Get Paid to Show Tourists Around Your City (2026)

If you've ever thought "I could get paid for this" while giving a friend-of-a-friend a tour of your own city, you're not wrong. There's a real, fast-growing side hustle built around exactly that: locals getting paid to show travelers around the places they already know inside and out. No tour bus, no script, no uniform.

This isn't some obscure gig either. A 2023 GetYourGuide study found that 51% of travelers say experiencing a destination "like a local" is a high priority when they travel. People are actively looking for someone who isn't reading off a laminated card. That demand is exactly what's turned "local guide" into a legitimate side income for regular people in regular American cities.

Yes, You Can Get Paid to Show People Around Your City

The pitch is simple: a traveler lands in your city, wants to see it the way someone who actually lives there would, and doesn't want to book a 40-person bus tour to do it. You message with them, figure out what they're into, agree on a plan and a rate, and meet up. That's the whole transaction.

It's not an MLM, it's not "be your own boss and buy our starter kit," and it's not a scam dressed up as a side hustle. It's closer to freelancing than anything else, you set a rate for your time and local knowledge, and travelers pay it because it's worth more to them than a generic tour.

You don't need a business license, a tour guide certification, or any kind of formal training. You need to actually know your city and be willing to spend a few hours showing someone around it.

How Much Can You Make as a Local Guide?

Rates vary by city and by what you're offering, but $20 to $50 an hour is a realistic range for local guides in the US. A guide in a smaller city with less foot traffic from tourists might sit toward the lower end; someone in a major tourist destination with a specific niche (food, nightlife, art, history) can push toward the higher end.

To put that in perspective against other side hustles people compare it to:

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The pay is comparable to (often better than) rideshare or delivery work, but the experience is completely different. You're not burning gas or sitting in traffic, you're doing something a lot closer to hanging out, just with a plan and a paycheck attached.

Should you expect this to replace a full-time job? For most people, no, not right away. Think of it as genuinely good supplemental income: a few meetups a month can realistically add a few hundred extra dollars, and guides who build a steady flow of travelers (through good reviews, an active profile, and repeat referrals) can push it further from there.

The Best Platforms to Get Started

There are a handful of platforms where you can actually get discovered by travelers looking for a local guide. Here's how they stack up, starting with the one built specifically for this.

Roavi is built around exactly this kind of casual, local-guide side hustle, not formal tours. Some of what makes it worth starting with:

• No license or certification required, ever
• It's not a "tour," there's no script or fixed itinerary to design, you just show someone your city
• You set your own hourly rate and your own schedule
• Free to join and get listed, full stop
• No commission, ever, on what you earn from travelers
• There's an optional $9.99/month Verified Local badge for extra trust and visibility, but it's not required to start earning

You build a profile, list what you love doing in your city, and travelers message you directly. Sign up as a Local Friend on Roavi and you can have a profile live the same day.

Airbnb Experiences is more formal. You're expected to design a structured "experience" with a defined start time, activity, and flow, more like building a mini business than casually showing someone around. Airbnb also takes roughly a 20% commission off what you earn, which eats into the hourly rate pretty fast.

ToursByLocals leans professional. Many cities require actual tour guide experience or local licensing before you're approved, which shuts the door on this being a casual side hustle for a lot of people.

RentAFriend covers more than just tourism, think local companionship for all kinds of activities, not just city tours, and it comes with a mixed reputation. Its posted minimum is around $10/hr, which feels low compared to what local guides can earn elsewhere.

ShowAround is a smaller, more niche platform for local guides. It works, but with less traveler traffic than bigger platforms, it can be harder to get consistent messages.

If you want a deeper breakdown of how these platforms compare feature-by-feature, see our full platform comparison. And if you're weighing whether this fits better than a more traditional guiding gig, read about the tour guide side hustle too.

What Makes Roavi Different

The core difference comes down to one word: you're not a "tour guide" on Roavi, you're a Local Friend. That distinction matters more than it sounds.

A tour guide follows a script, sticks to a route, and is expected to perform a certain kind of polished, rehearsed experience. A Local Friend just hangs out with a traveler and shows them the real version of their city, the coffee shop only locals know about, the neighborhood that doesn't show up in guidebooks, the best late-night food spot.

There's no license needed, no fixed itinerary to submit for approval, and no formal training. Joining is free, and there's never a commission taken out of what you earn from meeting up with travelers. You set your own price per hour and decide when you're available. The only thing Roavi charges for, ever, is optional: a $9.99/month Verified Local badge some guides choose to add for extra trust and visibility, not something you need to start earning.

What Cities Work Best for This Side Hustle?

Any US city that gets tourists has room for local guides. Some of the strongest markets include:

• New York City
• Miami
• Los Angeles
• Chicago
• Austin
• Nashville
• New Orleans
• San Francisco
• Denver
• San Diego

But you don't need to live in a major metro to make this work. College towns, beach towns, and cities known for their food scene all attract travelers who'd rather explore with a local than wander around with a map app open.

Roavi is also active internationally, so if you're a US-based guide with travel plans (or you're helping a friend abroad get started), it's worth knowing the platform already has real traction in cities like Bangkok and Medellín, along with growing activity in Bogotá, Santo Domingo, and Cartagena.

How to Get Started on Roavi

Getting your profile up and running takes less time than you'd think:

• Step 1: Sign up at Roavi. It's free, and there's no application fee or license check.
• Step 2: Build your profile. Add real photos, write a bio that says what you actually love about your city, not a generic tourism-brochure description.
• Step 3: Set your hourly rate and your availability. You control both, and you can adjust them any time.
• Step 4: Travelers browsing your city find your profile and message you directly to ask questions or set up a meetup.
• Step 5: Meet up, show them around, and get paid for your time.

That's the entire process. No interviews, no formal onboarding, no certification exam.

Start Getting Paid to Show People Your City

You already know your city better than any guidebook does. Turning that knowledge into a side hustle doesn't require a license, a script, or a big time commitment, just a profile, an honest bio, and a willingness to meet up and show someone around. Sign up as a Local Friend on Roavi and start turning your city knowledge into real income.