Have you ever dreamed of earning money while you sleep? That’s the power of passive income.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 20% of American households earn passive income through dividends, interest or rental properties, with a median of $4,200 per year. It’s likely that number will only increase with the influx of passive income apps, investing platforms and creator-friendly marketplaces. 

But keep in mind that building passive income isn’t about getting rich overnight—it’s about setting up systems that continue paying you long after the work is done.

Whether you want extra cash for travel, savings or just peace of mind, these passive income ideas for 2026 can help you earn on your own terms.

💰 Looking to make even more money? Give your free time a raise with KashKick. Earn while you play games, take surveys, and try out products and services. As soon as you get $10, you can cash out through PayPal. It’s not completely passive—but it is easy to do while you’re sitting on the couch!

What Is Passive Income?

Passive income is money earned with limited ongoing effort after the initial setup. Unlike a traditional job or active income where you trade hours for dollars, passive income works for you around the clock.

That doesn’t mean it’s completely hands-off. Most passive income streams require time, creativity or money upfront—and occasional maintenance along the way. But once established, it can generate income while you’re sleeping, traveling or focusing on other priorities.

Examples of passive income include rental earnings, dividend investing, digital product sales, affiliate commissions and interest from lending platforms. The key difference is that your earnings aren’t tied directly to how many hours you work each day.

Now, let’s explore some of the best passive income ideas for 2026.

1. Rental Income from Real Estate

Did you know you can earn money from properties even if you don’t own any?

Rental income is one of the most popular passive income streams, but traditionally it meant purchasing property and renting it out to tenants. Now, with modern short-term rental platforms, you don’t have to own a full investment property to get started.

Sharing platforms, like Airbnb and VRBO, let you connect with travelers to make money from a spare room, leased space or your entire home while you’re away.

There are also investing apps that let you invest in shares of rental properties. For example, with Ark7 you can start investing in real estate across the U.S.—from a single-family home in Dallas to a multifamily home in Seattle—with as little as $20. If you sign up through KashKick and purchase your first share of $100 or more, you can get a $40 reward!

Tips to Get Started

• Research the market: Do you already live in a high-demand area? Research the local short-term rental rates to see how much you could charge for the space you have available. If you’re looking to rent or buy a property specifically to rent out, look for locations that attract visitors for tourism, sports or universities, for example.
• Understand property management: Study how others manage their short-term rentals—how do they screen visitors, handle maintenance and keep the place clean?
• Calculate your expenses: Before setting your rental price, factor in all of your costs: rent or mortgage payments, property taxes, maintenance, cleaning and platform listing fees.
• List on rental platforms: Create appealing listings. Highlight unique features of the property, include high-quality photos and set competitive prices based on similar rentals in your area.

You don’t have to be a seasoned investor to make money off of short-term rentals. Rental income offers a flexible way to make your biggest asset work for you.

2. Dividend-Paying Stocks

If you’ve got some capital to start with, you could create an easy passive income stream by buying dividend-paying stocks.

Have you ever wanted to own a piece of your favorite company? That’s what investing in stocks lets you do! Dividend stocks, in particular, are shares of a company that pay out a portion of their profits regularly (usually each quarter). Think of it as a thank-you gift from the company for being a loyal shareholder!

With investing apps like Webull and Public, you don’t even have to have a lot of money to get started with dividend stocks. You can buy “fractional shares,” or pieces of a stock, in any company and earn a proportionate share of dividend income. As with any investing, the more money you start with, the more income you’ll have the potential to generate down the line. 

Check out these best investment apps for beginners if you’re just getting started. One fun option? Grifin. Let’s say you grab a latte from Starbucks. It’ll invest $1 in Starbucks stock for you. Place an order on Amazon? That’s $1 in Amazon stock. Even better, when you subscribe and make your first investment through KashKick, you’ll get a $5 reward.

Tips to Get Started

• Research high-yield dividend stocks: Look for companies with a history of paying consistent and increasing dividends—a strong history increases your chances that investments will continue to pay off in the future.
• Diversify your portfolio: Spread your investments across various sectors to minimize risk.
• Use a dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP): Work with a broker or use a platform that automatically reinvests your dividends to buy more shares. Though this stops you from receiving cash income now, it lets your wealth grow passively over time.
• Stay informed: Work with a financial planner or use a robo-advisor to keep an eye on market trends and direct your funds to meet your investment and income goals.

Investing in dividend-paying stocks is a way to kickstart not only earning passive income but also saving for the long term without putting too much pressure on your current funds.

3. Peer-to-Peer Lending

Why should banks have all the fun? You can use your cash to lend to others and earn some money in return. Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms connect borrowers with individual investors, so you can earn passive income from sharing your resources!

The popular peer-to-peer platform Prosper lets you invest as little as $25 in portions of loans for individuals and small businesses of your choosing. You can earn your portion of loan interest as cash or have it automatically reinvested into new loans.

Through the newer social lending platform SoLo Funds, you can help out borrowers who need help with small costs, like paying a bill. Borrowers offer a “tip” in return, so you can choose loans to fund based on the money you have available and what you want to earn.

Tips to Get Started

• Review borrower profiles: Platforms let you see unique scores for borrowers, so you know how reliably they repay loans on the platform.
• Diversify your loans: Spread your investments across multiple borrowers to avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket.
• Start small: Begin with a small amount, and gradually increase your investments as you become more comfortable choosing loans to fund.

If you have cash to invest, P2P lending might benefit you. Why not earn passive income while helping folks get the funds they need?

4. Create and Sell Digital Products

Create it once, and sell it forever! When you get it right, a digital product can be the ultimate money-making machine.

Digital products can be anything from ebooks and online courses to stock photos and printable worksheets. Once you make it and set up your marketing, you can sell a single digital product over and over without the work of creating it again and again.

Tips to Get Started

• Identify your niche: Find a topic or area you’re passionate about, ideally one where you’re already knowledgeable or very interested in learning more.
• Build a loyal audience: Before launching a product, connect with an audience by sharing your expertise through an email list, social media or a blog.
• Create high-quality content: Listen to your audience to create a product that answers their questions or meets a need they have. Digital products are relatively low-cost to create, but you have to invest time and might have to pay for one-time services like design or editing.
• Choose a platform: List your product on your own website, in an email newsletter, or use a platform like Etsy, Gumroad, Patreon or Substack to sell it.
• Market your product: Spread the word to your existing audience and ask them to share it with their friends. Reach new buyers through social media, guest blogging, media appearances and online ads.

Digital products are a fun way to turn your passions into profit!

5. Affiliate Marketing

Are you already connecting with tons of people online every day? Turn your online activity into income through affiliate marketing!

Affiliate marketing lets you earn a commission when you promote a product to your audience through a referral link. It’s an excellent way to turn a blog, newsletter or social media account from a hobby into income.

Tips to Get Started

• Build your online presence: If you don’t already have a strong social media following or email list, identify a niche and start building one so you have someone to promote affiliate products to.
• Choose the right programs: Based on your niche and what your audience responds to, choose affiliate products you know they’ll love. You’ll turn them off quickly if you promote too many products that aren’t a fit—but you can make easy sales if you use a referral link to something they already want to buy. The best place to start is to look for affiliate programs for products and brands you already use.
• Create engaging content: Write reviews and tutorials that naturally incorporate affiliate products. Your audience should enjoy the content whether they buy the product or not; it shouldn’t feel like a TV commercial.
• Track your performance: Use analytics tools to monitor your sales so you know what your audience likes to buy and what yields the best income for you.

Affiliate marketing requires some ongoing work if you want to significantly grow your income or build an online business out of it. But, just like with digital products, if you can set up a few sales pages and a marketing plan that draws an audience in automatically, you can sit back and earn some extra money from your online presence while you sleep.

Relax and Earn Passive Income in 2026

Passive income is about freedom, flexibility, and building systems that work for you.

Whether you’re investing, creating products, renting space or building digital assets, these passive income ideas for 2026 help you earn beyond the limits of a traditional paycheck.

Start with one idea, scale over time and let your money—and creativity—do more of the work.