A side hustle is paid work you do on top of a main job or another main commitment, such as study or caring for family. It can be a second part-time job, freelance work or short tasks booked through an app, selling things you make or buy to resell, or renting out a room, a car or equipment.

Measured in official data, the typical answer to what is a side hustle is something small. In the Federal Reserve’s October 2024 survey of 12,295 US adults, 70 percent of those who earned money from gig activities spent less than 5 hours a week on them, and only about one in five counted them as their main job.¹

What is a side hustle, and what doesn’t count

A side hustle is regular paid activity outside your main job; selling your own used belongings usually is not one. The UK’s tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), uses the phrase itself for extra income from online marketplaces or social media, “sometimes called a side hustle”.²

The UK government’s guide to working for yourself says you can run a business and be employed at the same time. The same guide says you are likely to be trading if you sell regularly to make a profit, make items to sell, or are paid for a service you provide.³

HMRC says that if you sell personal possessions you probably do not have to pay Income Tax on them, though selling a single item for more than £6,000 may bring Capital Gains Tax into play (UK guidance, updated February 2025).² In the US, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says personal items such as clothing or furniture sold at a gain must be reported on your tax return.⁴

How many people have a side hustle depends on the definition

Official counts of people with extra work range from about 5 percent of US workers to 20 percent of US adults, because the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Federal Reserve each measure something different. None of them measures “side hustles” as such.

The BLS figure averages the months of 2025 for which data exist; October data were not collected during the federal shutdown. More than half of those multiple jobholders combined a full-time main job with a part-time second one.⁵ The BLS counts someone as a multiple jobholder only if they had two or more jobs in the survey week, at least one of them a wage or salary job, so a person self-employed in two businesses is not counted.⁶

The ONS estimate comes from the UK Labour Force Survey for May to July 2026 and is seasonally adjusted.⁷

The Federal Reserve’s survey counted anyone who, in the month before the survey, sold items, rented out property or a vehicle, or did short-term tasks such as delivering takeout or giving rides through an app. The report states that there is no single definition of a gig, and that gig work through online platforms made up a minority of what it counted.¹

Four main types of side hustle

Most side hustles fall into four types: a second job for an employer, services and short tasks, selling goods, and renting out property or equipment. The JPMorgan Chase Institute’s platform research draws a similar line between labor platforms, where people perform tasks or projects, and capital platforms, where they sell goods or lease assets.⁸

The Federal Reserve also found that 10 percent of US adults sold items they had previously owned; most people who sold things said this included used belongings such as clothing.¹ In HMRC’s terms that is usually not trading.²

1. A second job: working for another employer, usually part-time
2. Services and short tasks: freelance work, odd jobs, rides and deliveries, often found through an app
3. Selling goods: things you make, or buy to resell; in UK tax terms, clearing out your own belongings usually is not trading
4. Renting out: a room, a property, a vehicle or equipment

Top row (1 and 2): selling your time. Bottom row (3 and 4): selling or renting out your things.

HMRC names a fifth kind: creating online content such as videos, podcasts or social media posts, where income can include gifts from companies whose products you promote.² In the Federal Reserve’s survey, nearly four in five people who found short tasks through an app said the work gave them flexible hours, against under half of those who sold or rented things.¹

Realistic expectations: few hours, uneven pay, short runs

Realistic expectations for a side hustle are modest: in the Federal Reserve’s 2024 survey, most people doing gig activities kept them small and did not count them as their main job, and many wished the pay were steadier.

The study

Moderate evidence

Federal Reserve household survey, gig questions, October 2024

Among US adults who did gig activities, 55 percent agreed the work let them set flexible hours, but only 35 percent said it gave them work-life balance. Almost half, 49 percent, wished the pay were more consistent, rising to 61 percent among those who found short tasks through an app or website. And 31 percent said that without gigs they would have trouble making ends meet, while 51 percent also had a main job that was not a gig.¹

These are people’s own reports for one month. The survey was run through Ipsos’s nationally representative, probability-based online panel, its cumulative response rate across all recruitment stages was 4.0 percent, and it did not ask what the gigs paid per hour.¹

In data from October 2012 to June 2016 the JPMorgan Chase Institute, part of the bank, tracked more than 240,000 anonymized Chase checking customers who earned money through online platforms. Platform income made up about a quarter of annual income for people on labor platforms and a tenth for those selling goods or renting assets, and more than half of both groups stopped earning platform income within a year.⁸ This is company research, not peer-reviewed, limited to one US bank’s customers and to platforms, and a decade old.

No source reviewed for this guide measures what a typical side hustle pays per hour, and income claims in ads are no substitute. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns that scam ads promise thousands of dollars a month from home for little time and effort.⁹ Before starting, it helps to work out where 5 or 10 extra hours would come from, which is the core of planning a realistic week.

Side income is taxable, with thresholds that differ by country

Side-hustle income is generally taxable in the US and the UK, whether or not anyone reports it to the tax authority; the thresholds differ. The rules below are as of September 2026, from the IRS and HMRC; elsewhere, check with your own tax authority.

In the US, the IRS says gig income must be reported on a tax return even if it comes from part-time or side work, is paid in cash, goods or virtual currency, or never appears on a form such as a 1099-K, 1099-NEC or W-2.¹⁰ Payment apps and online marketplaces must now send a Form 1099-K only when payments for goods or services exceed US$20,000 across more than 200 transactions in the year, though they may send one for less.⁴ The IRS says the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, a federal law, restored that threshold retroactively, and that your state may have a lower one.¹¹ Self-employed side income can also carry self-employment tax, which covers Social Security and Medicare: the IRS gives the rate as 15.3 percent and requires it, with Schedule SE, once net earnings from self-employment reach US$400 in a year.¹²

In the UK, HMRC gives individuals a £1,000 trading allowance each tax year (in place since April 2017). If gross trading income is £1,000 or less, you usually don’t need to tell HMRC; above that, you must register for Self Assessment by 5 October after the end of the tax year, if you are not already registered.¹³ Income from selling goods, providing services and creating content is added together for that test, and the tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April.² HMRC says claims of a new £3,000 line are wrong: what is planned by 2029 is a simpler way to report income between the trading allowance and that £3,000 level.¹⁴

Myth

The UK brought in a new tax on side hustles in 2024.

Fact

HMRC says it is not a new tax. From the start of 2024, digital platforms began reporting seller data to HMRC, for example on people who sold at least 30 items or earned roughly £1,700 in 2024; the tax rules did not change.

HMRC adds that a platform sharing your data does not automatically mean you need to complete a tax return, and it offers a free online checking tool.¹⁵ Uneven side income belongs in a budget as an averaged monthly figure, as in building a budget around irregular income.

Check your employment contract and your total hours

Before starting, read your employment contract for clauses that limit outside work. This is general information; what a clause means for you depends on its wording and where you work.

In the UK, the conciliation service Acas explains that a contract can include an exclusivity clause, which stops a worker from working for another employer, or from doing so without consent. By law, employers must not use such clauses for workers on zero-hours contracts or earning at or below the lower earnings limit, which Acas gives as £129 a week (set each tax year; checked September 2026). Employers usually cannot enforce non-competition and similar clauses that apply after you leave unless they are clear, specific and time-restricted, and even then the law is complex, Acas says.¹⁶

In the US, the FTC’s 2024 rule banning most non-compete clauses is not in effect: in August 2024 a court stopped the FTC from enforcing it, and in September 2025 the FTC took steps to drop its appeal.¹⁷ Our reading is that the rule does not cancel a non-compete clause in your contract.

In the UK, combined working hours across more than one job should not exceed 48 a week on average, normally averaged over 17 weeks, unless you sign an opt-out agreement.¹⁸

Paying to earn is the classic scam signal

The FTC’s rule of thumb is that honest employers never ask you to pay to get a job, and anyone who does is a scammer. Work-from-home offers are a common disguise, the FTC says: instead of earning, people end up paying for starter kits, training or certifications that are useless.⁹

Reports to the FTC show the scale in the US. In 2024 alone, people reported losing about US$750 million to business and job opportunity scams, and reported losses to job and employment agency scams reached about US$500 million, more than five times their 2020 level.¹⁹ These are only the losses people reported.

WiserHours

Before you take on a side hustle

• Read your employment contract for outside-work and confidentiality clauses
• Work out how many hours a week you can give it, and from where
• Check the tax rules where you live, from the IRS, HMRC or your own tax authority
• Keep a record of what you earn and spend from the first payment
• Walk away from any job offer that asks you to pay before you can earn

Find this checklist online:
https://wiserhours.com/side-hustles/what-is-a-side-hustle/#checklist-what-is-a-side-hustle-before-you-start

When to get help with a side hustle

A suspected scam needs action right away; tax, contract or debt questions deserve advice within weeks; a yearly check at tax time covers the rest. The grouping is ours; the advice in each tier comes from the FTC, HMRC, Acas, the CFPB, the UK government, the NHS and the US National Institute of Mental Health.

• Right away, if you have paid a suspected scammer: the FTC advises contacting the company you used to send the money, such as your bank, card issuer or payment app, to report the fraud and ask for the payment to be reversed, then reporting it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or to your state attorney general.⁹ In the UK, tell your bank at once and report it to Report Fraud online or on 0300 123 2040, or in Scotland to Police Scotland on 101.²⁰ Elsewhere, contact your national police or consumer protection agency. If money worries come with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, call or text 988 in the US, or 911 in a life-threatening situation.²¹ In the UK, the NHS says to call 999 or go to A&E if a life is at risk or you cannot keep yourself or someone else safe, and to call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option for urgent help; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.²²
• Within weeks, before a big step or if something is unclear: for tax, ask a qualified tax adviser, or in the UK use HMRC’s free checking tool.¹⁵ For a contract clause in the UK, Acas runs a helpline.¹⁶ Elsewhere, including the US, ask an employment lawyer or your national labor authority. If the side hustle is meant to pay down debts that have become hard to repay, free or low-cost help exists. In the US, the CFPB says credit counseling organizations are usually non-profits offering free or low-cost advice, but counselors may charge fees for some services, and the Federal Trade Commission has found that some organizations offering debt management plans have defrauded people; the CFPB suggests a written price quote.²³ In the UK, the government points to MoneyHelper for free debt advice services.²⁴ Elsewhere, look for free non-profit or government debt advice.
• Every year at tax time: add up what the side hustle earned and cost, and check it against the US$400 self-employment tax line in the US or the £1,000 trading allowance in the UK (both as of 2026).¹²¹³

The bottom line

A side hustle is extra paid work fitted around a main commitment, and in official US data it is usually small: most people doing gig activities spent under 5 hours a week on them. Treat it as a top-up with uneven pay, count it as taxable income from the first payment, and check your contract and hours before you start. Walk away from any job offer that asks you to pay first.