15 Easy High (ish) Paying Jobs For Your Next Role

We’ve all gotta work right. But some of us have that laid back vibe, where we wanna make big money but we’re not career minded. I hear ya. Time to start looking for a new job that pays well… Or at least better than you’re on now.

As a veteran of A LOT of jobs*, I can attest that finding the job you really want to do is hard.

(Fun fact: I’ve had about 70 ish jobs, including random agency jobs and DJ’ing gigs).

But there are actually plenty of jobs that aren’t super hard or stressful and actually pay a pretty good wage. None of these are gonna make you a millionaire, but they will keep a roof over your head and give you a decent lifestyle.

Our list of easy high paying jobs is in no particular order. But we will rank jobs based on ease from 1 (easy) to 10 (difficult).

The wage range is based on average UK data, with a bit of USA average too (if you can work remotely). But is intended only as a guide.

1. Social Media Manager

If you love social media, then this is already your dream job. The average social media manager income varies by location, with sources saying it’s about $71,000 in the USA and £26,000 in the UK. Obviously it will depend on your client too, but this is definitely a growth area with a lot of demand. It’s not quite as easy as it sounds, and you will need to study how to bring the best results for paying clients. But, if you make the time to learn, it can be a fun and relatively easy high paying job…

To add to this, a social media manager will likely specialise in one or two social media platforms. So you might be an expert in TikTok or Instagram, but not necessarily Twitter or Pinterest. And that’s fine… Specialising is good.

As a bonus, the role of community manager is also one that is growing. This role means you spend time online answering questions on sites like Quora or Reddit, as well as responding to queries on social media. It can be quite a fun and easy job that pays pretty well.

• Easy rating: 5/10
• Wage range: £18,000-30,000 (up to $50,000 in the USA)

2. Receptionist/Concierge

To be a receptionist, you do need to be good with people and be receptive and responsive. And that’s about it. It’s not a difficult job and for about 85% of your time you’re doing not very much. Trust me, I have been a receptionist several times. The hardest thing you might end up doing is routing some phone calls, giving people their post and telling people where to go for meetings.

Most find that being a receptionist is an easy and reasonably decent paying job – although the lack of challenge can make it boring after a while. But if you thrive on customer service, love to do things before they need doing and are happy with your own company, a receptionist is an enjoyable and easy job which pays well.

• Easy rating: 3/10
• Wage range: £16,000-£28,000

BONUS: You can also level up the reception or concierge job by being a senior manager in charge of the reception team. Or, another role with similar responsibilities is residential block manager – although this one is a trickier role.

3. Language teacher

If you speak more than one language, then you might be able to use that skill to teach other people. Language teachers are in demand, and increasingly work online. It does depend on the language you’re teaching, but in general, if you’re fluent in one of the major Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian), Mandarin, Korean, Japanese or German then you can make some very good money.

• Easy rating: 3/10
• Wage rating: Depending on multiple factors, can be anything from £20,000-35,000 per year. (A good language teacher in Japan/China can make in the region of $50,000 p/a)

4. Tour guide

If you have a passion for your area, or you just love showing people around, a tour guide can be a whole ton of fun. There is also an option to be an adventure tour guide, which is a whole other realm and usually means spending extended time away managing tours in different places. It can be the easiest job in the world, if you have a passion for sharing your knowledge.

For adventure tour guide companies look at Kuoni, Busabout and G-Adventures, or search online for opportunities. They are usually seasonal and might include extended time away from home which can be tons of fun if you’re up for it.

• Easy rating: 4/10 (local tour guide) – 8/10 (adventure tour guide – but lots of fun)
• Wage range: Between £22,000 – 28,000.

5. eBook writer/self publisher

Ah, the dream of being a published writer! Well, it’s easier than ever to publish books and make a residual income thanks to multiple self-publishing platforms. However, it does take a bit of effort to research, write and promote your books. It can be very lucrative too, so it makes an appearance on our list of easiest high paying jobs.

• Easy rating: 6/10 (not as easy as it looks, but can be a great pay off!)
• Wage range: From £0 to… Well, the sky is the limit!

6. Online reseller (eBay etc)

Buying and selling stuff online is probably one of the easiest jobs in the world, if you do it right. You do need to have an eye for a deal, and know what you can buy and sell. This is another previous job of mine, and done right it can be great. Done wrong, it can be a pain in the ass.

Thankfully there are more platforms than ever where you can sell your stuff online, not just eBay… Think Vinted, Etsy or DePop.

• Easy rating: 4/10
• Wage range: An average is around £20,000, but can go anywhere up to 50 to 100k. But can also be nothing if you get it wrong…

7. CV Writer

Writing a CV can be a chore. And people are really bad at writing CVs and cover letters. I should know, I have worked in two different recruitment agencies (yup). So, CV writers are in demand and can ask for quite a high rate for their work. It helps if you have had experience in recruitment yourself, or at least have experience writing quality CVs.

• Easy rating: 7/10
• Wage range: £25,000 is about reasonable if you can do it full time. It can be an ad-hoc job though, so most likely will be a side hustle rather than full time job.

8. Proofreader/copy-editor

If you have an eye for detail and know how to edit texts and documents properly, you could be a proofreader. This is one of the best paying easy jobs – although it’s not as easy as you might think. But, you can take home a very good wage as a freelance copy-editor/proofreader.

• Easy rating: 7/10
• Wage range: £22,000 – 35,000.

9. Games tester

Paid to play games? Yup, it’s a thing. Typically you are doing it to look for glitches and give feedback. But yes you can get a job as a games tester, and yes it is is one of the easiest high paying jobs.

• Easy rating: 4/10
• Wage range: £25,000-60,000

10. Video editor

Funny story: video editing used to be a specialist niche that people trained really hard to do. And the software was technical as fuck too. Nowadays, you can edit a pretty decent spec video on your phone or use any popular user-friendly video trimmer to cut and splice clips together. And get paid for it. In fact, being a professional video editor has never been so easy or in-demand. Cue hate mail from video editors telling me their job isn’t easy. It is. I’ve done it.

• Easy rating: 6/10
• Wage range: £25,000 – 80,000

11. Product Tester

You can get paid to test products at home and provide feedback. Yes, that is the limit of the job and yes it really is as easy as it sounds. Usually you’ll receive the product and you’ll have a questionnaire to complete. There might also be a focus group where you provide feedback. But that’s it. Easy.

• Easy rating: 2/10
• Wage range: £20,000-£30,000

12. Blogger/affiliate marketer

I’ve linked the two roles here, even though they’re different. Reason being, blogging and affiliate marketing often go hand in hand. You could also be a vlogger, social media influencer or whatever you want, but affiliate marketing is where you’ll find the payoff. Is this one of the easiest high paying jobs in the world? Well, honestly, it takes time to build and there are zero guarantees. But done right, it can be a seriously BIG payer. The trick is to research your niche, build an audience and be consistent with your delivery.

• Easy rating: 6/10
• Wage range: Potentially £100,000+. On average, £25,000.

13. Freelance photographer

Own a camera? Got a good eye for a picture? You could be a freelance photographer for a living. Like many freelance jobs it can take time to build a rep and get consistent work. But it is a fun and rewarding job if you do succeed. You can also specialise in specific areas. Weddings pay well but do come with a lot of responsibility for delivering quality images. But people also want to get baby portraits, professional headshots, boudoir shots and modelling portfolio photos too.

• Easy rating: 5/10
• Wage range: Varies hugely, but £25,000-30,000 is a good average

14. Personal trainer/sports coach

For the fitness buffs out there, this one is for you… If you love to workout, or you are particularly skilled at a sport, why not coach? Personal trainers are in hot demand as people increasingly focus on their body image and overall health and fitness. You can even do this remotely! Or if you love to surf, skate, rock climb or any number of sports, look into how you can become a professional sports coach. After all, if you love your work, that makes it an easy job, right?

• Easy rating: 6/10
• Wage range: Entry level starts around £17,000 p/a, but you can take it up to £50,000 or more as a personal trainer

15. Lifeguard

Is working as a lifeguard an easy job? Well, if you’re fit and healthy and can stay focused, yes it’s very easy. Most of the time you’re just sat by the swimming pool or on the beach making sure no-one does anything silly.

If you do need to rescue anyone then obviously you need to have first aid skills. And of course you need to be able to swim. Although it’s an easy job most of the time, it’s not very highly paid, with most earning minimum wage.

• Easy rating: 4/10
• Wage range: Around £22,000

Jobs to stay away from

This list of the easiest high paying jobs is not exhaustive and you’ll probably think of another 10 that could be on here (share ’em below in comments). You can also check out our suggestion for freelance jobs.

But there are also several jobs which you should stayyyy awaayyyyy from. Because you’ll likely lose all your money. These are:

• Multi level marketer (no-one makes good money from these except the people at the top)
• Financial trader, including crypto trading. People think it’s get rich quick. It isn’t. It takes skill, patience and a lot of luck

There are others which are competitive, such as being a musician and DJ’ing. And there are jobs that look easy but are hard dangerous and stressful, such as being a delivery rider.

Check out job listings near you on Indeed.