Official aggregate data · 60 API values verified
A grounded wage benchmark for 12 service ideas
We mapped common side-hustle services to detailed BLS occupations. The values are U.S. employee benchmarks—not a claim about what a freelancer earns.
- Source period
- BLS OEWS May 2025
- Sources accessed
- July 11, 2026
- Published rows
- 12 occupation mappings
Direct answer
Median employee wages span $17.00 to $44.54 per hour across these proxies.
Animal caretakers are at the low end of this selected set; web developers are at the high end. A self-employed rate often needs to cover costs and unpaid time that an employee wage does not, so the table is a reference point—not a recommended freelance price.
May 2025 national estimates
| Side-hustle proxy | BLS occupation (SOC) | Employment | Hourly median | Hourly mean | Annual median | Annual mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freelance writing | Writers and Authors 27-3043 | 47,940 | $36.98 | $41.39 | $76,910 | $86,090 |
| Virtual assistant | Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive 43-6014 | 1,706,790 | $22.86 | $23.73 | $47,540 | $49,350 |
| Online tutoring | Tutors 25-3041 | 175,070 | $20.84 | $23.10 | $43,350 | $48,050 |
| Pet sitting and dog walking | Animal Caretakers 39-2021 | 266,910 | $17.00 | $17.94 | $35,360 | $37,300 |
| Stock and client photography | Photographers 27-4021 | 51,760 | $21.47 | $26.64 | $44,660 | $55,410 |
| Freelance web development | Web Developers 15-1254 | 70,190 | $44.54 | $47.49 | $92,650 | $98,770 |
| Freelance bookkeeping | Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks 43-3031 | 1,373,680 | $24.36 | $25.75 | $50,670 | $53,560 |
| Translation services | Interpreters and Translators 27-3091 | 52,060 | $28.93 | $31.90 | $60,170 | $66,360 |
| Freelance graphic design | Graphic Designers 27-1024 | 197,830 | $30.27 | $33.92 | $62,960 | $70,560 |
| Podcast production | Audio and Video Technicians 27-4011 | 70,230 | $27.93 | $31.07 | $58,100 | $64,630 |
| Social media management | Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists 13-1161 | 899,580 | $37.87 | $43.03 | $78,760 | $89,490 |
| House cleaning | Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners 37-2012 | 860,670 | $17.07 | $17.83 | $35,510 | $37,080 |
All five numeric fields are BLS-published estimates. MOYUXB supplies only the “side-hustle proxy” label. Mean and median are not interchangeable.
Method and reproducibility
- 1
Select 12 detailed Standard Occupational Classification codes that are reasonable—but imperfect—employee proxies for common service side hustles.
- 2
Use May 2025 national cross-industry OEWS estimates. This release was published by BLS on May 15, 2026.
- 3
Query five BLS series for every SOC code: employment, hourly mean, annual mean, hourly median, and annual median.
- 4
Verify all 60 published values against the BLS Public Data API on July 11, 2026. The check returned 60 matches and zero mismatches.
- 5
Publish the BLS values without converting employee wages into a freelancer rate. Add only the transparent side-hustle proxy label and display formatting.
API reproduction example
The following endpoint returns the May 2025 annual observation for the national median hourly wage of Writers and Authors (SOC 27-3043). It returned 36.98 when checked.
curl "https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2/timeseries/data/OEUN000000000000027304308"In the BLS series IDs used here, the final data-type codes are 01 employment, 03 hourly mean, 04 annual mean, 08 hourly median, and 13 annual median. The CSV includes the detailed SOC code needed to construct or find each series.
Data lineage
- Original producer
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Original program
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
- MOYUXB transformation
- SOC-to-side-hustle proxy label; display formatting
- Personal records
- None; BLS aggregate estimates only
Because the published source is already aggregate and contains no person- or establishment-level rows, anonymization is not applicable to this CSV.
Download the published data
Twelve rows with detailed SOC code, proxy label, all five BLS values, source period, access date, and source URL.
Official sources
- 1.May 2025 OEWS national estimates
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · accessed
- 2.BLS Public Data API: getting started
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · accessed
- 3.OEWS frequently asked questions
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · accessed
Defines coverage and confirms that self-employed workers are excluded.
- 4.May 2025 OEWS survey methods
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · accessed
Limitations
- OEWS covers wage and salary workers in sampled establishments. BLS states that self-employed workers are excluded, so these are not observed freelancer earnings.
- A side-hustle proxy is an editorial mapping. For example, a social media manager may overlap with—but is not identical to—the broad Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists occupation.
- National medians conceal geography, industry, seniority, schedule, benefits, and local demand. They are benchmarks, not quotes or forecasts.
- Employee wages do not include the extra nonbillable time, client acquisition, insurance, software, taxes, or risk a self-employed operator may need to price.
- Employment estimates describe covered jobs, not the number of independent operators or open freelance projects.