Are you trying to get your 14 year old an early start on their career path to success?
Do you wish your son/daughter would find something productive to do with their time? Perhaps your son/daughter just wants to save up money for a new car?
In this article, you will learn:
- What jobs hire at 14
- Find a complete list of places that hire 14 year olds
- What you need to know before you apply for a job
Even though these types of jobs are low-stress and require little experience, they may require an individual who is very responsible. Here’s an in-depth list of jobs for 14 year olds.
Babysitter
Working as a babysitter requires a great deal of responsibility, patience, and leadership when it comes to taking care of children.
Through the course of a day, a babysitter will prepare meals, provide educational material, offer activities, or ensure hygiene in children while their parents are away.
The experience of working as a babysitter can be carried into career paths such as nursing, childhood education, handicap care, or care for the elderly.
According to a 2018 childcare survey conducted by UrbanSitter, the average hourly wage of a babysitter is about $16.43. Most parents offer higher pay (around $20 an hour) if they require the babysitter to watch more than a single child at a time.
Of course, with the well-being of a child at stake, there are some laws or guidelines that might prohibit a 14 year old from becoming a babysitter.
In most cases, the parents of the children that require supervision is responsible for determining if the babysitter is suitable.
Check your state child care laws for specific details or restrictions regarding supervision requirements.
Pet Sitting/Care
While away or on vacation, some pet owners hire people to feed, watch, groom, or care for their animals in their home.
The types of tasks involved may include giving animals exercise, providing fresh food/water, giving medications, cleaning litter boxes, or providing companionship.
The pet sitter may offer other small services for the household such as collecting mail or watering plants.
According to Petsitter.com, the average hourly wage of a pet sitter ranges from $13-$18 per hour. If overnight care is required, the pet sitter may charge anywhere from $85-$100 per night.
Specific conditions such as holidays or additional pets may be subject to small fees or charges by the pet sitter.
Choosing a job as a pet sitter early on can help 14 year olds develop animal husbandry skills which will help them build a career as a pet groomer, veterinarian, laboratory animal caretaker, trainer, animal control worker, zoologist, conservationist, or dairy farmer.
Washing Cars
One of the best summer jobs for 14 year olds is washing cars as it helps them learn different methods of business advertisement and provides encouragement to be ambitious.
The great thing about washing cars is you can set a flexible schedule for when you want to be open for service and it will give you plenty of exercise as you move around the car.
If you want to start up a small car cleaning gig, you may need to spend around $50 upfront for supplies such as shop vacs, car cleaning rags, interior cleaning solutions, and window spray.
Although there are no statistics, a fair price to charge for full car cleaning services would be around $10-20 per car.
You may base your service price off of what a local mechanic shop or car wash charges.
Errand Runner
If you’re looking for part time jobs for 14 year olds, you might consider becoming an errand-runner.
As an errand-runner, you have the opportunity to meet with local business people or the elderly and help them with small jobs in exchange for cash.
Some of these jobs may include delivering mail to post offices, picking up mail, or picking up prescriptions from a pharmacy.
Depending on where you live and what types of tasks you do, you can charge anywhere from $15 - $45 an hour.
If you own a bicycle with a carrier basket attached, you can easily skim from one job to the next.
Keep in mind, if you live in a rural area or small town, you may not have as much earning potential.
Restaurant Crew Member
Some of the most common places that hire 14 year olds are fast food restaurants or diners. Here young adults learn the basics of customer service and courtesy by taking orders from customers or answering questions.
A restaurant crew member may also be in charge of cleaning up kitchen areas, dining utensils or preparing meals.
On average, a fast-food worker can make anywhere from $8.26 - $9.14 an hour according to payscale statistics.
The total pay will vary depending on the average minimum wage salaries offered in your location.
Retail Clerk
A retail clerk is in charge of ringing customer’s purchases up at a register, answering customer questions, or stocking store shelves.
This type of job requires good time management, organizational skills, and communication.
According to payscale, the average national income for a retail clerk is $10.56 an hour excluding commissions or bonuses.
Note: total yearly bonuses range from $75-$5,781 total and total yearly commissions range from $302 - $23,765.
Janitor
Being a janitor is one of the many simple jobs for 14 year olds that pay a decent wage and teach them how to care for a work environment.
Often as a janitor, you will be responsible for cleaning and maintaining a very large building such as a hospital, store, hotel, or school. This type of job may require excellent time management skills and physical fitness.
On average, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics determined the average hourly wage of a janitor to be around $11.95 per hour.
Bottom Line: the pay rates may be higher depending on which state you live in or the type of facility you work in.
Yard Management
One of the great summer jobs for 14 year olds is mowing lawns or assisting with yard cleanup.
Yard management responsibilities may include maintaining lawn mower equipment and weed eaters, mowing lawns, cutting down weeds, and brushing up grass clippings.
If a 14 year old completes all of these tasks, they can fairly charge anywhere from $10-$40 per yard.
Keep in mind, that starting up a lawn care business can be considerably expensive with gas prices or tools to maintain equipment.
Caring for lawns will help young adults build references for future jobs through their hard work and may open up career opportunities in landscaping, irrigation, greenhouses, or project managers.
House Cleaning
If you have extra free time, you may also offer help cleaning the elderly or neighbor’s houses for them. Cleaning houses is a great opportunity to make some extra cash and meet new people in the community.
People who clean houses for hire may vacuum floors, clean up trash, do laundry, dishes, dust, or clean windows.
On average, a house cleaner can make around $25-$50 per hour. If you clean small apartments you can expect to make around $80-110 per job or $150-$250 for larger houses.
Doing a great job and offering customers your number may give you plenty of cleaning opportunities in the future.
Farm Hand
There are many farmers with large fields or farms to tend that would be more than happy to pay a 14 year old to work for them.
Some tasks you might help with include feeding livestock, cleaning their pen, fixing fences, bailing hay, picking rocks out of fields, or general farm labor.
On average, a farm hand makes between $9.86 - $13.84 per hour. Generally, the more experienced farm hand makes above the middle average of $11.61.
Often farmers work will run from dusk until dawn, giving farm hands the opportunity to make over $100 a day!
Golf Caddy
If you’re 14 and love golf, one of the best paying jobs you can do is being a golf caddy.
A golf caddy is responsible for carrying club bags for country club golf members as they traverse around the course.
Most golf course loops take around 4 hours to complete or amount to 18 holes in total. On average, a caddy will make around $20-$30 per hour.
This amounts to around $100 per game or more if you earn tips.
Newspaper Delivery
Young adults with a working bicycle can earn money delivering local newspapers around their community.
An entire delivery route can range from 35 houses/businesses to as many as 700, so the pay may vary.
Paper distributors may pay a set amount each week, per paper, or pay an hourly rate. On average, you can make between $150-$500 per week for delivery jobs based on online job listings.
Some clients on your route may also offer tips for consistency and service requests.
Lifeguard
Responsible and alert 14 year olds who love to swim can enjoy a day out in the sun as a lifeguard and make money doing it.
A lifeguard must always be alert and ready to help a swimmer if they start to drown.
The average hourly wage for a lifeguard starts at $9.25 for lifeguards who work at community pools.
You can expect much higher pay (up to $20 an hour) working as a lifeguard at beaches or water parks.
Most public places that hire lifeguards will require teens to take and complete a red cross lifeguard certification class before they become eligible to work.
Bottom Line: the certificate stays valid for two years and must be refreshed after they expire.
Tutor
With excellent grades, some 14 year olds can earn money helping other kids catch up in subjects they are behind in.
Typically a tutor will work during the summer to help kids keep their grades up in subjects while school is out or help them prepare for important tests.
The average hourly wage for a high school level tutor is about $30-$40, according to a study done by Care.com. Typically, those who excel in specific subjects may be paid more to help others in those areas.
If interested in becoming a tutor, teens may want to start by talking to a teacher. Most teachers can suggest clients or students who are struggling with their grades to connect them with help.
A tutor may also advertise their services with flyers posted around their community or on online social media groups.
Gardening Assistant
Young teens that have an interest in gardening could be employed to help someone keep up a small vegetable garden, a hydroponic garden, or even assist in hot house is taken care of flowers.
Very little training is needed to become a gardener’s assistant. In fact, with the right employer, a young employee can learn on the job.
Bottom Line: a fourteen-year-old employed as a gardening assistant can expect to earn about seven to ten dollars per hour of work.
Cook (or Cook’s Assistant)
Although child labor laws demand that no child under the age of 16 be allowed to bake, young teens are allowed to work as assistance to cooks in a restaurant.
While they might not take on the full duties of a cook, chains 14 and 15 can assist and food preparation and some light cooking duties.
A word of caution. Teens who have absolutely no experience in the kitchen should reconsider this possible job opportunity.
Often, very little training will be provided for this position, and the employer will expect the assistant to know his or her way around the kitchen.
You could be working with hot food, sharp knives, and ingredients that you may never have heard of before.
So, unless you know a little bit about cooking, this might not be the best position for you. A cook's assistant typically makes minimum wage.
Camp counselor
Teens aged 14 can spend their summers working with children at summer camp as a camp counselor.
One organization that often hires experience campers to work with younger attendees is the Boy Scouts of America.
Older teens who are experienced campers may have special experience in working with older children who are attending camp for the first time.
This makes them in valuable to camp administration as they help younger campers to feel right at home.
Bottom Line: the typical camp counselor receives $7 - $9 an hour plus room and board onsite.
Dishwasher
Teens as young as 14 can work at dishwashers without any restrictions on their work, excluding the number of hours they may work.
For most teams under that age, the employee cannot work over 18 hours per week. Typical salaries for a dishwasher are that of minimum wage.
Grocery bagger
Local grocery stores make a great place for young teens to work. Most mom and pop grocery stores are not open 24 hours a day, and they are accustomed to working around the school schedules of students.
Baggers will also learn social skills while interacting with people from all Socio economic backgrounds.
Baggers have to work with the cashier as they say in groceries down a conveyor belt to the bagger.
Baggers must learn how to work quickly, wow they are ensuring that they do not damage any of the groceries they are bagging.
Baggers often learn important social Cous wow doing this job.
Bottom Line: they may meet people who are very picky about the way their groceries are bag, and they made may learn to be flexible and accommodate this type of customer.
At the same time, They may also encounter people who are simply grateful to be able to purchase groceries.
Being around people of so many different backgrounds will be a great life lesson for young grocery baggers.
Grocery store workers traditionally earn a minimum wage salary.
Host or hostess
Teens as young as 14 can work as a host or hostess for a more upscale restaurant. Typically, a host/hostess merely welcome to patrons and seats them.
This is another great job for learning how to work with the public. Again, I host or hostess may encounter people from all walks of life as they work at this job.
They may meet people who are very kind and who are appreciative of their help, but they may also meet some people who do not treat restaurant staff with very much dignity.
Again, this is a great life lesson on dealing with difficult people. Restaurant crew members typically make minimum wage.
Floral Arranging/Assisting a Florist
Young teens with a knack for creativity can learn how to arrange flowers and work alongside a professional florist.
Bonus points for learning how to answer the phone and take orders in addition to decorating duties.
Bottom Line: minimum wage is the standard for a job such as this, but some florists may pay $5 - $7 per hour.
Movie theater worker
Mini cinemas will allow chains aged 14 and 15 to work as ushers and concession stand attendance.
Because the law typically allows for no more than 18 hours per work week, the hours of a movie theater are perfectly conducive to this type of work.
Some movie theaters are locally owned, and because they may know 18’s family, they may be more apt to allow them a flexible working schedule.
Bottom Line: this works well for teens who are in school. Movie theater workers may make $5 per hour up to minimum wage.
Youth league Referee or Umpire
Younger teens who are too old to still play Little League sports but not yet old enough for varsity or athletics can still be a part of sporting activities.
Many years later 14 and 15-year-old individuals to work as baseball umpires, softball umpire’s, or as referees for soccer games.
All those soccer is played in the fall, working for the youth league as an umpire for either baseball or softball is a great summer job that does not demand a great number of a child hours in order to complete.
Bottom Line: this is one of the better paying jobs for teens at a rate of $25 - $50 per game.
Online Web Design
You might be surprised to learn that you don’t necessarily need a degree in computer technology to create a website!
A text savvy team can be higher to get a website up and running, all from the comfort of home.
This is yet another example of a job that does not demand many hours from a young teen, but the job allows for decent pay at a limited amount of effort.
Plus, if you are interested in web design, you might not even view this job as actual work. It will be fun that you are getting paid to have.
There is not a definitive salary for online web designers; most clients pay based on the experience of the designer.
Online Creative Writing
Although many freelance writing positions do require applicants to have a bachelors degree, there are some websites that allow for individuals who are simply good riders to take writing jobs.
The pay is also often more than 18 would make doing manual labor search as mowing lawns or washing cars for a lot less effort.
If you’re not too keen on riding for a content meal website, you can always write a short story or poem and submit it for possible paid publication.
Bottom Line: again, freelancer's pay is determined by many factors, but most blogs pay %5 - $30 per article. Some freelancers are paid per word; they may make two cents to five cents per word.
Snow shoveling
Speaking of manual labor, young teens who want to earn some extra cash while enjoying the great outdoors can always do a little snow shoveling.
Approach an older neighbor that might not be too keen on shoveling his or her own snow, and offer your services.
You’d be surprised how many adults will gladly allow an able-bodied young teen to help in this endeavor.
You might also contact the adult children of elderly neighbors. These adult children might pay you to come and shovel the sidewalk and walkways of their parents so that they will not have to take time out of their own busy schedules to make sure this chore is done.
The pay for this job is often at the discretion of the property owner, but young entrepreneurs are encouraged to negotiate for higher pay.
Pool Cleaner
Again, this form of manual labor is one jar that many adults will gladly pay someone to do for them! At the beginning of the summer, visit trusted neighbors with a pool and offer your services.
You could have a regular appointment to come by and help out! Bonus points if the homeowner will allow you to come over and swim as a part of your “Payday.“
Again, pay is typically set after negotiations between the property owner and yourself.
Swim instructor
Another great summer job for young teens involves teaching young kids to swim. You will have to have some training before taking on this job, but you can often become a certified swim instructor at the local YMCA.
Some parents of young kids may allow you to come to their homes and teach the child to swim one-on-one.
Bottom Line: swim instructors can set their own rate of pay. Many parents will pay $50 - $65 per lesson for their children to learn how to swim.
Receptionist
Young teens can do the job of a receptionist without the need for much training.
Typically, receptionist to take calls, set appointments, and forward important calls and messages to managers and business owners.
Remember, however, that teens working a job such as this can only work 18 hours per week, so, you may only be able to fill in for a receptionist on leave.
However, do not underestimate the experience even a part time or fill-in receptionist position can give you. Receptionists can make up to $10 per hour.
Shelf stocker
Again, the local grocery store is a great place to get a job for children 14 to 15 years of age.
If all bagging positions are filled, you can apply to be a shelf stocker. Your front product, and you’ll bring out freight from the warehouse to put out for sales.
Again, many locally owned grocery stores do not stay open very light, and they accommodate the school schedule of most younger employees.
That makes working as a stock person and a great option for younger teens. Most grocery store employees make minimum wage.
What Companies Hire 14 Year Olds?
- McDonald’s - Complete shift target goals in a team, take orders from customers and prepare food
- Baskin-Robbins - Prepare products to meet quality standards and operate a cash register
- Chick-fil-A - Prepare food/beverages with company recipes and clean kitchen equipment
- Culver’s - Serve customers with courtesy and prepare customer orders
- Family Express - Help manager and staff with daily store operations
- Fareway - Stock shelves, rotate merchandise or assist customers in grocery area
- Six Flags - Work as a game attendant or assist visitors with parking of their vehicles
- King Soopers - Offer respect and courtesy to customers as you help daily store operations
- Winn-Dixie - Assist guests at checkout counters with groceries to their vehicles
- Dorney Park - Prepare food for park guests and operate cash registers
What You Need to Know Before You Apply For a Job
According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), there are a few work restrictions for 14 year olds that must be met, avoided, or kept in mind which include the following.
- Can not work in hazardous, manufacturing, or mining jobs
- Can not work during school hours
- May only work 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours total in a school week
- May work 8 hours per non-school day and 40 hours per non-school week
- Work hours may be scheduled between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. only (except June 1st - Labor Day)