Which career ladder is worth climbing?

Choose a career and rank to compare pay, costs and take-home income.

Pick a career to see every rank and grade, then check the weekly balance: shift pay (with your modifiers) against rent, LAPO and commute. Numbers carry their source — ingame-verified where we've been, community table where we haven't.

Weekly net: —

Rank 1 · 5 shifts per week

Career

—

Grade

Expenses, extra income & modifiers —

Side-gig minutes per day

Sustainable gig income is cooldown-limited (~20 min between payouts under ₦25k)

Other income a week (₦)

Businesses, land, the fund — taxed as income

Commute per day (₦)

Observed Danfo fare ₦150/ride · round trip

Weekly rent (₦)

LAPO loan (−₦12,000/week)

4-star shift (+15%) Minimum Wage law active (+15%)

Weekly breakdown

Salary: —
Gigs: —
Other: —
Bills: —
Income tax: —
rent share of income: —

Net over 4 weeks: —

Under the official ₦1,000,000 weekly tax-free allowance — no income tax at this wage.

How the math works

Grade pay listed × (1 + 5% × (grade − 1)) ÷ 1.15 — rounded to the nearest ₦100; Grade I is the listed pay ÷ 1.15.
Week pay × 5 shifts — one shift a day, 5-day work week; the 4-star bonus and a minimum-wage law each add 15%.
Gigs floor(minutes ÷ cycle) × net × days — cooldown-aware, so you cannot stack unlimited cycles.
Tax official policy: the first ₦1,000,000 a week is tax-free; above it the band rates apply — every band currently sits at 7% (a flat 7.5% before policy v4, briefly 20/30/35% bands; see the policy tracker for history).

The full ladder

Rank	Grade I	Grade IV	Per week

Grade scaling follows listed × (1 + 5% × grade) ÷ 1.15 (code-derived, validated against our ingame Tech/Banking anchors). Pay table is the community ladder checked 2026-10-11 — Tech line re-verified ingame 2026-10-13. If your screen shows different numbers, the game is right.

FAQ

What is the highest paying job in Lagos Life?

Music tops out at ₦99,000 per shift as an Afrobeats Giant — but every career except Refining starts far lower, and gated tracks (Medicine, Aviation, Product Management) pay more from day one because they need skill level 3 to apply.

How do grade promotions work?

Each of the first 4 ranks has grades I–IV. Scaling follows listed × (1 + 5% × grade) ÷ 1.15 — so Grade I pays about 13% less than the listed Grade IV figure. You climb one grade at a time with 100%-performance shifts; the exact shifts-per-grade count is not yet verified.

Is a gated career worth the skill grind?

Gated tracks start at ₦14,800–₦21,000 versus ₦5,700–₦12,000 for ungated ones — roughly double from day one. Run both through the weekly balance above with your rent: the gap is bigger than most promotion raises.

Keep reading

More tools

Lagos Life Daily Optimizer — Your Best Day, Decay Included The optimal Lagos Life day: one schedule that covers every need's 24h decay, plus your shift, gigs and dailies — with the full daily P&L.

Money Planner Compare Lagos Life earn routes by naira per real minute — shift vs gigs — and see what your week looks like after rent and LAPO.

Business ROI Calculator Lagos Life business portfolio calculator — verified buy prices and daily income ranges, payback horizons, and the same capital in Reserve Bonds as the benchmark.

Side Gig Ranker Rank Lagos Life side gigs by naira per real hour — Buy & Resell vs Carry Load vs your shift — with official payout ceilings from the economy policy.

Rent vs Buy Calculator Should you buy your Lagos Life home or keep renting? Move-in plus weekly rent vs the 80% buy-out across all 16 buyable homes, with land yields as the opportunity cost.

Land Assessor — Price the Six Plots Before omo-onile Does Assess every Lagos Life land plot: the advertised weekly growth, omo-onile risk exposure, the plot soft cap, and land vs landlord cash — from verified in-game prices.

Policy Tracker The official Lagos Life economy policy — tax bands, VIP multipliers, land rules — with a change history charted since we started watching.

Lagos Map Every Lagos Life venue on one original map — careers, markets, nightlife, civic services and the housing ladder, drawn on real Lagos geography.

Gem Hunt History Every Daily Gem Hunt riddle on the record — the clue, where it pointed, and whether the desk verified it in-game. Filed daily from the official feed.

Data Cost Calculator How much of your MTN, Airtel, Glo or 9mobile bundle does Lagos Life really cost? Set your hours and play style — get the cheapest covering bundle per network.

View all tools