Jobs With Flexible Hours and Great Hourly Rates

The pandemic didn't just show how many jobs didn't need in-office face time to meet deadlines — it made workers realize how reluctant they were to return to 9-to-5 grinds. Luckily, parents juggling young kids, people who prefer not to be shackled to a desk all day, and a growing class of digital nomads are finding plenty of job opportunities with solid hourly rates, many of which can also be done remotely. Here's a look at some of the options found with help from FlexJobs and Mother Works, with average reported wages from PayScale.com.

Are we missing any? Let us know in the comments.

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Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $17.23 
Online editors maintain internet content for organizations or individuals' websites, typically managing or working with a team of content writers and developers, brainstorming ideas and then writing or assigning content duties. Good web editors can make as much as $34.73 per hour.

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Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $17.84 
While median hourly pay is on the lower end, some tutors can make far more — $40.21 hourly — even working remotely to educate students, grade work, and provide feedback virtually. Tutors are able to choose their own teaching days and times, adding further flexibility.

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Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $18.87  
Social media platform expertise and computer proficiency is expected when overseeing marketing launches and supporting plan development. Digital marketing coordinators can make as much as $29.74 per hour, which is nothing to sneeze at for a job that also provides a great deal of flexibility.

Related: How Social Media Can Land or Lose You a Job

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $19
The schedules of people who want to see properties need to be accommodated, but this is still a top choice for people seeking flexible work, with potential earnings varying greatly by commission, and typically not by an hourly rate.

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Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $19.46 
Typical duties for a personal trainer include demonstrating exercises and routines and helping clients in their workouts. Hourly rates below $20 may seem paltry when you think of legendary celebrity trainers such as Jillian Michaels and Gunnar Peterson, but everyone has to start somewhere. Higher-paid personal trainers may make more than $53 an hour in a role noted for its flexibility (pun intended).

Related: Fitness Challenges to Keep Pace (and Your Distance) During the Pandemic

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $20.06 
An ideal opportunity for people who like working one-on-one. The upper end of the pay spectrum for this typically state-certified profession treating and sometimes diagnosing mental health problems and illnesses is around $33 per hour.

Related: Ways to Get Free or Cheap Mental Health Care

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $20.56  
A profession that saw an 85% growth in job postings between 2015 and 2018, according to FlexJobs, construction estimators work on projects from home and road construction to wastewater treatment plants, charged with determining how much to budget for a project and how much to bid for it. At the higher end of the pay scale, they can make about $43 per hour.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $20.80 
If you have a way with words and are not bent on getting rich (though top hourly rates can be around $48), working as a copywriter can be a fabulously flexible job. Many copywriters work in advertising and focus their talents on creating persuasive ad copy. Additional tasks may include researching, editing, and proofing copy. Mother Works calls it one of the easiest jobs to do from home or on a flexible schedule, and there are plenty of freelance opportunities.

Related: Hiring Managers Advice for Landing a Work-From-Home Job

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $21.38 
Web developers are a hot commodity. Many designers command as much as $44.48 hourly, even self-employed and dictating their own hours.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $22.02 
You'll need to be good at using massage to help ease patients' pain or helping them relax, sometimes helping to address stress, injuries, or promote recovery from surgery, but massage therapists can set their own schedules and working hours and can make up to more than $60 per hour.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $22.29
Tasked with ensuring that products or services meet established standards, quality assurance managers typically create quality measurements and track improvement against metrics in a variety of industries.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $22.50 
Brand strategists play a key role in helping companies identify target markets and determine the best way to engage that market. Top-end pay is closer to $76 hourly for a job that Mother Works says allows for working freelance or remotely, and choosing your own working hours.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $22.67
Development directors typically create and implement strategic plans to raise funds for organizations and may also be responsible for business development and writing grants. The high end of the hourly rate for this role tops out around $59 per hour.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $23.53 
If crunching numbers is your thing, financial analyst may be a good choice. Working flexibly but not necessarily remotely, a financial analyst studies marketplace trends, demographics, and microeconomic factors to help companies make smart investments. They may also provide advice to companies regarding issue bonds or splitting stocks.

Related: Things Work-From-Home People Don't Miss About Going to the Office

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $24.23 
Specialized mechanical engineers who can design and maintain robots and their electronic systems take these jobs, often working remotely.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $25.72
Can you spot talent a mile away? This role may be for you. A talent acquisition manager recruits potential hires and may also research hiring methods and trends. Additional duties include creating approaches to develop talent pools, assessing skills, and coordinating with leaders and managers to identify needed skills. The top end of the hourly rate is around $60.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $27.83 
If healthy eating is your passion, consider a career as a dietitian, teaching clients about nutrition, conducting evaluations of nutritional needs, and developing meal plans. Mother Works says this role can be flexible, remote or even part-time, as you choose. More experienced dieticians can earn about $38 per hour.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $28.50 
Actuaries work for insurance companies and provide analysis, identifying whether to issue an insurance policy and what premium should be charged. It's a role that involves significant statistical analysis work and reviewing data related to costs and trends. Top-end actuaries make about $77 per hour.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $29.39 
Often filled by licensed teachers or school administrators, curriculum writing involves developing and implementing techniques to improve education and educator training quality. At the top end of the pay scale, it can pay as much as $50 hourly.

Related: What Teachers Are Paid Around the World

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $30.25 
Art directors find work in a variety of mediums, from print to websites to commercials and more, coordinating concept and design efforts for promotions but delegating most work to graphic designers, photographers, and other creative types.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $30.42 
Nurses work in a variety of settings and are famous for having flexible schedules as well as for being able to command solid pay, particularly in major urban areas. This became even more true during the pandemic — and there may be more to come there. Nurses can make up to $44 hourly, and Mother Works says some nurses even work from home if they have the license required to examine or diagnose patients.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $31.15
Calling all number crunchers: FlexJobs recently named this among the top remote opportunities, with postings for accountants growing 73% between 2015 and 2018. This role involves handling accounting, tax, reporting, and auditing processes for governments, corporations, and individuals. The upper end of the hourly rate is about $67.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $31.83 
While social worker may not be the first job that springs to mind when thinking of well-paid professions, it is one of the top positions that can be done remotely. A licensed clinical social worker is a mental health care professional focused on offering psychological counseling and therapy. This job, which pays as much as $50 per hour, may also involve helping patients with such things as job placement and finding housing.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $31.74 
For coordinating various parts of a project with staff and clients, from project design to development of plans and construction documents, and ensuring that projects meet local zoning and building codes, a project architect can earn as much as $52.31 per hour — sometimes working remotely.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $31.88 
Visual designers spend their days producing visual mockups, layouts, and style guides for products and content across platforms. They may also meet with clients to identify needs, present those mockups and design concepts, and conduct design usability testing. Hourly rates can be as high as $62.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $34.13 
These workers perform statistical and analytical analyses and communicate insights and recommendations to internal and external clients, often remotely.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $34.76 
Responsible for such tasks as providing clear and effective customer support and communicating project progress, a salesforce developer typically uses knowledge of computers and electronics to improve existing software as well as developing code to boost performance. Tracking and reporting customer satisfaction to develop technical solutions to business problems may also be part of this role, which can be done remotely.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $36.19
Data scientists mine complex data and provide systems-related advice for organizations, often designing ways to incorporate vast information and working with teams of other IT professionals to manage statistical data. There's been a 78% growth in job postings for this position from 2015 to 2018, FlexJobs says, calling it one of the top jobs that can be done remotely. The job can earn as much as $69.74 hourly.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $38.83 
Marketing consultants focus on promoting a company or brand and its image, and improving market share, though within this profession there's all manner of tasks and activities, from promoting a brand on social media to writing marketing proposals and putting together brochures. Independent marketing consultants are in demand constantly, says Mother Works, and some make as much as $100 per hour.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $39.01 
Speech language pathologists work with patients having challenges with speech or processing language. Patients may also have challenges with motor or physical skills. Mother Works says this role often allows for choosing your own work hours.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $39.37 
Working with patients, providing assessments of injuries, and developing and carrying out treatment plans. Many physical therapists work for themselves, says Mother Works, building their own clientele and schedule. Hourly pay can increase over time to about $50 per hour.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $43.21 
Helping individuals, families, and even groups identify trauma and psychological issues that may be affecting their lives, a psychotherapist needs to be able to help people understand inner conflicts and process emotions, behaviors, and thought patterns. There has been a 113% growth in job postings for this position from 2015 to 2018, FlexJobs says — maybe because it now might be done remotely — and has potential to pay as much as $131 hourly.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $49.62 
Veterinarian's don't always have to work in an office; the work can take place at facilities including an animal care and control center, or a zoo, and job postings grew by 83% from 2015 to 2018, according to FlexJobs. Some of the higher paid veterinarians can earn as much as $78 hourly.

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $51.31 
A field that's shown more than 100% growth in postings between 2015 and 2018, product owners play a leadership role in organizations, typically software companies. They must understand the software being developed and be able to communicate effectively with coworkers. They also act as the manager of the product development team and help to nurture ideas and extract and retrieve information. Pay can increase to about $70 hourly.

Related: Jobs That Could Grow During a Recession

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $63.86 
Senior product designers often define user interfaces for new products, or refine existing ones. They are also industrial designers charged with developing the concepts for manufactured products, such as cars, home appliances, and toys, combining art, business, and engineering skills to make products that people use.

Related: Chief Pizza Officer, Lego Builder, and Other Jobs You Won’t Believe Exist

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $67.50
These lawyers specialize in lawsuits, representing either plaintiffs or defendants, making as much as $302 per hour.

Related: Well-Paying Jobs That Make Social Distancing Easy

Expected Starting Hourly Rate: $90.09
If you've never heard of this high-paying job, you're not alone. They serve as a coach and corporate trainer, interacting with employees on-site to ensure effective execution of corporate standards. Such coaches are typically called on to make significant improvements to motivation, skills, or social fluency in workers, and can be as paid as much as $131 per hour.

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