With multiple expansions and game packs, Sims 4 now has over a dozen careers that players can choose to bring in money and give their sims a purpose in their digital lives. Each career has a set path of progression for promotion, typically culminating in a high-level job that brings in lots of money, helpful bonuses, and in some cases access to additional skills and abilities outside of work.
Though any job is helpful for paying the bills and making sims happy, there are some jobs that are a lot more beneficial than others.
Updated By Benjamin Baker On February 10th 2020: With the number of updates and DLC that have released since this article was first written, it seemed appropriate to go back and revisit the career options in Sims 4. Honestly, not much has changed in the top 10 spots, but there have been some upsets at lower levels. If you’ve exhausted the best options on recent playthroughs and want to try something different, here are some other careers you should definitely take a look at.
15 Secret Agent
This career path has you living the double life, dealing in spycraft and national secrets. There are two paths two follow, the goodie two-shoes Diamond Agent route or the darker Villain route. Diamond Agents are nice as they only work three days a week and make $4,260, but they put in 15 hours a day.
Villains on the other hand make a slightly higher $4,260, but must work five hours a day five days a week. It’s not a particularly hard career path to get into, and the money is decent, which is why it makes the list.
14 Social Media
Social Media stars have an interesting career path, Internet Personality is by far the best route and most profitable, but they make a measly $6,480 a week. But at times this can be one of the most profitable career paths thanks to your ability to gain followers and advertise products.
Depending on the size of your follower base you can make a couple thousand dollars with very little effort. The reason this doesn’t rank higher is that it’s a long road to getting to rank 10 in this career, and every time you push a product you lose followers – it gets annoying regaining them.
13 Actor/Actress
A life of glamour in the spotlight can be lucrative, but not nearly as lucrative as the real-world equivalent would be. For starters you only make money after you audition for a gig, get hired, and do the work. From audition to payday takes three days, meaning you can really only do two gigs a week if you’re very efficient.
This does mean you can earn $19,600 at peak efficiency and you have the flexibility to create your own schedule. It’s recommended when you have lots of fame to launch a lifestyle brand as it’ll generate a bit of daily revenue, which is nice when you’re between gigs.
12 Conservationist
This career was added into the game via the Island Living expansion last year. The most profitable route is the Environmental Manager which works six hours a day, five days a week, and earns a decent $10,080.
In addition to decent pay and a standard workload you can spend your free time working on documentaries and submitting grant applications that can bring in some residual income on top of your salary. If you’re looking for stability and some nice side income this is a great career.
11 Tech Guru
At first glance being a Tech Guru seems like an awful career choice. At the highest rank as an eSports Gamer you only make $7,872 working four days a week. But the key to this career lies in Livestreaming.
With enough followers you can make a ton of money doing livestreams. Granted there is a significant cooldown between livestreams and you have to participate in a number of tournaments to keep your follower base up, but it’s a very profitable career if you put in the time and effort.
10 Style Influencer
Style Influencers are sims who have a passion for fashion and thrive on critiquing others’ appearances and setting trends. The Stylist branch, in particular, is one of the best money makers in the game, generating a cool $15,000, working five days a week for five hours a day. They can also publish fashion articles for additional cash.
The reason it ranks so low is because there is a lot of micromanagement involved in dressing up other sims and starting trends that not all players enjoy. Some may absolutely love this control, but many don’t and many don’t even care what other sims look like.
9 Military
Serving your country can earn serious bucks in Sims 4. In fact, it’s the highest paid job in the game, earning a whopping $16,880 a week. That being said, it does require working eight hours a day for five days a week.
The perks are also kind of lame; sure, the medals on the wall look nice, but it pales in comparison to other bonuses. Depending on the career path you choose, you’re either putting in your forty hours during the day or at night depending on your personal preference, so there is that.
8 Culinary
The chef path is the higher earner, bringing in $9,840 for six hours a day four hours a day, though you will be working afternoons on the weekend.
The reason it ranks a little higher is because there are very helpful appliances and cooking skills that come with being a chef, and the mixologist branch teaches your sim to mix drinks which is helpful for mood bonuses. Both can sell their creations for a profit or personal benefit.
7 Criminal
While crime doesn’t pay in the real world, it certainly does in Sims 4. Becoming the boss of a crime ring pays the fourth-highest salary in the game, $12,460 a week working seven hours a day four days a week. It also provides the biggest cash bonus for promotion in the game at $8,039.
Being a boss also gives you the work event to rob bank vaults, which nets a hefty windfall. For those who pursue the oracle path, hacking is a very profitable skill, and they’ll gain access to Hack Mainframe, the best computer in the game.
6 Painter
At first, it seems like becoming a painter is living the life of a starving artist. Painters at the highest level earn a measly $4,920 a week, but they only work 5 hours a day for two days, so there’s a lot of free time. Painters will want to use that abundance of free time to make their own paintings which is where the real money comes in.
Large paintings go for a few hundred, easily earning back the $100 it cost to make them and, very rarely you’ll craft a masterpiece that will sell to the art gallery for thousands. Kept paintings also serve to decorate the home and improve a sim’s mood.
5 Astronaut
Being a space traveler earns big bucks, especially if you go the Harrison Ford route with the interstellar smuggler branch. The third highest paying job in the game brings in $14,868 working nine hours a day four days a week.
It also grants access to the retro rocket which can be used to travel to space and bring back valuable items like space rocks and aliens. The reason this job doesn’t rank higher is because it is very hard to get promoted when your sim is constantly depressed from all the long hours this career path has.
4 Business
If you want to make money, you go where the money is, and that means getting a career in business. Following the investor path earns a cool $12,992 per week working eight hours a day four days a week.
Not only does the Investor path earn a good deal, but it also grants access to the ability to invest your sim’s money in the stock market. This has the potential to earn back up to 250% or 2.5 times the value of your investment. You can invest, every 48 hours, up to $5,000 , which means it’s possible to earn a whopping return of $12,500 three to four times a week! But you could also see the investment go sour and only get back 20% or $1,000.
3 Writer
The author branch for writers can yield some serious money. The career itself is peanuts, your sim earns $5,580 a week, but, similar to the painter, only works six hours a day for two days a week. That free time is then spent writing books which can generate lucrative residual income.
A bestseller will take about four in-game hours to write and can bring in anywhere from $200-800 per day for 20 days. If you have, say, 10 bestsellers published, your sim is going to earn at least $4,000 a day! Even 10 normal books, the lowest quality, earning $10 each will still generate $100 a day whether your sim works that day or not. There’s also the interesting perk of being able to immortalize sims by writing a book about them that when read will bring them back to life.
2 Gardener
The gardener earns an impressive $14,700 a week working seven hours a day five days a week, though you can work at home. Botanists have events that can earn more than $1,500 for two hours of work and apply for research grants for a nice windfall. The Florist, on the other hand, has a higher salary and can run a floral shop for some hefty profits.
The perks of gardening far outweigh the money, however. The Gardener gains access to plants that can do all kinds of things like bribe the grim reaper to avoid death, produce cowplant milk that adds a couple days to the sim’s life span, turn into a PlantSim, sell whatever you grow for potentially hefty profits or stock it in the fridge to never buy food again, and even money trees that literally grow money.
1 Scientist
This is the best and most fun career path in Sims 4 for all the perks and fun toys it yields. Salary wise, it’s a solid $11,115 a week, but does require nine hours of work five days a week.
Your sim will get access to a SimRay that can transform items into different items that can be worth more and sold at a profit. It can also enslave other sims to clean for you. The satellite dish can make the entire neighborhood happy or start a dance party. The cloning machine can be used to give you minions.
By far the best perk for scientists are the serums that can satisfy hunger, lose weight, cure sickness, resolve all needs, give energy, boost moods, cheat death, gain alien powers, and even turn back the clock on a sim’s age.
