What Happened

A Cash App study reported a sharp rise in Americans earning money from more than one source, with freelance, contract, side-business and multiple-job income all part of the trend. Cash App is backed by Block Inc., the company behind the app. The number of Americans with multiple income streams is now 51 million, compared with 41 million two years ago.

Measured from 2024, the number of people generating independent income alongside traditional earnings rose 30%. The work described includes freelancing, entrepreneurship, content creation, side businesses and multiple jobs. Within Cash App's customer base, 57% generate income through various means rather than relying only on one conventional pay stream.

The generational skew is a central part of the report. Gen Z, defined as those born between 1997 and 2012, accounts for 44% of modern earners. The article identifies Gen Z as leading the rise in multiple-income work. It frames younger workers as placing greater value on flexibility in how they earn.

One quoted line summarized the shift this way: “Younger generations are opting for more flexibility.” The same quote added that this means “the shape of the labour market has changed.” The practical change described is not only that more people are taking on extra work, but that independent income is increasingly being combined with traditional earnings.

Why It Matters

For Greater Vancouver real-estate readers, the useful signal is not that U.S. side hustles directly set local home prices. The signal is that household income is becoming less linear. Buyers, renters and investors increasingly have to think about income quality, documentation and stability, not just the headline amount a household says it earns.

That matters because housing decisions are still filtered through formal systems: mortgage qualification, rental applications, strata affordability, debt servicing, insurance and tax records. A household with a salary plus freelance or side-business income may feel more capable of carrying housing costs, but lenders and landlords often care about how regular, provable and durable that income is. The rise from 41 million to 51 million people with multiple income streams points to a broader behavioural shift: more earners are trying to patch together flexibility, resilience or upside through several channels.

For Gen Z, the issue is especially relevant. If younger earners are a large part of the modern-earning cohort and are more likely to use multiple income streams, then first-time buyer planning may become more complex. A buyer may have more income sources than a previous generation, but also more variability in how that income appears on paper.

Local Vancouver / Burnaby Context

BurnabyHouse readers should view this as an income-structure story rather than a direct U.S.-to-Vancouver market forecast. In Burnaby, Vancouver and the wider Greater Vancouver market, the practical housing question is often whether a household can show stable income, pass financing tests, compete for rental housing, and keep carrying costs manageable. Multiple-income work can help a household build a down payment or absorb monthly costs, but it can also create friction if income is irregular, recently started or difficult to verify.

Local context also sits inside a supply-focused provincial policy environment, including tools such as the BC Housing Supply Act. That matters because income-side adaptation and housing-supply policy are two separate levers. More people taking on side work may help some households cope with high costs, but it does not by itself create more homes, shorten approvals, lower construction costs or resolve land constraints.

For Vancouver and Burnaby buyers, the more immediate lesson is behavioural. Younger households may be more comfortable with flexible work, online earnings, contract income or small-business income than older cohorts. That can support demand at the margin, especially for households that successfully document their earnings. But it can also widen the gap between perceived affordability and lender-recognized affordability.

For sellers and landlords, this shift suggests that income review may become more nuanced. A strong applicant may not look like a single employer, single paycheque profile. The better question becomes whether the income is recurring, taxable, documented and likely to continue.