Online jobs for 16-year-olds: what's open, by each site's own rules

At 16, federal law lets you take any job outside the hazardous list, with no limit on hours, but most of the platforms we checked start at 18. Freecash and Freelancer take you at 16, and Fiverr only through a parent's account. We read each site's own rules on October 23, 2026.

We build PaysFair, an earning app that competes with the apps below, so check their numbers yourself. PaysFair is for people 16 and over.

Which online jobs can you do at 16?

These are the age rules in each site's own terms or help pages, read October 23, 2026.

Fiverr is open to users 18 and up. At 13 to 17, its terms let you on only through an account owned by a parent or legal guardian, with their permission. Freelancer bars users under 16, and anyone who isn't able to form a legally binding contract. Survey Junkie asks members to be at least 18, and so does UserTesting for its testers.

Rules change, so check the date on any list. Scrambly moved its minimum from 16 to 18 in its terms of October 21, 2026.

Earning apps like ours. PaysFair is for people 16 and over. It pays for surveys, games and campaigns, with a gift card by email from a $1.00 smallest cash-out, and your first cash-out is checked by hand.

What does the law say about working at 16?

Sixteen is the basic minimum age for employment under federal law. The Labor Department says 16- and 17-year-olds may work unlimited hours in any job it hasn't declared hazardous. Federal law doesn't require a work permit or limit your hours at 16, though many states do, so check your state's rules too.

The federal youth rules also don't apply where there's no employment relationship. For app tasks and freelancing, each site's own terms decide who can join. Our teenager guide walks through the rules at every age from 13 to 18.

How do you get paid online at 16?

Check the payout before the work. PayPal requires you to be 18, or the age of majority in your state, to open a US account, so an app that pays only to PayPal can't pay you directly yet. Cash App lets 13- to 17-year-olds join with a parent or guardian as sponsor.

Creator pay waits too. AdSense, which pays YouTubers, accepts applicants from 18. If you're under 18, a parent or guardian can sign up for it with their own Google account.

Do you pay taxes on online income at 16?

Sometimes. The IRS says everyone, including minors, must file a return if they had net self-employment earnings of at least $400. A teen who owes tax should file their own return, even if a parent claims them as a dependent, and there's no minimum age to sign one.

Which online jobs for teens are scams?

The FTC says a job promising a lot of money in a short time for little work is almost certainly a scam. Reshipping goods is never a real job, it adds, and work-from-home scams sell starter kits, training or certifications that are useless. Its simplest rule: never pay anyone to get paid, or to get a job.

What do other guides on this leave out?

We read six guides that rank for this on October 23, 2026, and two more wouldn't load for us. Two still list Survey Junkie at 16, while its own page says 18. One says UserTesting opens some tests to 16-year-olds with a parent's consent, while UserTesting says you must be 18 to apply. Two list Amazon Mechanical Turk, which closed on September 30, 2026. Only one gives Fiverr's parent-account rule. None mentions the federal youth rules or work permits, and none names the FTC.