America’s Side Hustle Capitals – One Michigan City Features

Article courtesy of Ninja Transfers

• Atlanta, Georgia, tops the list as America’s side hustle capital with 384 average monthly searches per 100,000 residents for side hustle-related terms.
• Orlando, Florida, ranks second with 361 searches per 100,000 residents.
• The Michigan city of Grand Rapids comes in 22^nd, with 199.8 searches per 100,000 people.

With monthly Google searches for ‘side jobs’ reaching a record 279,000 in July 2025, research has revealed the U.S. cities where residents are actively seeking side-hustle opportunities.

The study by direct-to-film transfer experts Ninja Transfers analyzed search volumes for second jobs, or ‘side hustles,’ in over 170 major US cities by population, to determine where residents are most actively looking for side hustle opportunities. 80 different job titles were analyzed, including freelance writers, podcasters, and mystery shoppers, for searches that included them, such as “how to make money with [job]”, “does [job] pay well”, and “[job] gig” for every one of the last 12 months.

Michigan Findings: Side Hustle Hotspots

Grand Rapids, Michigan, ranks 22nd nationally for side hustle activity based on Google search data. Residents in Grand Rapids conduct an average of 393.3 side hustle-related searches per month, which translates to 199.8 searches per 100,000 people. The city’s population for this study was 196,908.

America’s top side-hustle cities

Atlanta recorded an average of 1,914 monthly searches for side hustle-related terms, coming out to around 384 searches per 100,000 residents, which is the highest rate in the country. The top three side hustles according to Google searches in the state are podcasting, online tutoring, and freelance tutoring…

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