One in five Americans lives in a rural area, which often means financial difficulties for some.

If you’re a resident of a small town and often face financial constraints, let it be known that there are many ways to make money, both online and in person.  And yes, these are 100% legitimate opportunities, most of which you can do from the comforts of your home, as long as you have internet access.

In today’s guide, I wanted to talk about the many ways to make money if you live in a smaller town without a whole ton of resources nearby.

If you’re a motivated individual, then the sky’s the limit.  With enough hard work put in, there’s no reason you can’t make more than four figures in a month.

As in all of my guides, I’m 100% honest, so you can trust that everything that I mention is legit and honest.  I never misinform nor will I persuade you into signing up for something that only makes me money.  I don’t work that way.

With that out of the way, let’s jump in and begin.

How to Make Money in a Small Town

Surveys

I don’t know how much money you need, but if you’re happy with $3 to $10 a day, then surveys can be a consideration.  They are easy to complete, you can start almost immediately and it’s open to everyone in the United States as long as you’re 13+ in most cases.

It’s as easy as answering survey questions and then getting rewarded for your time.  Again, you won’t get rich.  In fact, you will be lucky enough to make $10 in a day, depending on who you sign up for.

As for my favorites, I love the following options:

• Swagbucks
• Survey Junkie
• Quick Thoughts
• Superpay.me
• Respondent
• Prolific

There are many more, all of which you can see in this detailed report.

Rideshare with Uber or Lyft

Most of your rural smaller towns often don’t have a huge demand for rideshare drivers, but it’s worth at least checking out.  In the past, I have found that some small towns I have worked in actually were much better than I expected.  Since there are fewer drivers, there may be more jobs available.  In fact, the prices may be high in your favor since these apps continue to raise prices until a driver accepts.

If you’re not familiar with the term, rideshare drivers are like taxi drivers, where you pick up someone at point A and simply take them to point B.

If you love the idea of working whenever you want and simply turning on an app, then I highly recommend you check out Lyft and Uber, two of the biggest names in the industry.

Food Delivery

If you like the concept of rideshare driving, but you don’t want to drive people around, I 100% get it.  I’m the same way.  This is where the food delivery apps come into the picture.  It will be your duty to pick up the food at a restaurant and then deliver it to the customer.  You get to choose the jobs since you’re considered an independent contractor.

Again, your market may not be the hottest, but I have found that almost every area has at least Uber or DoorDash active.  I have found the rural markets to have larger-than-average peak pays and bonuses since a lot of drivers don’t tend to drive in them.  It’s worth at least checking your market out to see if there’s enough demand during the lunch and dinner rush.  If not, you can always drive to a larger town to earn even more.

Uber and DoorDash are two of the best apps to work food delivery, but there are other options as well, mentioned here.

Download Money Making Apps

This is another one like surveys, wherein you won’t make much, maybe $5 to $10 a day at most.

A lot of these apps will be survey related, but you can find some that pay you to download apps or even complete offers.

Instead of listing my favorites here, I’m going to direct you to a post I have written in the past, where I talked about the more than 60 money making apps that can make you money.  As always, these are 100% legitimate, I can assure you that.

Transcription or Data Entry Work

Another way to make money from, at least in the comforts of your home, is via transcription work.  It’s as simple as listening to an audio file and then typing what you hear.  Usually, as long as you can type 40-50+ words per minute, you should be fine.

It’s a topic that I have covered so many times before since it’s a very popular way to make money online.  If it’s something you’re interested in, do check out the more than 100+ companies hiring transcriptionists at the moment.

Depending on your typing speeds, be prepared to make anywhere from $8 to $15+ per hour.

Pet Care

No matter where you live, people have pets, and best of all, they need someone to watch/walk them when they are away, for whatever reason it may be.

Whether you allow the pets to stay at your home or you drop in for a visit, the opportunities are endless.  Since people need to travel for whatever reasons, pets need attention to survive and these pet owners are willing to pay up to $20 to $80+ per day to have you help out.

If you’re a pet fan and love the idea of watching pets, there are so many websites, as noted here, that you can check out right now.  Most of them work in the same way, wherein you will be asked to create a public profile of sorts, selling yourself as to why you should be hired.  Then, if someone likes your profile, they will contact you for more information.  Some websites also let you apply to jobs.

Tutoring

Tutoring is another side hustle I can think of that you can do from home.  It’s as simple as working with someone one-on-one virtually.

Most of these tutoring jobs, however, require a college degree and experience in the subject you’re teaching, but it’s an option I want to add.  This isn’t always the case, however.

Depending on the topic you teach, it’s possible to make well more than $20+ per hour.  Here are a ton of companies hiring at the moment.

Become an Airbnb Host

Whether you want to rent out your land to a camper or you don’t mind renting out a room or even your entire home, Airbnb is a wonderful way to make $50+ per day.

How much you make will depend on where you live, what you have to offer as well as the demand in your area.  As a host, you can choose what you want to offer as well as when you want to offer it.  You are your own boss.

Take a look at the Airbnb site to see what’s available in your area as well as what people are charging.

Rent out a Parking Space

Chances are you have a lot of land. And, with that land comes demand from people who want to use your land to store their boat, car, etc.

If you have the space and don’t mind storing someone else’s belongings, then this is a very easy way to make $50+ per month easily per item stored.

Check out StoreAtMyHouse.com as well as Neighbor.com to see what people are charging.  There are many more options if you search “peer-to-peer storage options” as well.

Retail Arbitrage via eBay

This is an option I have mentioned so many times before and can work in a smaller town if you have a larger corporate retailer nearby, such as a Walmart, etc.  It can also work if you’re able to hit up local garage sales.  I have found the rural garage sales to be much less busy than those located in the suburbs.  This, of course, increases your chances of finding some hidden gems.

Retail arbitrage is the process of finding something cheap, often on clearance, and then selling it online, either via the Facebook Marketplace or eBay.  Oftentimes, eBay is your best bet, as you’re reaching the nation.

You need to know what you’re doing, but there are a ton of apps out there that can help you figure out what can sell.  All you need to do is search the item in question or scan a barcode to see if there’s profit to be made after fees.

Sell Vegetables

If you have the space, and I’m sure you do, consider growing organic produce, from cucumbers to even spices.  People love buying organic produce, especially straight from the source.

As long as you love gardening and don’t mind selling to the public, you may have a decent way to make $100+ a month, maybe more, depending on how many vegetables you sell.

Generally, your higher-value groups, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, peppers and onions tend to do the best, but spices can work just as well.  In most rural areas, a roadside stand can work the best, where customers can take what they please and leave the cash in a lockbox.

Sell Chicken Eggs

This option takes much less work, but it’s another money-making option.

Since most rural areas allow town residents to keep chickens, consider raising them for the eggs.

Much like the vegetables, set up a roadside stand and/or advertise online via Facebook and Craigslist.

Farm Hand Help

I know of a few people who live in rural areas who help farmers out when they need it.  And, the great thing is that most of them found the work through local Facebook groups.

If you haven’t done so already, join your local Facebook Groups as just about every city in the nation has a group of sorts.  If not, consider creating it, as it’s a great way to connect with local residents.

If you’re interested in helping with farm chores, from feeding animals to cleaning up barns, it’s a great way to earn some extra money in your spare time.  Best of all, most farmers are willing to work around your schedule.

Yard Work

Another service to consider is simple yard work, from hedging bushes to mowing lawns.  As long as you have the equipment to tackle larger yards, it’s a profitable option that can turn into a decent part-time or even full-time job.

Advertise via Facebook Marketplace or local groups.  Craigslist and even posting local flyers at the town store can do wonders as well.

Freelancing

I know.  This one is quite broad, but it’s one I want to mention here since there’s so much potential.

As a freelancer online, you can do anything.  From creating content to graphic design, the list would go on forever if I were to list everything here.

What I recommend you do is check out some of the largest freelancing websites, such as Fiverr and Upwork and see what services are being provided.  If you feel you have the skills to offer your services, consider bidding on jobs or start a job posting of sorts.

This is one that can take some time, but as you prove yourself with reviews, you can soon find yourself with more work than you can handle.  It’s all about having the right price, creating quality work and getting those five-star reviews.

Write an eBook

If you love to write, consider creating a book on virtually any topic.  And best of all, in today’s technological era, you don’t need a publisher to help publish your book.  Instead, you can sell it via the Amazon publisher platform.

Publishing only takes about five minutes and your book can appear in the Amazon Kindle search results within 24 to 48 hours.  Earn up to 70% royalties on every book you sell.

Of course, it will take some marketing, but it’s a wonderful way to make a passive income, especially if you love the idea of writing books.

Start a Website

This one will take some work, and I’m talking a few months at most before you see your first dollar or so.  However, don’t let this stop you as it can turn into a wonderful passive income opportunity.

Starting a website in itself is easy, but it’s the content creation and promotion that takes some work.  Don’t be the 99% that gives up after reading a few articles or watching some videos.

In short, it’s your job to research keywords and then create content based on keywords that don’t have a lot of competition.  Then, within those articles, you can add affiliate links, which give you a commission any time someone signs up.  The more traffic you receive, the more money you can make.

There are a ton of niches out there that you can work with, but I often recommend choosing something you’d be interested in.

To get started, I recommend some amazing free resources such as Income School, Authority Hacker, Backlinko, Quick Sprout and the Ahrefs Blog.

Start a YouTube Channel

It’s another one that can take some time, just like a website, but I recommend this option if you don’t like the idea of writing content.

Like a website, consider creating a niche and then turning the content you research into a video format.  Video editing can take some time to learn if you don’t know how to do so, but as you play around with it, the more you can learn over time.  Look at YouTubers today and see how they get better over time.  We all have to start somewhere.

I don’t have a particular guide on this site; rather, I just recommend the many free tutorials found on YouTube itself.

Consider your Skills

Lastly, I want you to consider your skills and research your local market to see what’s needed.  It’s important to focus more on what’s needed at first rather than where the money is.  I have always been an advocate against chasing money.

Simply put, start market researching.  This could mean reaching out to local residents and/or businesses to see what’s needed in your town.  It could range anywhere from something as advanced as a retail store to something as simple as a snow plow service.  By asking around, this could help you determine what’s needed.

With all of this information, see if it’s something you could work on and potentially earn an income from.

Final Thoughts

Just because you live in a small town in rural America, it doesn’t mean you can’t make money.  As you can see, there are a variety of ways to start making money right now.  It’s up to you to take action and do so.  Everything in my posts are always 100% legitimate and will make you money, albeit it won’t always be a ton.

That’s going to do it for now.

If you have any options you’d like to add to the list or maybe you want to comment on what’s written, you’re more than welcome to comment below.