lists these warning signs:
- An “employer” who asks you to pay up front or buy a starter kit
- A check you deposit and partly forward on, which later bounces and leaves you owing the money
- Reshipping or “quality control” jobs
- Fees for mystery-shopper certification, or placement services that charge you
Students also receive fake personal-assistant offers and emails pretending to be from professors or college offices. The FTC’s rule of thumb: if a new employer mails your first paycheck before you have started work, it is a scam. Consumers reported $15.9 billion in fraud losses in 2025, up from about $12 billion in 2024. Report scams at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Who should skip which hustle#
- Under 21 in California: DoorDash is out entirely, and so is Uber Eats by car (the same age rule applies in New York).
- Under 21 anywhere: Amazon Flex is out.
- No car, or a car that is expensive to run: skip car delivery. Look at tutoring, babysitting or bike delivery instead.
- F-1 students without off-campus authorization: stick to approved on-campus jobs.
- Anyone who needs to beat minimum wage: don’t count on paid studies at the $8 floor.
Verdict in one number#
$12.64 an hour is what babysitting at the national median leaves you after driving costs and self-employment tax, and it is the number any other college hustle has to beat.