Summary
The Sims 4offers 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 otherSimsgame has done before.
Expanding from the release oftheGet To Workexpansion packin 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 July 19, 2025, by Jenna Amore:In The Sims 4, active careers offer a uniquely immersive way to engage with Sims' work lives, allowing players to accompany their Sims to the job site and manage tasks firsthand. With the addition of the new reaper career in the Life & Death expansion, players now have another compelling, hands-on profession to explore. Whether revisiting old favorites or trying out this latest career path, players have plenty of options to enrich their Sims' professional lives.
7Business Owner
From Small Town Shop to Retail Royalty
Several expansions and game packs allow players to create their own business inThe 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 theretail store owner careeroffers 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, especiallyfor restaurant ownerswithThe 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.
6Doctor
Healing Hands And Heart: Navigate Life, Death, and Drama
This career was the most enticing and promising to those considering theGet To Workexpansion pack. The promise of anew medical careerand 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.
Unfortunately, the new active career did not live up to the Sims community’s expectations. Compared to the other careers inThe 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 adecent 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 aSims 4player’s first choice.
5Detective
Solve Mysteries, Crack Cases, and Uphold Justice
People often turn to video games toembrace being eviland 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 careeris 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.
4Interior Decorator
Design, Decorate, and Dazzle with Dreamlike Desire
The most recent career to be added to the active careers list is theinterior decorator careerfrom theDream Home Decoratorgame pack. Expanding upon the architectural designer career path inThe 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 tobuild extraordinary housesand 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.
3Scientist
Unravel Secrets and Invent Wonders to Shape the Future of Simkind
The scientist careeris 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.
Upward mobility, a variety of tasks, and the guarantee of exciting new inventions make the scientist career one of the best active careers inThe 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 beused to complete collections, decorate home spaces, or sold for a profit.
2Actor
Lights, Camera, Action: Shine on Stage and Screen
The actor careeris widely considered to be the best active career to date. Released intheGet Famousexpansion 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 dedicationTheSimsteam put into this role deserves the highest of praise.
1Reaper
Step Into Grim’s Shoes And Decide The Fate Of The Departed
The highly anticipated reaper career, introduced in theLife & Deathexpansion, has quickly claimed the top spot amongThe Sims 4’s active careers. For years, players have requested a career that lets Sims step into the Grim Reaper’s shoes, and this role delivers an eerie yet humorous twist. As Grimterns, Sims can now clock in atthe hidden Headless Quarters lot, a spooky headquarters filled with dark humor and mysterious charm, where they’ll receive daily assignments to help the Grim Reaper manage the recently deceased.
In this career, Sims are sent to scenes of unusual deaths, from cowplant mishaps to jokes gone lethally wrong, where they’ll investigate the cause of death and make a crucial choice: to revive or to reap. Each day brings new, escalating challenges as Grimterns face strange scenarios and higher-stakes decisions, keeping the job fresh and unpredictable. This active career captures the thrill of the macabre with a touch of comedy, making it a highly engaging experience and one of the best active careers for Sims to explore.
