New report shows how many Orlando residents have ‘side hustles’

A new report shows how the Orlando metro area stacks up against other parts of the country regarding residents having “side hustles.”

The term “side hustle” generally refers to a job on the side of a full-time job that brings in supplemental income for the worker. They often start as a means of making extra income but occasionally turn into fullfledged businesses, according to Backgroundchecks.org.

While the national average shows 2.5% of workers had side hustles in 2019, the Orlando metro area was just below that number at 2.1%.

Data for Orlando-Kississimee-Sanford showed just 20,156 workers have a side hustle.

The median total income for workers with a side hustle is $70,000/year, with a median side hustle income of $7,000. The median income for all workers in the area is $40,000.

In contrast, Central Florida ranked near the top when it came to residents making passive income. The Daytona-Daytona Beach-Ormond metropolitan area features 16.1% of households earning passive income from interest, dividends, and/or net rental income.

Central Florida resident earnings of $4,700 in passive income from households who receive it is higher than the national average median of $4,200. Nationally, the median income for workers is larger at $75,000, but the side hustle income is smaller at $6,800.

The median income for all workers in this category is $50,000, according to the report.

Those numbers do come with a caveat.

Certain private surveys had shown as many as 45% of Americans do extra work outside of their day jobs.

Census Bureau data, however, is likely lower because of how many people are unwilling to admit to having a side job on a government document, according to the report.

Since the data is self-reported, side hustlers may feel like they don’t make enough money to qualify it as a side hustle, or workers getting paid under the table don’t want to be taxed on that additional income.

Side hustling is also tied to income levels.

Workers who make more than $100,000/year at their day jobs have side hustles at twice the rate of workers earning $50,000 to $75,000/year.

Employees in the six-figure range are six times more likely to have a side hustle than those earning less than $25,000.

South Dakota and Nebraska rank highest for side hustlers on a state level with 4.6% and 4.2% of the population, respectively.

Methodology

Researchers at BackgroundChecks analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample to determine the metropolitan areas with the most residents who have side hustles.

Metro areas were ranked by the percentage of workers with a side hustle.

In a tie, the metro with the more significant number of total workers with a side hustle was ranked higher.

Researchers also calculated median total income for workers with a side hustle, median side hustle income, and median total income for all workers.

Workers with side hustles are defined as full-time workers who have positive self-employment income that is less than their wage and salary pay.

Only the 100 largest metros were included in the analysis.