If you live in an American city that tourists visit, there is a side income available to you that requires no license, no vehicle, no certification and no money to start. You show visitors the version of your city that you actually live in, and they pay you by the hour.
This is a guide to whether it is worth your time. It is written by the person who built the platform, so treat the enthusiasm accordingly, but the parts that put people off are in here too, because finding those out in month three is worse than finding them out now.
Why this works particularly well in the United States
Two things are true at once in most American tourist cities, and they rarely line up this neatly anywhere else.
The first is that the tourist version of an American city is unusually narrow. Visitors to New York see midtown. Visitors to Los Angeles see Hollywood Boulevard and leave disappointed. Visitors to Las Vegas see four miles of one road. Visitors to Chicago see the Bean and a deep dish place somebody recommended. The gap between that and the city you live in is enormous, and it is entirely made of things you already know.
The second is that American cities are expensive to live in, and a few hundred dollars a month of flexible income is worth something real to a lot of people who are not looking for a career change.
There is a third thing that matters more than either. Most visitors to the United States, and most Americans visiting another American city, do not want a tour. They want somebody to have a drink with and be shown around for an afternoon. That is a different product from guiding, and it is one that ordinary people are better at than professionals.
What the job actually is
Somebody messages you. You agree a day, a rate and roughly what they want to see. You meet them somewhere public, spend a few hours walking them around, and they pay you.
There is no script, no flag and no group of forty. Most meetups are one or two people.
Three consequences, and they are why some people love this and others stop after one message:
- You meet strangers in person. You will stand on a corner waiting for somebody whose face you know from a photograph.
- It takes your weekends. Visitors are free when you are.
- You are the product. Nobody books a tour. They message you because your profile sounded like somebody worth spending an afternoon with.
If none of that appeals, there are side hustles that pay comparably and let you stay at home. This is not one of them.
What it pays
Most Local Friends set between $15 and $60 an hour and choose their own hours. Rough shapes:
- A couple of meetups a month: $200 to $500 a month
- Three or four a week: $800 to $1,500 a month
- Full time in a busy tourist city: $1,500 to $3,000 a month
These are typical ranges based on the rates Local Friends set for themselves, not a guarantee. Roavi does not book meetups for you or promise a number of travelers. What you earn depends on how many visitors your city gets and how many of them message you.
What Local Friends actually earn works through the arithmetic properly, including the cases where it comes to very little. The honest version is that a new profile in a city with few visitors can earn nothing in its first month.
Do you need a license in the US
For what is described here, no. There is no federal licensing of guides, and you are not running a formal tour operation.
Three things are genuinely worth your own check, because they vary and they are on you:
- A handful of cities have historically licensed paid guiding. New Orleans and Savannah are the names that come up most. Rules change, so check your own city rather than taking a blog's word for it.
- Federal land is regulated. National parks and areas like Red Rock outside Las Vegas require permits for commercial guiding, so anything that leaves the city is a different question from anything inside it.
- Driving people rather than walking with them has insurance implications your personal policy may not cover. Check before you offer it.
None of that applies to meeting somebody downtown and walking them around for three hours, which is what almost all of this is.
Which cities
Anywhere visitors go. The ones where this is most obviously worth trying:
- Miami, where bilingual locals have an edge that is hard to overstate
- Los Angeles, where knowing how to get around is the product
- Chicago, walkable, deeply segmented, and busy for half the year
- Las Vegas, where the gap between the Strip and the city is the widest in the country
- New York, where demand never really stops
Smaller cities work too. Fewer visitors, but far fewer people offering.
How to start
- Make a profile. A photo, a few lines, and what you are actually good for.
- Set a rate. Look at what others in your city charge and start near them.
- Say when you are free. Weekends only is a normal answer.
- Reply quickly. Somebody choosing between three people usually picks whoever answered first.
Ten minutes. The profile is the part worth the time, because it is the only thing anybody sees before deciding whether to message you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need a license to show tourists around in the US?
For informal, one-to-one showing-around there is no federal licensing and in most cities nothing to obtain. Three exceptions are worth your own check: a handful of cities have historically licensed paid guiding, federal land such as national parks requires permits for commercial guiding, and driving travelers rather than walking with them has insurance implications your personal policy may not cover.How much can you make showing tourists around a US city?
Most Local Friends set between $15 and $60 an hour and choose their own hours. A couple of meetups a month is roughly $200 to $500; three or four a week is roughly $800 to $1,500. These are typical ranges based on rates Local Friends set for themselves, not a guarantee — Roavi does not book meetups for you or promise a number of travelers.What does the job actually involve?
Someone messages you, you agree a day and a rate, you meet them somewhere public and spend a few hours walking them around your city. No script, no group, usually one or two people. It takes weekends, you meet strangers in person, and the profile is what gets you messaged.