Want to provide care for kids? It’s a surprisingly profitable and versatile side hustle. You can provide care for kids by babysitting, running a daycare center or providing transportation for kids needing rides to school and sports.

Most of these side hustles require that you have at least some experience and most will demand that you pass a background check before you’re approved to provide care for kids. Otherwise, the only requirements are patience and, sometimes, a clean driving record.

Here is a breakdown of some of the best ways to provide care for kids:

Babysitting/nanny services

Urban Sitter allows sitters to post a profile, set their rates and advertise their child care services. Babysitters and nannies pay nothing. Parents, however, pay at least $100 annually to use the site. You must pass a background check to list and the site has the ability to remove your profile for any reason. Given that parents pay for the service because they imagine they’ll get better-quality babysitters, Urban Sitter has every incentive to be cautious. 

SitterCity connects sitters and nannies with families needing their help. The site charges parents, not sitters, for the matchmaking service. So there’s no downside to signing up. Sitters set their own rates, much like they do at Urban Sitter.

Bambino enlists teenagers to provide care for kids. (Most other sites require you to be age 18 or older.) It connects parents and sitters via social media, aiming to create a trusted community.

Transporting minors

Three sites allow you to provide rids for kids needing to get to and from school and after-school events. All three pay between $15 and $35 per hour. However they also are geographically limited, operating in only a relative handful of cities. On the bright side, all three sites are growing rapidly.

Zum has the largest geographic footprint, operating in seven states — California, Illinois, Washington State, Washington, D.C., Florida, Arizona and Texas. Freelancers are given information about the pay per pickup before accepting. Hourly rates generally range from $15 to $35 per hour.

HopSkipDrive operates in major cities in California, Texas, Washington, Colorado, Virginia/D.C. area, Arizona and Nevada. Terms are much like those at Zum. You’ve got to pass a background check, have a clean driving record and a late-model car. 

Kango operates only in California and Arizona. It otherwise operates like the other two sites, connecting freelancers with parents who need rides for their minor children. KidCar operates only in New York. While RubiRides is in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Launch a daycare center/preschool

Wonderschool helps you set up — or simply manage — your own daycare business. The site will help lead you through the necessary licensing, certification, administration and marketing. Then it will manage your tuition collection and scheduling for 10% of the monthly revenue.

Not interested in any of these?

Start the quiz over