Survey: One In Four American Adults Have A Side Hustle. Here’s Why That Number Might Change Soon

Manhattan-based nurse Vivian Ezugwu has lived in New York Metropolis her entire life, and is well-aware that dwelling within the Large Apple doesn’t come cheaply – which is among the causes she’s taking up additional shifts as a college nurse along with her common evening shifts on the hospital. 

“It’s nice to have an additional earnings,” Ezugwu mentioned. “It provides you a way of comfortability.” 

Ezugwu isn’t alone. Aspect hustling is seemingly American as apple pie, with over one in 4 (27 %) American adults taking up facet jobs along with their full-time occupation, in line with Bankrate’s most up-to-date Aspect Hustle Survey. 

Extra facet hustlers than ever are taking up additional jobs not as a result of they should, however as a result of it funds discretionary bills – with 41 % of facet hustlers utilizing their facet gig to finance voluntary purchases, outpacing financing dwelling bills, paying down debt and boosting financial savings. Fewer People are facet hustling general as nicely, with 2025 seeing 9 share level lower from 2024’s facet hustlers (36 %.)

Whereas these numbers could seem promising from an financial standpoint, it will not be this fashion for lengthy. 

“A robust job market and a cooling inflation fee are the most important the reason why fewer persons are facet hustling this yr,” says Ted Rossman, senior trade analyst at Bankrate. “However employment tendencies are weakening and value development would possibly choose up as a result of tariffs, so there’s an excellent probability facet hustling shall be again on the rise subsequent yr.”

Bankrate’s key insights:

Gen Z leads the way in which with facet hustles 

Gen Z are hustling greater than different generations. They lead the pack with taking up facet jobs, with over one in three (34 %) having an additional job along with their full-time occupation. They path a bit forward of 31 of % of side-hustling millennials, 23 % of Gen Xers and 22 % of child boomers. 

Gen Z’s participation in facet hustling could come as no shock, because the youngest working technology is at present going through a singular set of economic challenges. With 34 % of Gen Zers having no emergency financial savings, in line with Bankrate’s Emergency Financial savings survey, facet hustling generally is a option to bolster financial savings and handle a monetary emergency when main earnings isn’t sufficient. 

Greater than 1 in 3 People wanted to faucet their emergency financial savings previously yr

Does your facet gig cowl your emergency financial savings? For over one-third (37 %) of People, what they’ve of their checking account isn’t sufficient. 

Study extra

Regardless of the financial turmoil from tariffs, slowly-cooling inflation and world battle, general facet hustle participation is down, with 27 % of People general indicating that they’ve a facet hustle, down from 36 % final yr. 

Although Gen Zers are persistently forward of the opposite generations’ facet hustle participation, general participation has dropped inside all age cohorts since 2023. 

The facet hustle technology

With Gen Z main the demographic pack with taking up facet jobs, younger adults throughout America are filling their free time with canine strolling, freelance writing jobs and doing odd jobs for various companies. 

Martin de Anda began facet hustling by means of side-job market Airtasker, which supplied him a option to fill his free time when not working as an underwriter. To start with, de Anda didn’t strictly want the cash for dwelling bills, and as a substitute used his facet hustle earnings to fund date nights and film runs. Spending his time passing out flyers for companies in Los Angeles additionally allowed him to satisfy new folks and get away from his desk. 

What began as a change of surroundings quickly became what de Anda is working to make a full-time endeavor, as demand for his flyer jobs grew and as he began managing different employees. 

“It provides me the liberty to do extra issues in my free time,” de Anda mentioned. “After I was a monetary underwriter, I had the standard work hours, and typically I needed to do work from home. It was so much much less time for me to be with my canine or with my girlfriend.”

Each flexibility and broadening their experiences appear to be excessive priorities for Gen Zers with their facet hustles, extra so than utilizing their earnings to make ends meet. Ezugwu took on her facet hustle as a college nurse for a mixture of causes – together with constructing a monetary cushion, giving her a wider vary of affected person expertise and a purpose to benefit from the day in between hectic evening shifts and sleep. 

“It’s simply very jovial. It’s very simple going. We get to do actions which are in a totally totally different setting,” Ezugwu mentioned. “After I’m doing faculty nursing, I wish to say I’m dwelling my finest life.”

Aspect hustle earnings is barely down on common

Median facet hustle earnings earnings are at present at $200 per 30 days, down from $250 per 30 days in 2024. Common facet hustler month-to-month earnings can also be down from final yr. Aspect hustlers are incomes $885 per 30 days in 2025 on common in comparison with $891 on common per 30 days in 2024. General, nonetheless, facet hustle earnings remains to be up from $810 on common in 2023. 

Earnings underneath $50 per 30 days outpace all different incomes classes as nicely, with 28 % of facet hustlers general making $1 to $50 per 30 days on common with their facet gig. 

Whereas extra Gen Z facet hustlers are making much less – with 40 % making between $1 and $50 per 30 days – their common earnings remains to be outpacing how a lot Gen X and child boomer facet hustlers make:

Gen Z facet hustlers: $968

Millennial facet hustlers: $1,029

Gen X facet hustlers: $512

Child boomer facet hustlers: $918

E-commerce {and professional} work are the preferred side-hustles 

Flexibility and availability are the secret for facet hustle work, as on-line gross sales {and professional}/enterprise providers comparable to freelance writing and consulting are the preferred industries for facet hustlers, with 15 % of facet hustlers partaking in on-line gross sales and 14 % in skilled providers. 

Meals supply and crafts have been subsequent, with 9 % of facet hustlers working in each industries, then pet care (7 %) after which instructing/tutoring (6 %). The least standard sidegigs embody healthcare (4 %), landscaping/house restore (4 %), health (3 %), ridesharing (3 %) and eventually house rental (2 %).

Aspect hustle participation additionally reached past the listed industries, with 43 % of facet hustlers indicating they work in an unlisted class. 

On-line gross sales {and professional} providers stay the preferred named classes for facet hustlers of all generations. Gen Z facet hustlers barely break the mildew by relying extra on skilled and consulting providers as their facet gig (18 %) over on-line gross sales (14 %), with on-line gross sales stays the preferred trade for millennials facet hustlers (20 %), Gen X facet hustlers (15 %) and child boomer facet hustlers(12 %). 

Extra facet hustlers are utilizing their earnings for enjoyable

Whereas facet hustling generally is a essential means to usher in much-needed income, extra facet hustlers are utilizing their side-gig cash for enjoyable — with 41 % of facet hustlers utilizing their additional earnings to fund discretionary bills, up from 37 % in 2024 and 27 % in 2023. 

Regardless of this, facet hustle earnings remains to be a vital supply of economic safety for a lot of facet hustlers, with 35 % utilizing it for normal dwelling bills, 28 % saving a minimum of a number of the cash, 20 % utilizing it to pay down debt and 29 % feeling they’ll at all times want a facet hustle to make ends meet. 

For others, their facet hustle is the ramp to a major gig, with 16 % of facet hustlers wanting their facet hustle to grow to be their major supply of earnings. 

Over one in 5 (21 %) of Gen Z facet hustlers need to flip their facet hustle right into a full-time endeavor, forward of 17 % of millennials, 12 % of Gen X and 11 % of child boomer facet hustlers. 

Whereas de Anda didn’t begin handing out flyers with the expectation that it might flip right into a full-time job, he discovered that the pay was on par together with his day job – and the flexibleness was much better. 

“I’m busy nearly on daily basis, and I’ve the flexibleness of really selecting after I need to take a break and simply not work as a result of I need to go to the seaside or the films,” de Anda mentioned. “I’ve the flexibleness now due to how good I’m with the homeowners of the eating places and shops (I work with).”

The hows and whys of facet hustling

Whereas facet hustling represents important earnings and monetary safety for a lot of, for de Anda and Ezugwu — each Gen Zers, the main generational cohort in facet hustling — their facet jobs imply extra than simply the cash. 

For Ezugwu, working as a college nurse not solely permits her flexibility to select up shifts when she desires to, however the potential to take a break from her hectic hospital job to work with faculty kids. 

“It’s a breath of contemporary air,” she mentioned. “I work with older adults who’re critically sick, so seeing little children be joyous and jovial and pleased on a regular basis is best for my psychological well being.”

For de Anda, his facet hustle is a option to create extra flexibility in his life, as he can now set his personal hours and phrases. As a bonus, he says his facet hustle is AI-proof — giving him an additional sense of safety in a quickly-changing world. 

“I’ve constructed one thing that may’t be automated away, and I management my very own earnings by deciding how a lot work to tackle,” he mentioned. 

Discretionary earnings may additionally solely be the tip of the iceberg. With 46 % of Gen Zers stating that cash negatively impacts their psychological well being, in line with Bankrate’s Cash and Psychological Well being Survey, a facet hustle can really feel like an additional layer of safety towards what appears like ever-present uncertainty. 

“Younger persons are already inherently extra susceptible financially than their older counterparts as a result of they haven’t had as a lot time to construct up a security internet,” says Sarah Foster, financial analyst for Bankrate. “However we additionally discover in surveys that they really feel considerations about job safety extra intensely, probably stemming from the lasting impression of launching their careers in a difficult market, which has undoubtedly left a mark on their mindset.”

Whereas Ezugwu doesn’t rely totally on her facet hustle earnings, for her, it’s a invaluable insurance coverage coverage towards job loss, shock payments and value will increase — a mentality that she believes is fueling the recognition behind facet hustles’ recognition with Gen Z. 

“We thought it was simply us being go-getters, however we’ve seen so much,” Ezugwu mentioned. “We lived by means of two recessions underneath the age of 25. I noticed the way it was devastating for different folks, and it actually was a get up name for me that I can’t have this occur in my life.”

Methodology

All figures, except in any other case acknowledged, are from YouGov Plc. Complete pattern dimension was 2,616 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 2nd – 4th June 2025. The survey was carried out on-line and meets rigorous high quality requirements. It gathered a non-probability-based pattern and employed demographic quotas and weights to higher align the survey pattern with the broader U.S. inhabitants.