Top 5 Side Hustles for Nurses: How Healthcare Workers Are Earning Extra in 2026

Nurses are some of the hardest-working professionals on the planet. Long shifts, high stress, and emotionally demanding work are all part of the job. So it makes sense that when the shift ends, a growing number of nurses are turning their clinical skills into extra income outside the hospital.

And the numbers back this up. According to one survey, 50% of nurses in the US already have a side hustle. With the average annual salary for RNs sitting around $86,070 compared to physicians who earn approximately $352,000 to $363,000, the income gap is real, and nurses are doing something about it.

Whether you want to pay down student loans faster, build an emergency fund, or just have something that’s yours outside the hospital walls, a well-chosen side hustle can change your financial picture without burning you out further.

The key word there is “well-chosen.” Not every side hustle is worth your limited time. When Sermo polled advanced practice providers about which types of side hustles they found most appealing, 40% said medical-related gigs, 36% chose teaching or consulting roles, and 15% showed interest in non-medical roles.

We’ve done the research to bring you the five best options for 2026, complete with real earning potential and a step-by-step guide to getting started with each one.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Why Nurses Are Perfectly Positioned for Side Hustles

Your nursing license is an asset that extends far beyond the hospital floor. You have clinical training, medical literacy, and a level of credibility that most freelancers and solopreneurs spend years trying to build.

As Morgan Geiger, an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) with years of experience working per diem, puts it: “Side hustles not only supplement your income, they help you stay sharp and connected with developments across healthcare fields.”

The 2026 job market is increasingly friendly to nurses who want flexible, remote, or self-directed income. Telehealth has matured. Health content is booming. Nursing education is in high demand. And the e-commerce tools available today make it easier than ever to monetize your expertise in entirely new ways.

Here are the five side hustles worth your time.

1. Telehealth Nursing

Earning potential: $30 to $60+ per hour depending on role and platform

Telehealth is no longer a pandemic workaround. As of 2026, telehealth has matured into a permanent pillar of the healthcare system, and the transition has been characterized by sophistication and AI integration.

For nurses, this means real opportunity. Approximately 75% of US hospitals now use telemedicine, and the demand for telehealth nurses who can handle triage, follow-up care, and patient education continues to grow.

You can pick up telehealth shifts on your days off, work from home, and avoid the physical demands that come with bedside nursing. Many nurses take hybrid roles, working part-time in telehealth and part-time at the bedside to maximize both income and flexibility.

What the work actually involves:

• Virtual health assessments via video or phone
• Patient education and follow-up care
• Triage support and symptom review
• Chronic disease management check-ins
• Mental health support and crisis follow-up

Interview Guys Tip: Before you apply to any telehealth platform, check whether your state participates in the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC). The NLC allows nurses to practice across multiple states with a single license, which dramatically expands your options and earning potential.

How to Get Started with Telehealth Nursing

Step 1: Confirm your credentials. You need an active RN license at minimum. Some platforms require NP status or specialty certifications. Check the specific requirements for each platform you target.

Step 2: Apply for the Nurse Licensure Compact if applicable. If your state participates, this is one of the best career moves you can make. It opens you up to significantly more positions.

Step 3: Prepare your home workspace. You need a quiet, private room, a reliable high-speed internet connection, a quality headset, and a neutral background for video calls.

Step 4: Search for opportunities. Look on Indeed, LinkedIn, and SimplyHired using terms like “telehealth RN,” “telephone triage nurse,” or “remote nursing.” Also check directly with your current employer, as many hospital systems are building internal telehealth programs.

Step 5: Apply to telehealth-specific platforms. Platforms like Teladoc, MDLive, American Well, and DialCare all hire RNs for various roles.

Step 6: Brush up on telehealth documentation. Remote charting and HIPAA-compliant communication tools will be central to your work. Familiarize yourself with platforms like Doxy.me or SimplePractice before your first shift.

For a broader look at how AI is changing the way healthcare workers are finding opportunities, check out our piece on how AI is revolutionizing the job search process.

2. Freelance Health Writing and Content Review

Earning potential: $40 to $150+ per hour or $0.20 to $1.00+ per word

Health content is everywhere in 2026. Insurance companies, telehealth platforms, pharmaceutical brands, patient education portals, and health media sites all need accurate, medically credible content. And they’re willing to pay well for it.

If you have a knack for writing, your nursing background positions you to work as a freelance writer for health websites, blogs, journals, magazines, or social media pages. You can also serve as a subject matter expert, reviewing health-related content written by others to verify its accuracy.

This is a genuinely flexible option. You can take assignments on your own schedule, work entirely from home, and scale up or down based on your availability. Many nurses start with content review work (which is lower pressure) and then move into writing as they get more comfortable.

You can meet the demand as a freelance nurse writer, creating articles, blog posts, and educational materials. Alternatively, you can work as a content reviewer, ensuring medical information is accurate and up-to-date.

What the work actually involves:

• Writing patient education articles and guides
• Creating content for health and wellness brands
• Reviewing blog posts and articles for medical accuracy
• Writing clinical summaries or case studies
• Contributing to continuing education content

Interview Guys Tip: You do not need a journalism background to succeed as a health writer. What clients are paying for is your clinical credibility. Start by writing a few sample pieces on topics you know well and post them to a simple portfolio website. That’s often all you need to land your first paid assignment.

How to Get Started with Freelance Health Writing

Step 1: Choose your niche. Specializing increases your value. Think about what you know deeply: pediatric care, cardiac nursing, oncology, mental health, wound care. Niche writers command higher rates.

Step 2: Build two to three writing samples. These don’t need to be published anywhere. Write articles on topics you know, format them professionally, and save them as PDFs.

Step 3: Create a simple portfolio website. This is the single most effective thing you can do to get clients. A clean one-page site with your background, niche, and sample work is enough to start. You can build one for free using Squarespace, which offers a free trial with no credit card required. Browse their template otions to find something professional and clean.

Step 4: Register on freelance platforms. Upwork, Contently, and Clearvoice are strong starting points. Healthline, Verywell Health, and Medical News Today also accept pitches from credentialed contributors.

Step 5: Pitch directly to health brands. Many telehealth companies, supplement brands, and wellness platforms hire freelance medical reviewers on an ongoing retainer basis. A cold pitch via LinkedIn or email can be surprisingly effective when you lead with your credentials.

Step 6: Track your earnings and set your rates. Keep records from day one. Health writers with nursing credentials routinely charge $75 to $150 per hour for review work. Don’t undersell yourself.

If you’re thinking about how to present your nursing credentials and side hustle work online, our guide on personal branding for job seekers has tactics that translate directly to building a freelance reputation.

Your side hustle needs a home base. Clients Google you. Parents want to vet you before booking. A professional website closes that gap in an afternoon.

3. Per Diem and Travel Nursing

Earning potential: $40 to $100+ per hour

If you want a side hustle that feels like nursing, just on your own terms, per diem work is one of the most straightforward options available.

Per diem nurses (meaning “by the day”) are supplemental staff who pick up shifts at hospitals, often on short notice to respond to higher patient traffic. You choose when you work. You say no to shifts that don’t fit your schedule. And you typically earn a higher hourly rate than staff nurses because you provide flexibility to the facility.

According to Payscale data from September 2025, travel nurses, a closely related position, earned an average wage of $40.06 per hour. For experienced nurses in high-demand specialties, rates go considerably higher.

Travel nursing takes this a step further, placing you in short-term assignments (often 13 weeks) at hospitals across the country. It’s not for everyone, but if you have flexibility in your personal life, it can be extremely lucrative.

What the work actually involves:

• Picking up shifts at local hospitals or clinics on your days off
• Filling staffing gaps in departments you’re familiar with
• Maintaining your clinical skills in a flexible format
• For travel nursing, relocating for short-term high-paying assignments

Interview Guys Tip: When taking per diem shifts, try to work at facilities where you already have orientation completed. Hospitals often waive lengthy onboarding for per diem nurses who’ve previously worked there, which means you can start earning faster.

How to Get Started with Per Diem Nursing

Step 1: Contact your current employer first. Many hospitals allow staff nurses to also be on their per diem roster. This is the fastest path to extra shifts since orientation is already complete.

Step 2: Research per diem staffing agencies. Agencies like CareRev, NurseGrid, and Nomad Health connect nurses with per diem and travel opportunities. Sign up and complete your profile.

Step 3: Confirm your licensing is current. Ensure your RN license, BLS certification, and any specialty certifications are up to date before accepting per diem placements.

Step 4: Understand tax implications. Per diem income is typically reported as 1099 income. Set aside roughly 25 to 30% of your per diem earnings for taxes, or work with an accountant who understands healthcare worker tax situations.

Step 5: Set your availability parameters. Be honest about how many extra shifts you can handle without burning out. Two to four shifts per month is a sustainable starting point for most working nurses.

For travel nursing specifically, the app Nomad Health is widely recommended for finding and comparing placement opportunities across the country.

4. Nursing Tutoring and Education

Earning potential: $30 to $80 per hour for tutoring, $500 to $5,000+ per course for online courses

You’ve passed the NCLEX. You’ve worked the floor. You have clinical knowledge that nursing students desperately need, and they’re willing to pay for it.

If you have a passion for sharing knowledge but don’t want to go through the rigorous credentialing processes of a full-blown nursing instructor, you may still be able to find rewarding side hustles as tutors or instructors on an individual or small group basis. You could offer your services online or through social media, targeting nursing students who need a bit of help outside of their program.

Beyond one-on-one tutoring, the real scaling opportunity is online courses. Platforms like Udemy and Teachable make it easy to reach a broad audience, and you can earn passive income as nurses enroll in your courses. Build it once, earn from it repeatedly.

Nurses can enter the education sector as tutors in subject areas they’re skilled in, such as anatomy, physiology, or test preparation. They can also create online courses to help aspiring healthcare professionals.

What the work actually involves:

• One-on-one NCLEX prep sessions via Zoom
• Small group tutoring for nursing school cohorts
• Building recorded video courses on specific clinical topics
• Creating downloadable study guides and practice question sets
• Hosting live Q&A sessions or workshops

Interview Guys Tip: Before creating a full course, test demand with a live cohort. Offer a four-week NCLEX bootcamp at a reduced price, get 10 to 20 students through it, collect testimonials, and then build your recorded course with confidence. This approach saves you weeks of production time on a course that might not sell.

How to Get Started with Nursing Tutoring

Step 1: Identify your strongest subject areas. Where did you excel in nursing school? What clinical area do you work in now? Start there. Specialization beats generalization.

Step 2: Start with Wyzant or Tutor.com. These platforms connect tutors with students and handle payment processing. You can start earning within a week of signing up.

Step 3: Post your services in nursing student Facebook groups and Reddit communities. Nursing students actively look for tutors in communities like r/nursing and r/NCLEX. A simple post offering your services can generate immediate interest.

Step 4: Build your online course. If you want to create a course, Teachable and Kajabi are both excellent platforms. Outline your curriculum first, record in short segments (10 to 15 minutes each), and keep production simple. A quality USB microphone and good lighting are all you need.

Step 5: Price your services confidently. NCLEX tutors with clinical experience regularly charge $50 to $75 per hour. Online courses for nursing topics typically sell between $97 and $297, depending on depth.

Step 6: Collect and showcase testimonials. A few strong reviews from students who passed their NCLEX can be worth thousands of dollars in future business. Ask every satisfied student for a testimonial.

If you’re thinking about how to present your tutoring side hustle professionally, check out our guide on how to make a portfolio website that gets you hired for ideas on showcasing credentials and testimonials.

5. Health and Wellness E-Commerce or Digital Products

Earning potential: Highly variable, $500 to $10,000+ per month with consistent effort

This one is the biggest opportunity, and also the one most nurses overlook. Your clinical knowledge is not just valuable in a patient care setting. It’s valuable as content, as products, and as a brand.

Many nurses sell digital products, scrubs, or handmade crafts on Etsy or Shopify. But the highest-earning nurses in this space are doing something more specific: selling health-focused digital products like printable wellness trackers, symptom journals, medication logs, meal planning guides, and patient education resources.

The overhead is nearly zero. You create the product once and sell it infinitely. And your nursing credentials give everything you create an instant credibility edge over generic wellness products.

If you want to go beyond digital products into physical health goods, branded wellness products, or dropshipping nursing-related supplies, Shopify makes it straightforward to launch an online store with low startup costs.

What the work actually involves:

• Creating downloadable health printables (symptom trackers, medication logs, wellness journals)
• Selling nursing-themed goods or apparel
• Building a health and wellness brand on Instagram or TikTok
• Launching a print-on-demand shop with nurse-themed designs
• Running a small dropshipping operation focused on health and wellness products

Interview Guys Tip: Start with digital products before physical products. A patient medication log, a shift schedule planner for nurses, or a “preparing for your first nursing job” guide can be created in a day and sold indefinitely. Platforms like Etsy and Gumroad handle delivery automatically.

How to Get Started with Health E-Commerce

Step 1: Decide what you’ll sell. Options include digital downloads (PDFs, printables, templates), physical products through print-on-demand, or dropshipped health products. Digital downloads are the lowest-friction starting point.

Step 2: Create your first product. Use Canva to design a professional-looking printable. Think about what patients or nursing students actually need: blood pressure logs, post-surgery care instruction sheets, hospital bag checklists. These sell consistently.

Step 3: Open your store. Etsy is the fastest way to start selling digital downloads with no upfront fees. If you want to build a standalone brand, Shopify offers a free trial and a comprehensive ecommerce business plan guide to help you think through your approach.

Step 4: Build social proof. Even five positive reviews can dramatically increase your sales conversion rate. Offer your first few products at a discount in exchange for honest feedback.

Step 5: Market through content. A TikTok or Instagram Reel demonstrating how to use your wellness tracker, filmed in your scrubs, is authentic content that converts. You don’t need a massive following. You need the right audience.

Step 6: Reinvest in growth. Once your first product generates consistent sales, use a portion of the profit to create additional products and run low-cost paid ads. This compounds your monthly income without requiring more of your time.

For more strategies on building income outside the traditional job structure, our article on the top 20 side hustles for 2025 covers approaches that translate directly to healthcare professionals.

Choosing the Right Side Hustle for Your Situation

Not every nurse needs the same thing from a side hustle. Here’s a quick framework:

• If you want the highest hourly rate with familiar work: Per diem nursing or telehealth is your move. You’re leveraging existing skills directly.

• If you want flexibility and creative outlet: Freelance health writing or content review gives you full control over your schedule and can be done from anywhere.

• If you want long-term passive income: Online nursing courses and digital health products have the highest ceiling. They take more upfront effort but pay dividends indefinitely.

• If you want to give back while earning: Nursing tutoring lets you directly impact the next generation of healthcare professionals while building a meaningful supplementary income.

The one thing all of these have in common is that they respect your license and your expertise. You’ve spent years building clinical knowledge. A good side hustle monetizes that investment without exhausting what’s left of your energy.

Before committing, check your employer’s moonlighting policy and any relevant state regulations. Some hospitals have restrictions on per diem work at competing facilities, and some telehealth platforms require notification of your primary employer.

You can also look at our breakdown of the top 25 side jobs that pay well for even more options beyond healthcare, and our state of the gig economy in 2025 piece for broader context on how side hustle culture is evolving.

If you’re thinking about presenting any of these ventures professionally or adding them to your resume, check out our guide on should you put your side hustle on your resume for guidance on how to frame it.

The Bottom Line

Nurses have something rare: a skill set that’s both highly specialized and broadly applicable. Your license, your training, and your clinical experience can generate income in ways that go far beyond picking up extra shifts.

The five side hustles covered here, telehealth nursing, freelance health writing, per diem and travel nursing, nursing education, and health e-commerce, all offer real earning potential without requiring you to start from scratch.

The best side hustle is the one you’ll actually stick with. Start with one option, test it for 60 days, and see how it fits your schedule and your energy levels. You might be surprised how quickly it grows.

Your side hustle needs a home base. Clients Google you. Parents want to vet you before booking. A professional website closes that gap in an afternoon.

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