40 Best Side Jobs for Nurses to Make Extra Money (2024)

Now, before we get started on the list, I have two things to mention.

Firstly, all payment figures, except where specified otherwise, are taken from PayScale, Salary.com, and ZipRecruiter. While these income figures may have been accurate at the time of writing, when you come to read the post, they may have changed.

Secondly, for some of the options on the list, I have linked directly to sites like Indeed, rather than to specific companies that other sites claim offer certain jobs. I’ve done this because companies aren’t always hiring for specific positions. So, let’s say you go to a company page for medical transcription jobs only to learn that company isn’t currently hiring for that position.

Sites like Indeed, however, have up to date job opportunities, So it saves you wasting your time!

Okay, so now that that’s out of the way, here’s the list of side jobs for nurses.

Top 20 Side Jobs for Nurses

There are so many ways for nurses to make extra money. In this section, I’ll cover the top twenty side jobs for nurses.

1. Telehealth Nurse

• Average hourly pay: $31

If you’re wondering how to make money as a nurse from home, then you might want to consider working as a telehealth nurse.

Telehealth nurses conduct nursing and deliver care over the phone. Telehealth nurses use technology like VOIP, the telephone, and web cameras to deliver care to patients over a long distance.

While some positions are based in places like call centers, there are opportunities to work from home here.

What’s great about this job is that you can find lots of home-based positions too!

Here’s where you can find 1,000s of telehealth nursing jobs:

• Indeed
• SimplyHired
• ZipRecruiter
• Glassdoor
• LinkedIn

What does it pay?

Telehealth nurses can make from $19 to $43 an hour, but the average pay is $31 an hour.

2. Freelance writing

• Average hourly pay: $23

Okay, so next on the list we have freelance writing. If you’re looking for side hustles for nurses, then I would highly recommend working as a freelance writer.

It’s an incredibly flexible gig allowing you to pick up as much or as little work as you want to. One week, you could do just an article and the next week you could do five articles! It really is up to you how much you want to work with this one.

Now, for this gig, you will need to have good grammar skills, be able to put together cohesive content, and have great research skills.

Freelance writers work on everything from blog posts to books. You could choose to specialize in health or medical topics, or you could write about stuff that’s totally unrelated to nursing, like pets, technology, or crafts!

While a degree is not required for many jobs, clients will want to see some samples of your writing. So, you’ll need to take the time to build up a portfolio that you can show to potential clients when you’re applying for a job.

You can find private clients on sites like UpWork and PeoplePerHour.

Or you can choose to create content for a writing website.

Here are some writing websites that pay:

• Textbroker
• Verblio
• BKA Content

What does it pay?

With freelance writing, how you get paid and how much you get paid varies.

You can get paid per word, per hour, or per project.

Most of the time, pay is per word. Of course, it depends on the client or website that you work with.

Average hourly pay for freelance writers is $23, but pay can range from $12 to $58 an hour.

Like I said above though, many clients and websites pay freelance writers per word. Pay can vary from as little as $0.01 per word to as much as $0.10 per word or even more than that.

Pay can vary depending on the client that you work with. Pay per word or per project also varies on writing sites.

For example, Textbroker pays you 0.7 cents to 5 cents a word, and with Verblio, pay starts at $10.50 for a 300 to 400 word post.

3. Medical Transcriptionist

• Average hourly pay: $16

Medical Transcriptionists listen to voice recordings made by physicians and other healthcare workers and then type or transcribe what they hear. Also, they may review and edit medical documents that have been created using speech recognition technology to ensure that everything in the document is correct.

Here’s where you can find 1,000s of medical transcriptionist jobs.

• Indeed
• ZipRecruiter
• Glassdoor

What does it pay?

Medical transcriptionists earn from $12 to $22 an hour. Average pay is $16 an hour.

4. Online tutoring

• Average hourly pay: $19

Another option to consider if you’re a nurse who’s looking for a side job that can be done from home is online tutoring.

Online tutoring is much like regular tutoring where you teach people, but the difference is that you teach students in a virtual classroom.

Here are some websites where you can find online tutoring work:

• Chegg Tutors
• Skooli
• Aim-for-A Tutoring
• Tutor.com
• TutorVista.com
• Homework Tutoring
• TutaPoint.com
• Smarthinking
• Kaplan
• Manhattan Prep

You could also consider setting up your own tutoring company and offering your services on your own website or on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Some companies require teachers to have a degree and even teaching experience, but that’s not always the case. So just check with the specific company that you plan to work with to see what its requirements are for tutors.

What’s great about online tutoring work is that most jobs are freelance-based. This means that you can work as much or as little as you want to. So, you can easily fit in tutoring work around your regular nursing job.

What does it pay?

Online tutors earn $19 an hour on average. Pay though can vary from $15 to $20 an hour. However, it really depends on the company that you work with. For example, Skooli pays tutors up to $25 an hour.

5. Medical Coder

• Average hourly pay: $18

A medical coder is sort of like a translator who reviews a patient’s file and translates everything from that file into universal codes.

Medical coding involves tasks like taking a patient’s medical records and recording them using a standard coding system that is recognized throughout the United States.

Medical coding may seem similar to medical transcription, but the two are different. Instead of transcribing text as you would as a medical transcriptionist, you are rendering it into code.

This can be a great side job for nurses.

Here’s where you can find work as a medical coder:

• Indeed
• AAPC
• Mayo Clinic
• SimplyHired
• ZipRecruiter

What does it pay?

Medical coders earn $14 to $26 an hour with the average hourly pay being $18.

6. Sell on Etsy

• Average pay: Varies

Selling stuff on Etsy is a great way to make some money on the side. You can sell lots of different things on the platform, like clothing, furniture, crafts, and artwork. Etsy is mostly focused on handmade, refurbished, and antique items.

To get started, you just need some great products to sell, and then you can simply set up your Etsy store.

What does it pay?

How much money you make from Etsy will be determined by the number of products that you sell, and how much you sell each item for.

Also, do keep in mind that with Etsy, you do have to pay $0.20 to list an item for sale on the site. And, when you sell something on there, you have to pay a 5% transaction fee and 3% plus $0.25 payment processing fee.

Also, Etsy will charge you a fee if you make a sale from one of its offsite ads which advertises your item across the internet.

• Get started here.

7. Phlebotomist

• Average hourly pay: $15

Working as a phlebotomist can be a good side job for nurses.

Phlebotomists draw blood from patients for testing, transfusions, donations, or research. Aside from drawing blood, phlebotomists also verify patient data, prepare blood specimens for lab testing, and perform screening procedures.

Now, if you’re a nurse who’s looking for a way to make money from home, then being a phlebotomist is not the job for you as you’ll work in settings like the hospital, health centers, and clinics.

The good thing though is that you can often find part-time positions so you can work this gig alongside your regular job as a nurse.

Here’s where you can find 1,000s of phlebotomist jobs:

• Indeed
• SimplyHired
• ZipRecruiter
• Monster.com
• Glassdoor

What does it pay?

Phlebotomists make $15 an hour on average, but pay can vary from $12 to $20 an hour.

8. Babysitting

• Average hourly pay: $11

Since you are a nurse, parents would likely love for you to babysit their children, knowing that they will be in safe hands.

You can easily find babysitting jobs online nowadays.

Here are some sites where you can find babysitting jobs:

• Sittercity
• UrbanSitter
• Bambino Sitters

What does it pay?

Babysitters make $11 an hour on average, but pay can range from $8 to $17 an hour. You could easily make $100s, if not $1,000s extra a month from babysitting.

9. First Aid or CPR Instructor

• Average hourly pay: $30

Another side job to consider is working as a First Aid or CPR instructor.

As a First Aid or CPR Instructor, you teach people how to apply medical first aid assistance and/or how to administer CPR until the proper medical staff arrive on the scene.

Of course, if you want an at-home job, then this isn’t the position for you, but if you want a side job that gets you out of the house, it’s certainly a job to consider.

The Red Cross offers instructor training and certification, which you can learn more about here. It offers courses in CPR and first aid, and it even offers online-only courses.

Here’s where you can find 1,000s of jobs as a First Aid or CPR instructor:

• Indeed
• Glassdoor
• ZipRecruiter

What does it pay?

Average pay for a First Aid or CPR instructors is $30 an hour. Pay can range from $10 to $58 an hour though.

10. Grocery Shopping and Delivery

• Average hourly pay: Varies from $14 to $22

You can get paid for your time at the grocery store, which is great, right? There are companies that will pay you to deliver groceries. You shop for and deliver groceries to people’s homes.

Companies that pay you for this include:

• Instacart
• Shipt

If you’re looking for a side job that’s totally different to nursing, shopping for and delivering groceries could be a great option for you.

What’s great about Instacart and Shipt is that they allow you to pick up work whenever it suits you. So you can work just a few hours if you want to or a dozen hours or even more than that. It really is up to you!

What does it pay?

What’s great about this gig is that Instacart pays fast! Using the site’s Instant Cashout feature, you can cash out your earnings every day. Or you can choose to get paid weekly.

How much you get paid will depend on the app that you use, how many deliveries you make, and the number of hours that you work.

With Instacart, you can earn between $5 and $25 an hour, and the average pay rate is $14 an hour.  With Shipt, you can earn up to $22 an hour.

11. Personal Care Aide

• Average hourly pay: $11

Personal care aides work with individuals at home to help them with everyday activities, such as using the bathroom, preparing or eating meals, helping with hygiene and grooming, taking medication, bathing, and completing housework and other chores.

Here’s where you can find 1,000s of personal care aide jobs:

• Indeed
• SimplyHired
• Monster.com
• ZipRecruiter
• Glassdoor

What does it pay?

Personal care aides earn $9 to $17 an hour with the average pay being $11 an hour.

12. Give people lifts with Uber and Lyft

• Average hourly pay: Varies from $15 to $16

If you’re a nurse looking to make extra money, then consider giving lifts to people in your spare time.

Here are two companies that pay you to give people lifts:

• Uber
• Lyft

Driving for these companies offers you a flexible way to make money. Simply take the ride requests that you want to when it suits you.

What does it pay?

Uber drivers earn $15 an hour on average. But pay can vary though from $3 to $35 an hour. Lyft pays $16 an hour on average, but pay can range from $3 to $43 an hour.

The great thing about driving for Uber or Lyft, aside from the fact that they offer work that you can pick up when it suits you, is that they both pay you instantly.

With Uber, you can use the Instant Pay feature to cash out your earnings whenever you want to. You can cash out your earnings up to 5 times a day with Instant Pay. But, it’s not a free feature. You have to pay about $0.50 per cash out.

Lyft also pays fast. With its Express Pay feature, you can cash out your earnings instantly and they will appear in your account within a few hours. It could take you a few days depending on your bank’s processing time.

This feature isn’t free as Lyft charges a $0.50 transfer fee. Even if you don’t use the Express Pay feature, Lyft will pay you weekly, which is still fast payment.

13. Camp Nurse

• Average hourly pay: $26

Camp nurses provide routine and emergency care to campers, monitor any chronic conditions that a camper may have, work with management to provide a healthy environment, educate staff about health concerns, and administer medications for campers who have acute or chronic health issues.

Here’s where you can find work as a camp nurse:

• CampNurseJobs.com
• Association of Camp Nursing
• GreatCampJobs.com

What does it pay?

Camp Nurses can earn from $18 to $39 an hour with the average pay being $26 an hour.

14. Deliver packages for Amazon

• Average hourly pay: $18 to $22 an hour

Okay, so maybe you don’t enjoy chatting with strangers when you drive for Lyft or Uber. If that’s the case, then a good alternative for you would be driving for Amazon Flex.

With Amazon Flex, you can make some extra cash delivering packages for people.

And it’s really easy. All you need to do is open up the Amazon Flex app, and search for available delivery blocks near you.

Then you’ll be able to choose the deliveries that you want to make. You can view your estimated earnings and how long each block is estimated to take you to complete.

• Sign up for Amazon Flex here.

What does it pay?

You can earn from $18 to $22 an hour driving for Amazon Flex. Your payment is sent twice a week by direct deposit. If you’re looking to get paid fast, then this is definitely the platform for you.

15. Immunization Nurse

• Average hourly pay: $28 an hour

An immunization nurse provides vaccinations and immunizations to people. This could be the flu shot, for example.

This is a great side job for nurses, particularly in the current climate of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many places are now hiring even more nurses in order to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

So, this means that there are plenty of jobs out there nowadays for immunization nurses.

Here’s where you can find work as an immunization nurse:

• Indeed
• CVS
• SimplyHired
• Glassdoor
• Careerjet

If you’re asking, “where can I find COVID immunization nurse jobs near me?” Then give the sites above a try – CVS is hiring specifically for COVID vaccinations.

The other sites offer a range of immunization jobs, including ones for nurses to administer the COVID vaccine.

What does it pay?

Pay for immunization nurses can range from $11 an hour to $48 an hour, but average pay is $28 an hour.

16. Proofreading/editing

• Average hourly pay: $17 to $25

If you’re looking for a work at home job for nurses, then you might want to give proofreading/editing a try.

There are tons of work at home proofreading and editing jobs out there. Now, for this one, you will need to have good grammar skills.

Proofreaders check things like novels, blog posts, and other writing for grammatical issues, spelling errors, and typos. And, editors, may often work on the structural elements of a piece.

There are tons of places to find work.

Here’s where you can find proofreading/editing work:

• Scribendi
• Cactus
• Domainite
• ProofreadingServices.com
• Polished Paper

What does it pay?

Average pay for proofreaders is $17 an hour. For freelance editors, the average pay is $25 an hour.

You could easily make $1,000s extra a month with proofreading and editing.

If you would like to get started with proofreading, then I would highly recommend that you take a look at my proofreading guide.

17. Start a blog

• Average pay: Varies

Are you a nurse who wants to earn a passive income? Then you might want to consider starting a blog.

I’ll level with you here – blogging doesn’t make you money right away. No one is going to pay you just for simply uploading content.

But, if you take the time to post articles consistently and you build up a following you can start making money from your blog.

There are lots of ways to monetize a blog. You could post ads on your site with Google AdSense and get paid whenever somebody views or clicks on the ads. Or you could create sponsored content for brands. There are lots of options for making money from a blog.

Of course, you’ll need to build up a following if you want to earn money from your blog.

To get started, you’ll need to choose a topic, which could be in the health or medical niche, or it could be a topic that’s entirely unrelated to nursing like gardening, cooking, makeup, or fishing, for example. There are plenty of topics out there, so choose one and start creating content about it.

You can publish your blog posts through WordPress.org and get a domain name and hosting from sites like Bluehost, HostGator, and GoDaddy.

Just upload quality content on a consistent basis and you can start to gain a following for your blog.

What does it pay?

How much money you earn depends on how many visitors your site gets, and how you monetize it. You could potentially make $1,000s a month from blogging. The thing about blogging is that your site can make you money as you sleep!

18. Self-publish books with Kindle Direct Publishing

• Average pay: Varies

Another great passive income idea for nurses is publishing books through Kindle Direct Publishing.

It’s a program from Amazon that allows anyone to publish their own books on Amazon. This could be non-fiction, which could be things like cookbooks or how-to guides, or it could be fiction, so things like mystery novels.

• Sign up for KDP here.

What does it pay?

You can write and publish the books using KDP. When your books sell, you get paid. Amazon pays you from 35% to 70% commission. Those royalty rates are far higher than those you’d find from a traditional publisher, which is great.

What’s great about making money from books is that once you’ve published the book and have marketed it, you keep making money passively from then on.

How much money you make from your books depends on the percentage of commission that you get and how many books you sell. You could eventually make $1,000s a month selling your books on Amazon.

19. Do local shifts and gigs

• Average pay: Varies

If you’re looking to make cash, then you might want to do local gigs and shifts.

There are apps out there where you can find local work in lots of different industries.

Here are some apps and websites where you can find local shift and gig work:

• Instawork
• Jobble
• Shiftgig
• Steady
• Shiftsmart
• GigSmart for iOS devices here and for Android devices here.
• JobStack

These apps offer:

• Shifts
• Gigs
• Parttime work
• Fulltime work

And you can find work across lots of industries, like:

• Warehousing
• Retail
• Administrative
• Customer service
• Promotional
• Entertainment
• Retail
• Hospitality
• Distribution/delivery
• Labor
• Construction
• Field marketing
• Moving
• Events
• And more

You can find everything from bartending jobs to warehouse work with these side gig apps.

What does it pay?

How much money you make varies depending on the app or website that you are using, and from gig to gig as well. To give you an example, the average gig on GigSmart pays you $17 an hour.

20. Online data entry clerk

• Average hourly pay: $13

A great way to make money from home is by doing some data entry work.

Data entry clerks basically enter data into data management systems, like spreadsheets and documents.

It’s a pretty simple gig that anyone can get started with.

You usually don’t need a degree or any experience to get started.

Here’s where you can find data entry jobs:

• UpWork
• Clickworker
• Remoteok

What does it pay?

Data entry clerks make $13 an hour on average, but pay can range from $9 to $17 an hour.

More Side Hustles for Nurses

In this section, I just wanted to briefly cover some more side gigs that you might consider…

21. Help people to move with Bellhops

Get paid up to $21 an hour including tips and bonuses by helping people to move with Bellhops.

• Sign up for Bellhops here.

22. Customer support agent

If you’re personable and patient, then you may want to do some work as an at-home customer support agent. Customer service agents earn $13 an hour on average, but pay can range from $10 to $20 an hour.

Here’s where you can find customer support agent work:

• TeleTech
• American Express
• Apple
• SiteStaff
• Indeed

23. Dog walker

Working as a dog walker could earn you some extra money. Dog walkers earn $14 an hour.

24. Deliver food with Postmates

Postmates pays you up to $25 an hour to deliver stuff like groceries, alcohol, and food from restaurants. What’s great about working for Postmates is that you can get paid on demand, which means that you can cash out your earnings whenever you want to, or you can choose to have your earnings deposited weekly.

• Sign up for Postmates here.

25. Mystery shopper

You could earn from $8 to $25 an hour as a mystery shopper. Mystery shoppers visit stores, restaurants, and other local business, and then they provide feedback on their experience. This could be things like how clean the store was or how well they were treated by the employees.

Here’s where you can find mystery shopping work:

• Mobee
• Field Agent
• iSecretShop
• GigSpot
• Secret Shopper

26. Sell courses online

Make money selling courses online. You could earn $100s or even $1,000s a month selling courses. According to Skillshare, its top teachers make more than $3,000.

Here’s where you can sell your courses:

• Udemy
• Teachable
• Skillshare

27. Teach kids English with Cambly

You could earn $10.20 an hour teaching kids how to speak English with Cambly. The best part is that you don’t need a degree or experience in order to work with the company.

• Sign up here.

28. Fiverr

Fiverr is an online marketplace where you can sell lots of different services ranging from freelance writing to graphic design. You can set your own rates, which can be anywhere from $5 to $10,000 for a service on Fiverr.

• Sign up to Fiverr here.

29. Test search engines

You could make $13 to $16 an hour as a search engine evaluator. Search engine evaluators test out search engines like Google and Bing to check whether or not the right results are generated by the algorithm when they enter a certain keyword or phrase. So, as a search engine evaluator, you get paid to improve search engines.

Here’s where you can find search engine evaluator jobs:

• Appen
• Lionbridge

30. Freelance gigs on PeoplePerHour

You can find freelance work in lots of different categories on PeoplePerHour, such as:

• Creative arts
• Design
• Marketing & PR
• Software development
• Tutorials
• Admin
• Business support
• Mobile
• Social media

And the best part is that once you have completed the work and it’s approved by the client, you can get paid instantly to your PayPal account.

• Sign up for PeoplePerHour here.

31. UserTesting

You can get paid to test out websites for companies and clients with UserTesting. The site pays you $10 for every 20-minute test that you complete.

• Sign up for UserTesting here.

32. Selling on eBay

You can make some extra money selling stuff on eBay. You could start by selling things that you already have, and then begin purchasing stuff that you can resell on eBay from places like thrift stores and yard sales. You could even purchase stuff in bulk and then sell the items individually on eBay. You could make $100s or even $1,000s a month if you make a lot of sales.

• Start selling on eBay here.

33. Teach English online with VIPkid

Get paid from $14 to $18 an hour teaching English to kids with VIPkid. There are also incentives available, which are paid based on things like the number of classes you participate in. With the incentives, you could earn up to $22 an hour. You teach your classes online, so this is another at-home gig. You can also work on your own schedule, which is great.

• Sign up to VIPkid here.

34. Take surveys

If you’re looking to make a couple $100 extra each month, then why not trying taking some online surveys. Pay can range anywhere from $0.05 to $25 per survey.

Here are some survey sites that’ll pay you to take surveys:

• Survey Junkie
• Ipsos i-Say
• Opinion Outpost
• Pinecone Research
• Darwin’s Data

35. Find a work at home job with Amazon’s Virtual Locations

Amazon offers work at home jobs in multiple industries from customer service to finance and accounting. You can find these gigs on the Amazon Virtual Locations section of the site.

• Get started here.

36. Resume writing

Consider doing some resume writing work. This is an at-home job, which is great. Resume writers make $23 an hour on average.

Here’s where you can find resume writing work:

• UpWork
• Indeed
• Freelancer.com
• SimplyHired
• WriterPay
• RiseSmart
• Talent Inc.
• WriteZillas
• Boardroom Resumes
• ResumeYard

37. Tax preparer

Earn money preparing people’s takes. This is a seasonal job near you where you’ll work mostly in the Winter and Spring. Tax preparers charge fees that range from $57 to $1,563 according to the National Society of Accountants.

You will need to take a training course and register with the IRS as a tax preparer.

Read this guide from the IRS on tax preparer credentials and qualifications and this post from Microsoft if you would like to learn more about becoming a tax preparer.

38. Get paid to have ads on your car with Wrapify

Earn from $181 to $452 a month just from having ads on your car with Wrapify.

• Get started here.

39. Turo

Rent out your car and get paid with Turo.

• Get started here.

40. Reward websites

Earn $100s a month doing easy tasks online, like playing games, watching videos, taking surveys, and shopping with rewards websites. Redeem your earnings for money to your PayPal account or for gift cards to lots of retailers.

Here are some legit rewards sites:

• Swagbucks
• QuickRewards
• SquishyCash
• Qmee
• InstaGC

Thank You!

If you are a nurse, doctor or anyone in the healthcare industry, we (everyone at MoneyPantry) want to thank you for all you are doing during this Covid pandemic. We owe a lot to you and your sacrifices. Please stay safe!

Final Thoughts

Give these side jobs for nurses a try and you could bring in some extra money. And, if you ever want a career change, it’s good to know that you can turn many of the options on our list into a fulltime job!

Do you know of any great side jobs for nurses that we haven’t mentioned above? If so, let us know about it in the comments section below.