Christmas Light Installers Are the Holiday Side Hustle to Watch

The best-paying holiday job this year might not come from a retailer at all. While big-box stores quietly scale back their seasonal hiring, companies hiring a christmas light installer are staffing up right now for their busiest weeks of the year. The work is physical and happens mostly on rooftops in cold weather, but the paychecks explain why crews fill up fast.

The context is a retail seasonal hiring slump that keeps getting worse. Challenger, Gray and Christmas projected that retailers would add about four hundred fifty thousand seasonal workers in the final quarter of 2026, according to coverage by Self Employed, which would be the weakest holiday hiring gain since the two thousand eight financial crisis. That forecast sits below the four hundred sixty-one thousand five hundred jobs added last year, itself down fifteen percent from the five hundred forty-three thousand one hundred added the year before. TheStreet reported that Dick's Sporting Goods and Foot Locker are hiring more than eleven thousand seasonal workers between them, while Macy's scheduled hiring events for October twenty-second and November nineteenth, according to the publication's 2026 holiday hiring roundup. With fewer store-floor jobs to go around, seasonal work that hires through October instead of August is worth a serious look.

What a christmas light installer earns

A Tennessee company called Humbug Holiday Lighting is advertising target earnings of twenty-five to thirty-five dollars an hour through its production pay system, according to its current 2026 job posting. The company says its top performers often earn up to two thousand dollars a week during peak season, plus a five hundred dollar end-of-season bonus for crew members who stay through late January. The season begins in early October, with the busiest installation stretch running from the end of the month through mid-December and takedowns continuing into the new year.

Brite Nites, a national lighting company hiring for its 2026 season, lists pay between one thousand and sixteen hundred dollars a week depending on experience and role, according to its careers posting. The company says no prior experience is necessary because training is provided, though any christmas light installer should be comfortable spending long days outdoors on ladders and roofs.

Regional operators are posting similar numbers as companies compete for every christmas light installer they can find. Patriot Illumination in North Carolina is offering starting pay around twenty dollars an hour with end-of-season bonuses and tips, and says outright that no experience is necessary. Polar Bear Lighting in Los Angeles lists rates from eighteen dollars an hour for seasonal installers working a season that runs from early October through mid-January, with training included, according to the company's careers page.

The math behind the demand

Homeowners keep spending more on their holiday displays every year, which keeps demand for a christmas light installer growing. The United States holiday decoration market brings in more than six billion dollars annually, and about sixty-five percent of homeowners decorate the exterior of their homes for the holidays, according to SideQuest Hustle's 2026 installation guide. A typical residential installation pays three hundred to six hundred dollars for a few hours of work, which is why companies can afford strong hourly rates during a compressed season.

That compressed season is exactly what makes the economics work for workers. Instead of a long part-time stretch at a store, installers work an intense few months: long days in October and November, a frenetic December, then paid takedown work in January. Several companies pay overtime at time and a half and offer production-based bonuses on top of hourly pay, so motivated crew members can stack a serious amount of holiday income in one season.

The barrier to entry for a christmas light installer is lower than the pay suggests. Most listings ask for the same short list of qualifications: be at least eighteen or twenty-one, hold a valid driver's license, be comfortable on ladders and rooftops, and be able to handle physical outdoor work in winter weather. Companies supply the uniforms, vehicles, professional ladders, and equipment. No special license is required for the work in most states, though some employers mention that general contractor rules can apply to certain installation work.

How to land a spot this season

Timing matters more than the resume. Companies begin posting in August and September, start training in early October, and hit peak installation from late October onward. Searching for local holiday lighting companies on job boards and applying before Halloween gives the best shot at the full season, since many crews set their rosters before the busiest weeks begin.

Workers should read the fine print before signing on. The days run long, often ten hours or more during peak periods, weekends are common, and Thanksgiving week is typically the only guaranteed stretch off until January. The work happens outdoors in rain and cold, and comfort with heights is non-negotiable. For anyone who can handle those trade-offs, though, this is one of the few seasonal jobs left where a christmas light installer can out-earn a full season on the retail floor, the weakest hiring outlook in nearly two decades.