Need income without having to leave the house? Whether you are home with your children, still building your English, or just want to add to what you already earn, there are jobs you can do from home.
You do not need a degree, a car, or savings to start any of these. And in several of them, speaking Spanish is the reason you get hired rather than something to work around.
The first two are regular jobs: a company hires you, trains you, and pays you by the hour. The last three you run yourself, at your own pace.
Remote jobs: a company hires you
Here someone else provides the work, trains you, and pays you by the hour. You need stable internet and a quiet space. The advantage is that the income is predictable from your first week. In both of these, speaking Spanish is not a disadvantage. It is the reason you get hired.
1. Phone interpreter or translator
What do you do?
You help 2 people who do not share a language understand each other. Most of the work is by phone or video: a hospital, an insurer, or a government office calls, and you interpret the conversation live. Translators do the same with written documents.
What do you need to start?
Fluency in English and Spanish, a phone, and a quiet room. No degree is required. For medical and legal work there are short certification courses you can complete online in a few weeks, and those are what open the better-paid doors.
How do you get hired?
Look for language service providers and medical interpretation agencies, which hire nationwide. Contact them directly and ask whether your language pair is in demand. Phone-based medical interpretation is usually the fastest way in, because those agencies are always short-staffed.
What does it pay?
The median wage for interpreters and translators is $59,440 a year, roughly $28 an hour, according to the BLS using May 2024 data. It is the best-paid job on this list, for a simple reason: your Spanish is worth money.
2. Bilingual customer service agent
What do you do?
You help customers by phone or chat: answering questions, solving problems, and taking complaints. Many companies run 24 hours a day, which is why they let agents work from home. You will be given a set schedule when you need to be available.
What do you need to start?
Stable internet, a quiet space, and almost always a computer with a headset. Most roles ask for no experience or degree, and the company trains you. This is the job on the list with the most openings available at any point in the year.
How do you get hired?
Search job boards for "remote bilingual customer service" and widen your search to the whole country rather than your city. The work is remote, so you are not limited to who is hiring nearby. Always filter for "bilingual", because those openings pay more than the same role in English only.
What does it pay?
The median wage for customer service representatives is $20.59 an hour, or $42,830 a year, according to the BLS using May 2024 data. Bilingual openings typically pay above that average.
The number of these jobs is slowly shrinking as companies automate more. Even so, about 341,700 positions open up each year as people retire or change careers, which is why you will always find listings.
Businesses you can start in your own home
In these 3, nobody hires you: you find your own clients and set your own prices. The income takes longer to start, but you decide how much you work and you do not depend on English at all.
The hardest part of working for yourself is not the work: it is finding the first client. That is why they are in this order. In the first one the app brings you clients, and in the other 2 your community does.
2 things before you begin. First, this income is taxable too, and most people without a Social Security number file using an ITIN number. Second, keep your receipts from day one, because what you spend on materials comes off what you declare.
3. Pet care through apps
What do you do?
You care for dogs or cats for owners in your area through apps like Rover or Wag, which connect you with clients. You choose the service that fits your situation: walking dogs, short drop-in visits at the owner's home, staying at their home while they travel, or hosting the pet at yours.
What do you need to start?
To be 18 or older, a government-issued ID, a background check, and an account to receive your payments. If you rent a room or share housing, choose drop-in visits or house sitting: neither needs space of your own. Check the current requirements in the app before starting the process, because they change.
How do you find clients?
This is the advantage of this option: the app brings them to you. Fill out your profile with photos and a clear description, and take small jobs at first to collect your first reviews. Reviews are what decide how much work comes to you afterward.
What does it pay?
The median wage for animal care and service workers is $33,470 a year, roughly $16 an hour, according to the BLS using May 2024 data. On the apps you set your own rate, though the app keeps a percentage of each booking. It is also the only job on this list with strong projected growth over the next decade.
4. Childcare in your own home
What do you do?
Instead of going to the family's house, the children come to yours during their parents' working hours. That can be one child for a few hours or several all day.
What do you need to start?
Patience, energy, and a safe space. A CPR and first aid certification is inexpensive, takes a day, and is what reassures parents most. Check your state's rules: past a certain number of children you need a family childcare license, and that number varies by where you live.
How do you find clients?
Start with families who already know you, because trust matters more than any advertisement in this work. Ask them to recommend you to their friends. Community groups on Facebook and WhatsApp work better than the large platforms.
What does it pay?
The median wage in childcare is $15.41 an hour, or $32,050 a year, according to the BLS using May 2024 data. That average excludes people working for themselves, so caring for several children at home and setting your own rates, you can earn well above it.
More people do this on their own than you would guess: 21% of childcare workers are self-employed. And about 160,200 childcare positions open up each year, so families are always looking.
5. Selling homemade food
What do you do?
You cook in your own kitchen and sell to your community: food to order, desserts, tamales, bread, small catering for parties. It is one of the most common and most profitable home businesses in Latino communities, and it requires no English at all.
What do you need to start?
Your kitchen and your ingredients. All 50 states allow some form of homemade food sales, but the rules vary a lot: some require no permit and others do, and nearly all limit what you can sell and how much you can earn per year. Look up your state's rules under the words "cottage food law" before you sell anything.
How do you find clients?
Start with orders for people who already know you, and photograph everything you make. Community groups on Facebook and WhatsApp are the best channel. Set one delivery day a week rather than cooking every day, so the work fits your schedule.
What does it pay?
There is no average wage, because you work for yourself. The calculation that matters is this one: add up what you spend on ingredients and packaging, add the value of your hours, and charge above that. Many people start by charging only for ingredients and end up working for no profit.
If you can leave the house: flexible options on your own schedule
Not all flexible work is work from home. If you have a car, delivery apps let you choose when and where you work, and typically pay between $10 and $25 an hour depending on the app and the city. You need a reliable vehicle and to pass a background check.
The difference is that you pay for gas, maintenance, and wear on the car, so what you earn per hour is not what you keep. If schedule matters more to you than location, look at jobs you can start quickly in the U.S.
How to get paid for what you earn
All of these jobs have one thing in common: to get paid, you need a U.S. account. Interpretation agencies, customer service companies, and delivery apps all pay by direct deposit, and even your food or sewing clients would rather pay you by transfer.
1. Open your account. With MAJORITY you can open an account using your passport, your driver's license, or an ID from your home country, with no Social Security number. See how the MAJORITY account works.
2. Set up direct deposit. With your routing and account number you can receive your pay up to 2 days early, depending on when whoever pays you sends it. It works the same if you work for yourself: here are the steps for getting paid sooner as a gig worker.
3. Send home what you can. From the same app you can send money to your family without opening another account somewhere else.
And if none of these 5 options is right for you, start with the ultimate guide to getting a job in the U.S. as a migrant.
Frequently asked questions
What work-from-home jobs can I do with no experience?
Bilingual customer service agent is the fastest, because the company trains you and asks for no previous experience. Pet care through an app starts quickly too, since you only need to complete your profile and pass the check. Childcare asks for no degree or formal experience either, though a CPR certification helps you win families.
Can I work from home if I do not speak English?
Yes. Selling homemade food, childcare, and pet care can be done almost entirely in Spanish if your clients come from your community. And in interpretation and bilingual customer service, Spanish is exactly what you are hired for, though those 2 do require you to understand English.
Which work-from-home job pays the most?
Interpretation and translation, with a median of $59,440 a year according to the BLS. Customer service follows at $20.59 an hour. The 2 best-paid options are the ones that pay you for speaking 2 languages.
How can I work from home and make money?
Pick one option from this list, the one closest to what you already know how to do. Get what you need together that week, usually a short resume or a few photos of your work. Tell the people who already know you before advertising to strangers, because first clients nearly always come by referral. And open an account to get paid into before your first job, not after.
Do I need a Social Security number to work from home?
It depends on the job and on your immigration situation, so check your own case with an immigration attorney or a legal aid organization. What you can do without a Social Security number is open an account to get paid, using your passport or an ID from your home country.
Disclosures
The MAJORITY app facilitates banking services through Axiom Bank, N.A. (“Axiom”), Member FDIC. The funds deposited in the account held at Axiom, Member FDIC, are FDIC-insured on a pass-through basis up to $250,000 per depositor in the event Axiom fails and subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions. The MAJORITY Visa® debit card is also issued by Axiom pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. Non-deposit products and services such as money transfers and telecom services are not FDIC-insured.