15 Legitimate Jobs You Can Do From Home

Updated April 18, 2024

Working from home is becoming an increasingly common career decision as it's beneficial for both employer and employee. Employers can save on costly overhead, while employees gain increased flexibility, time and convenience. While many people who work from home are hired on a freelance basis, others work can work partially or full-time remote in permanent positions.In this article, we review a list of legitimate at-home jobs to consider, their career descriptions and their average salaries.

15 legitimate at-home jobs

There are many at-home job opportunities that require different skills and levels of experience. The advent of the internet has brought with it virtualization, which means that people can now execute a lot of their work remotely. Although the requirements vary, this means that most at-home jobs require a computer and an internet connection.Here is a list of 15 legitimate work-from-home jobs, in order of lowest to highest salary:

1.Transcriptionist

Average National Salary: $13.55 per hourPrimary Duties: Transcription is an ideal job to do remotely, as clients can mail you their audio or video recordings, or you can access larger files from cloud storage. As a general transcriptionist, you will transcribe the audio and video recordings of meetings, interviews and conversations. However, if you have experience in fields such as medicine and law that feature unique terminology, you can work as a specialist transcriptionist, which will usually offer you higher pay rates.While working as a transcriptionist, you may want to invest in special software and equipment, such as a foot pedal, which make for easier control of recordings and improve sound quality.

2. Social Media Specialist

Average National Salary: $13.74 per hourPrimary Duties: If you know your way around various social media platforms, you might consider a career as a social media specialist. Social media specialists are the people who plan, implement and monitor social media marketing strategies for clients.These professionals collaborate with marketing, sales and product development teams; build relationships with industry professionals and influencers; stay up to date with the latest social media developments and technologies and monitor user engagement.

3. Call Center Representative

Average National Salary: $14.00 per hourPrimary Duties: Many companies employ virtual call center representatives, as they execute their duties remotely via the phone and computer. The duties of call center representatives vary, with some making outbound calls to gather client information or for telemarketing, whereas others receive incoming calls from clients who require customer service or technical support. Most companies do not require previous experience and provide on-the-job training.Related: Learn About Being a Call Center Representative

4. Virtual Health Coach

National Average Salary: $47,397 per yearPrimary Duties: A virtual health coach offers all the services that a health coach normally does, but from the convenience of home. This includes helping people reach their personal fitness and wellness goals and develop sustainable healthy habits to combat chronic disease, lose weight, reduce stress and improve energy levels.To work as a virtual health coach, you may want to sign up for a training and certification course. Although this is not a requirement, certification demonstrates that you have the knowledge and experience to provide professional services.

5. Virtual Assistant

National Average Salary: $40,842 per yearPrimary Duties: A virtual assistant is a professional who provides remote administrative—and sometimes also technical—services for a company. Although virtual assistants are mostly generalists who can work for any company, some professionals work within a specific industry such as medicine or IT. Although duties vary from company to company, virtual assistants typically provide administrative support, such as email correspondence, travel and accommodation bookings, scheduling, data entry and social media management.

6. Virtual Bookkeeper

Average National Salary: $17.73 per hourPrimary Duties: Bookkeeping is another job that one can easily do from a remote location, as clients simply need to grant you access to their accounting software. The responsibilities of a virtual bookkeeper are exactly the same as for an in-house bookkeeper. They involve overseeing a company's financial data and compliance. Daily duties include posting financial transactions, reviewing and updating statements, reconciling accounts and managing the payroll. Some bookkeepers also assist with human resources issues like compliance and workers' compensation filings.Related: Learn About Being a Bookkeeper

7. Graphic Designer

Average National Salary: $17.74 per hourPrimary Duties: Graphic designers can easily work from home, as they can communicate via mail or phone with their clients. Occasionally, however, their work may entail meeting with clients to discuss their needs, brainstorm ideas and present designs.Working from home means that you will need the necessary software to create inspiring and original visual images for your clients. The work entails the overall layout and production design for logos, websites, brochures, advertisements and magazines. You will also likely be responsible for deciding on things like the font, color, size of text and what images should go together.Related: Learn About Being a Graphic Designer

8. Online English Teacher

National Average Salary: $46,335 per yearPrimary Duties: If you enjoy teaching but would like to do so from the comfort of your home, teaching English online is a great option. You can choose from different kinds of online teaching, which could range from teaching a class of school children to one-on-one conversational lessons to teaching professionals business English. Most online-teaching companies provide some form of training, as well as the necessary software.

9. Virtual Travel Agent

Average National Salary: $44,050 per yearPrimary Duties: As a virtual travel agent, you take care of all the travel requirements of your clients. This may include booking the most affordable domestic and international flights at the most convenient times, advising on the best accommodation options, making bookings, managing travel insurance on behalf of the client and taking care of other travel arrangements like car rentals.You can also advise your clients on sites and tours they can consider at their various destinations. As clients may face challenges while traveling, such as missing flights, or may wish to change arrangements before or during their trips, you need to available to assist with such issues when needed.Related: Learn About Being a Travel Agent

10. Illustrator

Average National Salary: $43,960 per yearPrimary Duties: Where graphic designers use software programs for their designs, illustrators use a combination of drawing, painting, sketching and photography to create their illustrations. In addition, illustrators typically focus on illustrations exclusively and do not get involved with the other aspects of the visual design, such as layout.Although you may need to drop off illustrations with clients or meet with them from time to time, you can easily work as an illustrator from home. As is the case with graphic designers, illustrators create innovative visual images for a wide range of products.

11. Medical Coder

Average National Salary: $23.34 per hourPrimary Duties: Medical coding professionals take diagnoses, prescriptions, services, procedures and supplies and turn them into universal medical alphanumeric codes for healthcare billing purposes. Their work entails abstracting all relevant information from documentation, assigning the appropriate codes and then creating a health insurance claim.Medical coders often do their work remotely and can work for a wide range of employers, such as healthcare information management companies, health insurance providers, hospitals, outpatient facilities, doctor's offices and clinics.Related: Learn About Being a Medical Coder

12. Writer

National Average Salary: $57,379 per yearPrimary Duties: The internet has brought with it a lot of opportunities for freelance writers, including copywriting, technical writing, ghostwriting and article writing. Many writers are generalists who write about any topic that a client provides, whereas others—such as technical or academic writers—have in-depth knowledge of a specific topic or in a specialized field.

13. Online Nursing Tutor

National Average Salary:$39,217 per yearPrimary Duties: If you are a nursing professional with teaching and clinical experience, you could work as an online nursing tutor. Doing so typically involves joining a company that offers online tutoring services to nursing students in a wide range of relevant subjects, such as oncology, health administration, pharmacology, pediatrics and medical-surgical nursing. Students book tutors for training sessions, which often take place by means of virtual classroom software that the company provides.

14. Content Strategist

Average National Salary: $61,771 per yearPrimary Duties: As a content strategist, you assist brands in developing content that resonates with their target audience. The work involves creating clear and innovative content and distributing it across multiple platforms, including mobile and social media platforms. To do their work well, these professionals must understand how best to adapt content to different platforms, and they need to monitor customer engagement to streamline campaigns. Content strategists can also benefit from the ability to produce video.

15. Web Developer

Average National Salary: $72,350 per yearPrimary Duties: If you have HTML and JavaScript skills and the necessary software, you could be a freelance web developer. According to statistics, there is a huge shortage of web developers worldwide so you should have no problems finding regular work, especially once you start gaining experience and grow your portfolio. The fact that different projects require different levels of experience also means that there are jobs available for beginners as well.Developing websites to a client's specifications involves creating sketches of the overall feel and design of a page, sending the client draft websites and applying changes as per the client's requests. The best way to find freelance work and build a name for yourself is to create your own website where you can showcase your portfolio.Related: Learn About Being a Web Developer