The Sims 4 Careers: Fully Updated List (Unlock Every Job Track) (2024)

This post was last updated on May 1, 2024

Part of the fun of the Sims 4 is putting your Sim to work, work, work!

The Sims 4 careers add an important social element to the game. Your Sim will make important relationships with coworkers and mentors. Each career track also opens up new items and interactions which enhance gameplay. Pay starts low but increases with each promotion. However, getting a promotion can get stressful.

In this guide, we will cover the different careers available in the Sims 4, including careers only available through expansion packs.

How to Select a Career Path

When you start a new Sims 4 game, your adult sims will have the opportunity to select a career.

To select a career, choose the Business app on your Sim’s phone (which you can access at the bottom of the screen to the left of your character’s thumbnail) and select Find a Job.

You can also select Start a Career from the Career Panel found in the lower right section of the screen.

A list of potential careers will become available to your Sim. The careers will come with unique salaries, schedules, education requirements, and experiences.

Certain expansion packs unlock new career options not available through the base game.

Every Sim starts their career in an entry position. They won’t be able to get a promotion until they earn it. You will receive a reward and a higher salary every time you reach a new stage.

Once you pick a career, you can see the details of your job in the Career Panel, including your schedule, hourly rate, and performance.

Career Branches

Some of the careers in The Sims 4 begin the same but split into different career branches once you reach a certain level in your career. For example, if you choose a business career, you will eventually need to decide on working in business management or investing.

Some careers force you to pick from the two career branches after only three or four stages, while others won’t offer the career branches until the seventh stage of your career.

Not every Sims 4 career has multiple career branches. Some careers, such as the doctor career, follow one single career path.

Tips For Picking a Career for Your Sim

• Pick a career that compliments your sim’s personality traits. For example, an Outgoing Sim will do better in the politician career compared to someone with the Loner trait. However, the loner character may do well in the tech guru career track.
• Plan ahead. You may not make much in the beginning of your criminal career. However, if you stick with it, you can end up with a salary that is similar to characters in the business career or astronaut career. You should also pick character traits that will complement your future career.
• Keep your Sim happy for better performance at work. Your sim won’t perform well when experiencing negative moods, such as exhaustion, boredom, anger, or sadness.
• Create a balanced life that includes fun experiences and meaningful relationships. Make time to care for your SIm’s personal and social needs and that satisfaction will meander over into the character’s work life.
• Consider the gameplay requirements of your Sim’s career. Do you want to go to work with the Sim every day, or do you prefer an active career?

List of The Sims 4 Careers (Base Game)

These are the careers available to all Sims 4 players. Most of these careers are active careers. Active careers refer to careers that give you the option to follow the sim to work or not.

Astronaut

The astronaut career is one of the most difficult career paths you can choose for your Sim thanks to the long hours, but it’s also arguably one of the coolest.

Becoming an astronaut comes with perks. For example, while most Sims will need to pay 5000 simoleons to buy a Rocket, you’ll be able to obtain it for free as you’ll need it for work. You’ll still have to pay to assemble the ship.

Sims with the athletic aspiration can Drink Energy Juice to perk up when tired. The Active trait can also benefit an astronaut as it includes natural energy boosts.

You will develop fitness and logic skills to get a promotion. Eventually, you will also be able to develop the rocket science skill.

After seven stages, you will have the option to choose between becoming a space ranger or an interstellar smuggler.

Athlete

Sims with a passion for exercise can make a living doing what they love by becoming an athlete.

The athletic aspiration and active trait will give your athlete the energy to train.

You’ll need to develop fitness and charisma skills in order to get promoted.

After stage four, your sim will need to decide whether they want to progress as a professional athlete or a body builder.

If you choose a career as an athlete, don’t forget to take advantage of the Llama Mascot Costume. Everyone around town will love it and get into the spirit!

Business

A business career isn’t the most entertaining career path, but it’s consistently good money (and even some random bonuses).

If you can grind through the paperwork without succumbing to paperwork drudgery and boredom, you’ll make it to stage seven in your career, where you decide between business management and investing.

Sims will develop charisma and logic skills to get promoted. As you progress through your career, you’ll unlock new items and interactions, such as the executive desk and the Give Fake Investment Tips interaction.

Criminal (Boss)

Some Sims were born to be bad, and they can use their bad tendencies to make a living as a criminal.

For the criminal career, we recommend the Public Enemy aspiration or Chief of Mischief aspiration.

You will develop the mischief skill and perform mischievous interactions to get promoted. You may also need to develop the handiness skill.

After you complete stage five of your career, you’ll have the option to pursue a career as a crime boss or an oracle. As a crime boss, you will get the Duffle o’ Cash and Pick Pocket Interaction. As an oracle, you’ll unlock the best computer in the game and the Hack Mainframe computer interaction.

Culinary (Chef)

There are many opportunities for Sims who start a culinary career. You’ll develop the cooking and gourmet cooking skills to progress through stage five of your career. At this point, you’ll decide whether you want to move forward as a chef or a mixologist.

As a culinary career requires ingenuity and passion, your sim will thrive when experiencing the inspired moodlet. Sims with the Creative trait will become inspired more often than other sims.

You’ll get the option to Write a Cookbook on your computer, and you’ll unlock kitchen equipment and decorations.

Entertainer (Musician)

Some Sims thrive in front of a crowd. These Sims may want to pursue a career in entertainment. Sims with the Creative and Outgoing traits do well in the entertainer career.

Your sim will spend a lot of time developing their skills for this career path. Your Sim will need to Write Jokes and Practice Music to develop the comedy, charisma, and guitar/violin skills.

After you complete stage 4 of your career, you will decide whether to follow the musician branch or the comedian branch and develop your skills accordingly. Musicians will unlock legendary instruments and comedians can learn the Perform Comedy in Space interaction.

Painter (Master of the Real)

Some Sims gravitate toward beautiful and interesting imagery. These Sims can embrace their interest by going for a painter career.

Sims will learn the painting skill to graduate to the next stage of their career. Creative Sims will get inspired more often. When inspired, Sims will learn more quickly. After the sixth stage in your career, you will choose between the Master of the Real career track or Patron of the Arts career track.

Secret Agent (Diamond Agent)

Sims who follow the secret agent career will work an unconventional job as a covert operator. Will you be a spy for the good guys or for the bad guys?

As the novice secret agent develops their Logic and Charisma skills, they will progress through a full seven stages of their career before picking a side between two career branches: Diamond Agent and Villain. Villains will also learn the Mischief skill.

The secret agent will progress through their career faster if the secret agent can get into the Focused moodlet. Promotions will provide the secret agent with large bonuses and unlock special items. Keep in mind that the Diamond Agent career has 11 stages instead of the typical 10.

Style Influencer

One of the beautiful things about the Sims 4 is that it allows players to experiment with numerous different styles using different hairstyles, clothes, makeup, and accessories. Your Sim can embrace all of the style possibilities available by working in the style influencer career.

Develop the Writing, Photography, Painting, and Charisma skills and gain Interactions online to get promoted to stage five of your career. Choose between working in the style influencer career as a Stylist or a Trend Setter.

You will develop new interactions, such as Start Trends and Make Over Sims, giving you the chance to impact the way other people look instead of just your character.

Tech Guru

The tech guru career is great for the Genius and Geek Sim with tech or financial aspirations. The tech world can be a lonely one, but your work may struggle if you have the Outgoing personality trait, so we don’t recommend it.

Your Sim will Play Video Games and study Programming to learn new skills that can help them at work. Once your Sim completes stage six of their career, they will pick a career as a eSport gamer or a start-up entrepreneur.

Life as a eSport gamer is full of fun. However, entrepreneurs learn new interactions that will earn more money, such as creating and selling a new app or hacking into other computers.

Writer

Some Sims have a talent for putting words to paper. These Sims should start with the Bestselling Author aspiration. They should also have the Creative trait in order to get inspired while developing their Writing skills.

After five promotions, you can either work as an Author or a Journalist. Authors will eventually go on to develop the Logic skill, while journalists will develop the Charisma skill.

In the author writer career, you’ll get great flexibility regarding your schedule. You only need to show up 4 days a week. It’s also easy to complete.

The journalist writer career requires more time at work and is more difficult to complete. You will interview Sims and then write positive or negative articles about the Sims you interviewed.

List of Sims 4 Careers (Expansion Packs)

These Sims 4 careers are only available through expansion packs. Many of these careers will require you to go to work with your Sim instead of staying at the house, so plan your days accordingly!

Actor – Get Famous Expansion Pack

Whether your Sim likes to make people laugh or act out dramatic roles, your Sim can follow their La La Land dreams through the actor career.

Your Sim will hone the Acting skill and audition for open roles. If your Sim lands a role, they travel to the set where they perform the tasks required in the scene. Sometimes your Sim will need to complete a Risky scene.

Your Sim’s performance will be rated. If you get a high rating, you will earn Gold and Fame. Good performances can make it easier to get larger, better-paid roles.

Critic – City Living Expansion Pack

Everyone in the city has an opinion, and your Sim can make a living by sharing their opinions as a critic.

When you enter the critic career, you will need to develop your Writing skill to make your way up the ladder through the first three positions. Will you be an Arts Critic or a Food Critic?

Arts critics will need to develop a wide array of skills in the art scene, including Comedy, Music, and Painting. Food critics will learn Cooking and Gourmet Cooking. Thanks to the heavy emphasis on learning new skills, your Sim will perform the best in the Inspired moodlet.

Detective – Get to Work Expansion Pack

Crimes happen every day in the Sims 4 universe. As a detective, you will have the job of solving those crimes so that the rest of the Sims in your neighborhood can rest easy.

The first stage of the detective career starts in the office. You will gradually get more involved. By the third stage of your career, you will be responsible for interrogating suspects. At stage four, you will be ready to solve cases.

Your Sim will perform the best while in the Focused moodlet. The Genius and Good traits make good choices for the detective career, but potentially more helpful is the Observant Reward. With the Observant Reward, you’ll be able to know another Sim’s traits.

You will unlock new items and interactions at each stage. Some of the new interactions that will become available to you include:

• Visit the crime scene.
• Analyze evidence.
• Issue an APB.
• Arrest and fingerprint suspects.
• Interrogate suspects.
• Find more clues.

You will have the option to act as the good cop or the bad cop during interrogations, with interactions such as Pretend to Be Friends and Describe the Horrors of Jail.

Doctor – Get to Work Expansion Pack

Sims 4 characters can get injured or sick. When this happens, they can go to the doctor. Now, you have the opportunity to make your character the doctor! The doctor career is an especially challenging one. However, it’s also rewarding.

In the beginning of your career, you will experience life at the medical center. In most cases, you will need to Transfer Patient File since you aren’t ready to see patients yet. You will treat your first patient in stage two of your career but only for basic ailments.

At stage four, you will begin diagnosing patients based on their symptoms. Some of the possible ailments you’ll encounter include:

• Rashes
• Sweaty Shivers
• Bloaty Head
• Starry Eyes
• Llama Flu
• Gas and Giggles
• Triple Threat
• Itchy Plumbob
• Burnin’ Belly

Doctors will also have the ability to make house calls.

Doctors will eventually develop the Sickness Resistance trait.

You can perform surgery and deliver a baby at stage seven of the doctor career.

Education – Discover University Expansion Pack

The future of the Sims 4 universe depends on the success of the next generation. Therefore, we need to get young adults into college so that they have more skills they can use to contribute to society.

You will start your career as a substitute teacher and work your way up to department head. At this point, you will choose a career as an Administrator or Professor.

Teachers will need to learn a wide variety of skills, including Research and Debate and Charisma. Professors will also learn Logic.

If your Sim completes all ten stages of the education career, they will receive the Learning Embetterment Award.

Engineer – Discover University Expansion Pack

The engineer career is a work from home career, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to socialize during your 8 – 9 hour shifts.

You’ll need to hone the Robotics and Programming skills, which you will accomplish fastest if you are in the focused moodlet.

You’ll have the opportunity to specialize as a Computer Engineer or Mechanical Engineer.

Computer engineers will eventually learn how to craft Computer Glasses. These computer glasses come with a lot of benefits, such as most of your smartphone features and the ability to learn details about Sims you encounter.

Mechanical engineers can develop the ExoMech Suit, increasing Fitness and Handiness by 20% each.

Lawyer (Judge) – Discover University Expansion Pack

Turn your Sim into your very own Elle Woods or Saul Goodman by following a law career.

Your Sim will need to develop the Research and Debate skill to get promoted. Pass the Bar Exam at stage four.

After stage seven, you can work as a Judge or a Private Attorney. Judges will continue to learn Logic skills, while private attorneys will hone their Charisma skills.

Judges will need to make rulings. You can also Guest Speak to make extra money.

A private attorney will work to obtain new clients then win their cases. You may want to buy a research machine to Research Case Law from home.

Military – Strangerville Expansion Pack

A military career is one of the most patriotic and active Sims 4 careers. Defend your fellow Sims by joining the military.

You will start your journey with a heavy emphasis on the Fitness skill, great for Active Sims. You will also be required to Spar with Others and Work Out.

At stage six of the military career, you will have the ability to choose between the Officer branch and the Covert Operator branch.

Officers will use Charisma to earn the respect of their soldiers when they Give Orders, Practice Speech, and Tell War Stories.

Covert operators will use a Listening Device to Monitor Other Sims. They will also develop their Logic skills.

Both career branches of the military career reward players with clothes and metals at each promotion.

Politician – City Living Expansion Pack

Even Sims 4 characters debate politics, especially as part of the City Living expansion pack where you can opt for the Politician career track. A career as a politician requires an Outgoing and Self-Assured personality. Your Sim will perform the best when in the Confident moodlet.

After developing Charisma in the first four stages of your career, you can choose between two career branches: Presidential Hopeful and Charity Organizer.

Presidential hopefuls will learn the Kiss Baby interaction in an effort to Secure Votes.

Charity organizers Collect Donations. The amount increases with each stage.

The politician career allows you to work from home. You can Give a Speech as a politician, but most Sims will walk right past you. Avoid scandals!

Scientist – Get to Work Expansion Pack

While the Sims 4 base game offers the Tech Guru career and Astronaut career, you can dive even deeper into science vocations with the scientist career in the Get to Work expansion pack.

Give your sim the Geek and Genius traits to get started. You will want to develop your Logic skills.

You will use the Invention Constructor to create new items, including the SimRay. You’ll eventually gain access to the Chemistry Lab which will give you the ability to Produce Serums and Analyze Serums.

Consider getting the rocket scientist mod to add one more cool feature to the career track.

Civil Designer – Eco Lifestyle Expansion Pack

In the civil designer career, your Sim will need to use their contracting and project planning abilities to develop the city for the citizens of the neighborhood. As part of the eco lifestyle expansion pack, the job will emphasize city planning with efficiency and reduced pollution in mind.

Sims will develop their logic and charisma skills to get promoted. You’ll eventually be able to develop the fabrication skill as well.

After you complete the third stage of your civil designer career, you’ll have the option to follow the Green Technician branch or the Civic Planner branch.

As a green technician, you’ll get Satisfaction points which can be traded for cool items in the Rewards Store.

Conservationist – Island Living Expansion Pack

The Sims 4 aims to teach people about real-life problems. One way they do that is through the different Sims 4 careers, such as the conservationist career.

A conservationist works to reduce the neighborhood’s carbon footprint, especially around the islands. However, don’t go into this career for the money. You will not get a monetary bonus when you get promoted, like the other Sims 4 careers.

For the first six stages of your career, you will Spread Conservation Awareness and develop your Logic skills.

You will continue in your career track as an Environmental Manager or a Marine Biologist.

While you won’t get a bonus when you get promoted, you can make extra money as an environmental manager if you Shoot Nature Documentary. You can also Prepare Grant Application(s) to get more money for your research.

Marine Biologists will Survey Ocean Wildlife. They will get appropriate clothing for the job as they get promoted.

Social Media – City Living Expansion Pack

Even the Sims 4 can’t escape the social media trend, as demonstrated by the Social Media career.

Sims with social aspirations and corresponding traits will perform the best.

After three short stages where you will earn 100 followers and start learning Charisma and Mischief skills, you will choose between life as an Internet Personality or Public Relations.

As an internet personality, you will need to create content that attracts followers. You are the talent. Therefore, you should continue developing charisma. You’ll also want to learn Video Gaming and Telling Jokes. Eventually, you’ll learn new social media interactions. Playful Sims are especially productive.

Public relations workers focus more on the backend of the influencer trend. You will Network with Journalists to find new opportunities for your talent. As you move through the stages, you’ll learn new interactions related to social media promotion. Focused Sims are especially productive.

Freelance Career Path

If a job with a typical schedule isn’t for your Sim, they can pursue a career as a freelancer. Freelancers work on a gig-based system. They don’t need to go into work at a particular time five days out of the week. However, a freelancer career is less stable than a more traditional professional journey.

As a freelancer, you can work as a Writer, Artist, or Programmer. You can only pick one freelance career path.

To become a freelancer, you will need to find the Freelance tab in the Career Panel. You will then need to Pick an Agency. After you Pick an Agency, you will have access to different gigs. You will then Select a Gig. There will be a list of gigs for you to select. They will show the pay and the due date of each gig. Once you select a gig, you will have the ability to work on it. Complete the gigs to earn money.

If you don’t complete a gig by the deadline, you will not get paid for the work you did.

Part-Time Jobs

Some Sims aren’t at a point in their life to take on a full-time job.

Your teen Sim or senior Sim can work a few hours throughout the week in one of several part-time jobs available. Some of the part-time jobs you can pick include:

• Manual Laborer
• Retail Employee
• Fast Food Employee
• Barista
• Babysitter

Teens will earn a small income and learn how to manage their daily tasks during a busy schedule of school, work, family, and friends. Seniors will work to stay busy in their golden years. Adults can make a small income while leaving time for other responsibilities, such as parenthood.

Conclusion

The Sims 4 base game includes a number of professions and career branches. These active careers give players the opportunity to follow the sim through the workday or stay at home to play as different characters. Sims 4 Expansion packs created rabbit hole careers that require active participation when the Sim goes to work, such as the scientist career. You can also find part time careers for teens and seniors. Simply interact with your Sim’s phone or access the career panel to pick your Sim’s career path.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Highest Paying Careers in Sims 4?

A social media internet personality has the highest salary of $540/hour. However, the social media career branches are only available through the City Living expansion pack.

In the base game, the Sims 4 careers with the highest ending salaries are tech guru startup entrepreneur at $516/hour and secret agent villain at $515/hour.

Actors can make $9,800 a gig, but they’ll have to work to get the part!

What Are the Lowest Paying Sims 4 Careers?

A writing career as a journalist comes with the lowest salary in the Sims 4 base game ($272/hour). The civil designer green technician career track in the Sims 4 only pays $235/hour with minimum bonuses or ways to earn additional income.

What is the Hardest Career in Sims 4?

The hardest Sims 4 career is either the doctor career or the astronaut career. Both careers require a lot of time at work. When not at work, these career paths have more challenging requirements to get promoted to the next position than most careers. While difficult, most players find that the character’s hard work gets rewarded later.

How Do I Move Up in My Sims 4 Careers?

Learn new skills and complete special tasks to get a promotion. If you fail to complete all of the requirements, you will be stuck in your current position with your current pay. Research the requirements online for complete details.