The Sims 4: Best Active Careers, Ranked

Highlights

The Sims 4 offers a variety of exciting career paths, catering to different player preferences.
Some particular careers in the game provide unique and engaging experiences.
Active careers like Business Owner, Doctor, Detective, Interior Decorator, Scientist, and Actor offer different levels of challenges and rewards for players.

The Sims 4 offers unique opportunities for players to guide their virtual characters through many exciting career paths. From adrenaline-pumping professions like Secret Agent and Astronaut to more intellectually stimulating ones such as Scientist or Politician, this beloved game caters to different player preferences. A handful of particular careers, however, provide an experience like no other Sims game has done before.

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Expanding from the release of the Get To Work expansion pack in 2015, there are several careers in which players can follow their Sims to work and complete tasks with them. Considering factors such as engagement levels, variety of tasks and responsibilities, and the number of in-game bugs, this ranking will guide players towards the most dynamic experiences for them and their Sims.

Updated on December 23, 2023, by Jenna Amore: Among the myriad choices for careers in The Sims 4, active careers have always stood out. They offer players the opportunity to get a hands-on experience with their Sims’ professional journeys by enabling them to follow Sims to work and control aspects of their job and performance. Sadly, it’s been quite some time since The Sims 4 has had a career-driven expansion included in its lineup. As avid enthusiasts eagerly await fresh experiences and job options, they should consider diving into or revisiting some of the best active careers within the game currently.

6 Business Owner

From Small Town Shop to Retail Royalty

A Sim takes a selfie in front of his new restaurant in The Sims 4

Create, customize, and recruit Sims to work at retail stores, restaurants, and vet clinics
Choose a Sim’s days and hours for their workweek
Heavy financial investment and low reward

Several expansions and game packs allow players to create their own business in The Sims 4. Sims can own retail stores (Get To Work), restaurants (Dine Out), or vet clinics (Cats & Dogs). Players have total creative freedom to build and design the business of their dreams. They can personalize businesses by purchasing perks, hiring employees, and interacting with customers. Sims with a business can even choose their own hours and decide whether to travel to the store while it’s open or let it run itself.

While the retail store owner career offers the potential for success and self-fulfillment, it is important to consider the challenges that come with it. Although the game offers several ways to customize and control one’s business, it’s just not as engaging as the other active available careers. It may be the career with the most bugs in the game, especially for restaurant owners with The Sims 4: Dine Out. It also requires a lot of financial investment to purchase a lot, decorate it, and stock the shelves. Players may find they are focusing more on trying to keep their employees well-trained and satisfied than anything else. Thankfully, there are many other active careers worth pursuing.

5 Doctor

Healing Hands And Heart: Navigate Life, Death, and Drama

A doctor Sim gives her young patient medicine in The Sims 4

New hospital job location and lot for childbirth
Treat NPC patients for ailments and illnesses
Unequal effort-to-gratification ratio

This career was the most enticing and promising to those considering the Get To Work expansion pack. The promise of a new medical career and the ability to diagnose and treat sick patients brought an exciting new concept to the game. Players follow their Sim to a hospital as NPC patients slowly file in. They are given tasks like conducting tests, treating illnesses, and attending to emergencies such as an unconscious Sim or assisting in childbirth.

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Unfortunately, the new active career did not live up to the Sims community’s expectations. Compared to the other careers in The Sims 4, players had to put a lot of time and effort into repetitive, mundane tasks with insufficient reward. Although these Sims work extremely long hours, players will have a hard time finishing enough tasks to fill the meter and have a decent work performance. After administering multiple tests, players must correctly choose the single diagnosis and treatment from dozens of options, or the Sim will leave without being properly treated. The unequal effort-to-gratification ratio is one of the main reasons this career won’t be a Sims 4 player’s first choice.

4 Detective

Solve Mysteries, Crack Cases, and Uphold Justice

A detective Sim takes mugshots of a prisoner for her career in The Sims 4

New law office complete with jail cells
Hands-on, engaging experiences and challenges
Demanding and relies heavily on effort and attention to detail

People often turn to video games to embrace being evil and cause mayhem and destruction when they are frustrated. That’s why the idea of a law enforcement career path sounds so exciting. Imagine following thieves and unlawful Sims and throwing them in jail or discerning the details of a murder. Detectives are tasked with visiting crime scenes, interrogating suspects, and conducting research to make an arrest and solve crimes.

Much like the doctor career, the detective career is very demanding, and the Sim’s job performance relies heavily on the player’s effort and attention to detail. Similar to real life, players have to put up with completing tedious tasks when they first start their job. Unfortunately, this career becomes more enjoyable to play only after receiving several promotions in the career path.

3 Interior Decorator

Design, Decorate, and Dazzle with Dreamlike Desire

An interior decorator makes plans to upgrade a client's apartment in The Sims 4

Make a career out of building and redecorating townies’ homes
Diversify building and decorating styles with new furniture
Shallow career, and the gameplay can get stale if played too much

The most recent career to be added to the active careers list is the interior decorator career from the Dream Home Decorator game pack. Expanding upon the architectural designer career path in The Sims 3: Ambitions, players follow their Sims to clients’ homes, listen to their desires, and re-design their living spaces. This career is especially intriguing for builders who already spend the majority of their gameplay in build/buy mode. Listening to the client’s requests can help players diversify their building and decorating styles in the future.

On the other hand, clients may not have the same taste as players do. It can be difficult to build extraordinary houses and stray from personal preference to meet Sims’ expectations, especially when the client’s budget is small and their vision is unclear. In general, this career is rather shallow and does not provide as much variety as the other careers, and the gameplay can become a little monotonous if it’s played too frequently.

2 Scientist

Unravel Secrets and Invent Wonders to Shape the Future of Simkind

A scientist Sim analyzes a sample for her career in The Sims 4

Good variety of workplace tasks
Create useful inventions to make life easier and more interesting
Allows for workplace pranks and mischievous behavior

The scientist career is often overlooked in terms of active careers. However, many fans consider it to be one of the best. Players with scientists can follow their Sims to FutureSim Labs and interact with the invention constructor, chemical analyzer, and chemistry lab. Sims can have breakthroughs by building intellectual skills and achieving certain emotions to unlock new inventions. In opposition to several other active careers, these inventions – including the SimRay, satellite dish, cloning machine, and wormhole generator – can be taken off the laboratory lot and used anywhere the Sim pleases.

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Upward mobility, a variety of tasks, and the guarantee of exciting new inventions make the scientist career one of the best active careers in The Sims 4. The mischievous aspect of the career, presented as opportunities for pranking coworkers with freeze rays and untested serums, makes this one of the most entertaining careers of all time. Not to mention, players can collect free plants, alien creatures, crystals, metals, and elements in and around the laboratory. These objects can be used to complete collections, decorate home spaces, or sold for a profit.

1 Actor

Lights, Camera, Action: Shine on Stage and Screen

An actress Sim poses in front of her starlight accolade award for Best Actor in The Sims 4

Go through unique hair, makeup, and wardrobe for every TV, movie, or commercial set
Opportunities to win awards at the Starlight Accolades and nameplate tiles on Starlight Boulevard
Perform actions on a film set with props and costars

The actor career is widely considered to be the best active career to date. Released in the Get Famous expansion pack, this career fast tracks Sims into the world-famous celebrity status by starring in commercials, TV shows, and movies. Players follow their Sims to a film set and take them through hair and makeup, wardrobe, and rehearsals with co-stars and directors before watching the filming first-hand. There are a total of 21 different gigs to choose from, each unlocked with promotions and the development of acting skills.

This career offers everything players of active careers desire: a great variety of tasks, high engagement levels, and a relatively low number of bugs. It leads to celebrity accomplishments such as Starlight Accolades and nameplate tiles on Starlight Boulevard. It’s the only career that transforms the employee Sim into a completely different-looking character. This career could have easily sent Sims down a rabbit hole, but the amount of effort and dedication The Sims team put into this role deserves the highest of praise.