Working from home has never been more popular, especially after the last couple of pandemic-riddled years – more than 50% of employees worldwide work remotely at least once a week, and regular remote work has increased in popularity by 173% since 2005.
There’s never been a wider variety of jobs that can be done from home, too, thanks to better availability of technology and fast internet access. More companies also now accept that lots of their jobs just don’t need an office.
We’ve rounded up eleven of the best jobs and biggest areas where you can turbo-charge your career without leaving the house.
If you’re on the hunt for a home work role, then head right here for our pick of the best US job sites, or explore the best freelance options right here.
1. Writing
The sheer amount and variety of written material required by every industry means that writers are always in demand. And when you only need a PC or laptop to get the job done, it means that writing is a perfect option for home workers.
Copywriting is a top choice for anyone who wants to use their expertise to make money in the advertising and marketing industry. People with journalistic talents can turn to reporting, product reviews, or blogging, and editors and proofreaders are always needed to polish copy.
Beyond these mainstream writing occupations, there’s money to be made in technical writing, grant writing for universities, medical organizations, and non-profits, and transcription. In short, you’ll be able to earn money at home if you’ve got a great command of the written word.
2. Development
The technology industry has long been at the forefront of home and hybrid working practices. That bodes well for anyone with development and programming skills because it means that more people can fill lucrative positions from home.
The web development sector is forecast to grow by 8% over the next decade, so it’s a great move if you’ve got the relevant skills – whether that’s HTML, CSS, or another language. Similarly, software development is a huge deal, and it’s just as lucrative as web development, and adjacent positions like programmers and website testers are popular work-from-home options.
Developers tend to do their best work when they’re allowed to focus, so home-working is an excellent option for this kind of task, and these positions are also among the most lucrative remote work options.
3. Marketing
Marketing roles have traditionally relied on the office and close teams, but the last two years have forced many of these jobs to move online. If you’ve got marketing nous but want to work remotely, that makes for a fantastic opportunity.
You can work from home as a marketing manager: with a laptop or a PC, you can organize a team, analyze trends, craft marketing campaigns, and tackle all your networking needs. If you’re happy not working for one company, you could also work as a self-employed consultant – a move that’s often more lucrative.
Drill down further, and you’ll find specialist marketing roles that can also be easily tackled from home. Social media managers can effectively get the job done from home – after all, it’s all online. Similarly, SEO specialists are always in demand, and you could also work in market research, as virtually all company, industry, and product information is available online.
4. Design
If you’ve got creative ideas, the right qualifications, and a powerful PC or laptop, then you can work from home as a designer. Whether you want to produce logos, magazines, book covers, or adverts, you’ll be able to find work for companies that need a creative touch, especially in the marketing, media, and advertising industries. And, with tools like Zoom and Slack around, communication with clients is simple.
5. Photographer
This is another great option for creatives and photography enthusiasts. If you’ve got a spare room at home then it’s relatively easy to convert it to a photography and video studio, and you can make a good living without leaving the house.
There’s portrait photography, of course, which is always in demand from families who want to capture special moments. Beyond that, photographers who work at home can fill a busy schedule with product imagery and by selling images online on stock photo sites. If you’ve got the equipment and the skill, it’s never been so easy to make a living as a photographer at home.
6. Voiceover artist
This choice won’t apply to everyone, but if you’ve got a smooth, commanding, or distinctive voice then it’s worth considering a career or side hustle as a voiceover specialist. There’s plenty of work in this field, from conventional acting jobs to voicing adverts, promotional videos, and dubbed media from different countries. If you’ve got a good voice and a good microphone, the sky’s the limit.
7. Customer service
These more conventional positions are moving from call centers to people’s homes. If you’ve got a computer, reliable internet connectivity, and excellent communication skills, then you’ll easily be able to find work as a customer service agent in every conceivable industry.
These positions don’t require many qualifications, so more people can work in these roles, and if you do have technical knowledge, you can also work as a technical support specialist from home. Bear in mind, though, that these positions tend to have rigid hours and more monitoring than many other home-working roles.
8. Bookkeeping
Corporate finance teams often outsource bookkeeping roles. If you’ve got experience in accountancy departments or the relevant qualifications, then you can easily find work in a bookkeeping role where you’ll be handling payroll, income, and expense information alongside other conventional accounting tasks.
You’ll need top-notch organizational skills and confidence with numbers to succeed in a bookkeeping job, but there’s plenty to recommend working from home in this kind of role – you can concentrate on the figures without getting distracted.
9. Data handling
This isn’t the most exciting opportunity, but it’s a home-working opportunity that’s open to virtually anyone, even if they don’t have any experience or great qualifications. Companies are always looking for people who can tackle data-entry tasks, and it’s easy to do this work from home if you’re happy to accept potentially tedious work.
You’ve got to be tech-savvy, detail-oriented, and organized to make the most out of data entry opportunities, but there will be no shortage of home-working options if you’re happy to accept this kind of employment.
10. Tutoring
Technological advances and the increased likelihood of people staying at home mean that learning no longer just takes place in the classroom or the lecture theatre. Instead, you can find work as a tutor on the internet by giving lessons over Zoom, Skype, or other video platforms.
If you’ve got experience and knowledge in a specialist subject, then you can establish yourself as an online tutor – and if you’ve got existing teaching experience, even better. There’s loads of demand for English tutors, too, and people who can teach mainstream Math and Science are always popular with parents.
Bear in mind that you’ll need the right checks and certificates in place if you want to work with children, and that you’ll also need the relevant qualifications in your chosen subject. Also consider working with an agency if you want help to find work opportunities. Online tutors have great freedom when it comes to making their own schedules, and you can also sell courses instead of taking part in live tutoring sessions over video.
11. Virtual assistant
It's common for high-flying executives and busy, high-earning people to have personal assistants, but many of those roles can now be done remotely – so it's a perfect opportunity for anyone who wants a new career while working at home.
Virtual assistants are usually employed to tackle time-consuming administrative tasks that people may not want to handle themselves. This routinely includes email and phone call management, scheduling, organizing travel and taking care of the client's social media profiles.
Plenty of virtual assistants do more than this, too. Loads of them undertake basic bookkeeping tasks, perform research for their clients and even draft articles, help with proofreading, and create marketing material.
The tasks you could handle depend on your education, earlier work experience, and skills, and it's easy to find training courses and certifications that can demonstrate your competencies – handy for proving your talents to a prospective boss.
But if you've got good organization, communication, and time-management skills, you've already got many of the abilities needed to succeed in this career. A virtual assistant role can be ideal for anyone who wants a varied, flexible job that they can tackle without leaving the house.
12. Translator or Interpreter
People with fluency in multiple languages are always in demand in a wide range of industries, and our ever-increasing reliance on the internet and remote working means that you can do loads of linguistic jobs without leaving the house.
If you’ve got high-level multilingual skills then you’ll be able to find remote work as a translator or interpreter. Both roles involve converting words from one language to the other, but they’re subtly different: translators tend to work with written documents, while interpreters use spoken language to get the job done.
It’s easy enough for people to work from home if they’re translating documents, emails and articles, while the huge growth in video-conferencing means that interpreters can easily stay at home and hop onto calls when required.
Regardless of the nuances of the job, you’ll be in plenty of demand if you’re a confident speaker, reader and writer in multiple languages. Multinational businesses, governments and educational establishments always need translation and interpretation skills, and a human with deep knowledge of languages will always do a better job than online translation services.
13. Website Tester
This is one of the newer and more obscure jobs that can be conducted entirely from your own home, but it’s a big growth area as companies are eager to outsource some of their IT tasks to external organizations and freelancers.
It’s no surprise that you can earn decent money as a website tester. Company websites have never been so important, especially for retailers. It’s critical that sites work properly on a huge range of mobile and desktop devices, from PCs and laptops to smartphones and even smart watches, because a business will probably lose a customer if they encounter a faulty website.
This usability testing can be handled easily from home, and you’ll be checking pages to make sure they’re bug-free and easy to use. Companies produce instructions for testers to follow, you can complete several tests per hour, and it’s normal to get paid between $10 and $20 for each test.
We've also featured the best laptops for writers, best graphic design software and best camera for photography to help you get started
