Highlights

• Gold is essential in Skyrim for purchasing equipment, homes, certain followers, and more, making it crucial for a fun gameplay experience.
• Although there are exploits in the game that can be used to earn money quickly, the game itself and some mods also have many legitimate and efficient ways to get rich fast.
• Crafting, thieving, improving certain skills, and enchanting gear are just a few great ways to make money in Skyrim.

Gold is essential to survival in Skyrim. Players need gold to buy vital equipment such as spells, potions, and crafting materials, and it is also used to purchase player homes, hire certain followers, and get past speech checks with a bribe. So, it goes without saying that having a vast hoard of gold is important if players want to have a ton of fun in this game and not worry about any monetary constraints.

Getting rich can be difficult, especially in the early stages of a Skyrim playthrough, but it can be done quite easily enough by exploiting glitches. However, those who don't enjoy using glitches (or who use mods to remove them) will need to find other ways to make money in Skyrim. Fortunately, there are plenty of things players can do to start raking in a decent income.

Updated on February 7, 2024, by Ritwik Mitra: It's a testament to the genre-defining nature of Skyrim that this game continues to be modded even now, with players loving Bethesda's work to create one of the best open-world games in living memory. The fact that this game continues to enjoy the spoils of a dedicated modding community to this day shows just how much love was put into this game, which is why Starfield was so disappointing for fans when it launched. While most people find it a non-issue to hoard wealth in this title, some players would still love fast and easy ways to earn a lot of gold in no time, letting them buy whatever they want without breaking a sweat.

16 Stealing Everything In Sight

Can Be Sold For A Tidy Sum To A Fence

Players can't be faulted for turning into kleptomaniacs whenever they start a new game in Skyrim. After all, they barely have anything to their name early on, and everything in the game looks so appealing that players simply have to loot everything in sight.

While the Dragonborn is discouraged from taking items that belong to someone else, there's no reason to not do this as long as players are smart about their immoral activities. Of course, it's important to secure the services of a fence beforehand, since players will just get overcumbered if they steal otherwise.

15 Pickpocketing Everyone

Some NPCs Carry Rare Valuables And A Lot Of Gold

Many people don't invest too many points into pickpocketing in Skyrim, since it's pretty boring to sneak around and loot everyone in sight without being caught. Unless players have a ton of skill points in this department, pickpocketing is a surefire way to attract the law who will jail the player at a moment's notice.

However, with enough points in this skill, players can amass a fortune in no time at all! Going to places populated by well-off NPCs is a great way to get a lot of goodies and gold that will help the Dragonborn quite a bit in their adventure.

14 Modding In The Skyrim Gold Spell

A Simple Way To Conjure Gold

Mods and Skyrim go hand-in-hand, and most people can't even imagine the idea of playing this game without the wealth of mods that improve the experience in their ways. Players can either go for a friendly vanilla experience with all the kinks ironed out, or they can completely change the game and how it looks, plays, and feels.

Players who decide to use mods for their game can download content that allows them to attain a ton of money in no time at all. The Skyrim Gold Spell is one such mod that is as simple as it gets, giving players access to a magical way to summon gold that is pretty amusing in its own way.

13 Chop And Sell Firewood

A Simple Way To Get A Bit Of Gold

Most players don't really bother to chop wood in the game, given how menial this task is. However, if players don't mind engaging in a facet of Skyrim's gameplay that is generally ignored, then they'll find firewood to be a decent money-earner in the game.

Firewood can be sold for 2 gold to most merchants, but mill workers and innkeepers will buy them at 5 gold apiece. It may be a boring way to earn gold but something that players can endure early on before more lucrative options become accessible to the player.

12 Hunt Down Dragons And Sell Their Bones

Dragon Bones Are Extremely Profitable

Dragons are easily one of Skyrim's biggest draws. Fighting against one of these flying monstrosities makes for a great time as players hack and slash their way to victory in the first few encounters with these beasts.

While dragons become easier to manage in the later stages of Skyrim, most people would argue that this doesn't take away from their allure in the slightest. Players who make it a point to kill most of the dragons they find in the game will be rewarded with spoils in the form of Dragon Bones, which sell for a pretty penny as long as players have space in their inventory to grab a few of them.

11 Repeat Radiant Quests

Slightly Arduous But A Decent Way To Earn Money

When Skyrim was announced, Todd Howard made it a point to highlight the Radiant Quest system and how it would allow players to go on limitless adventures. In reality, this system didn't have a lot of depth, with the vast majority of these being boring fetch quests that don't really add anything to a player's experience.

Still, players who don't mind completing these quests will earn a pretty penny for their efforts. It's not the most efficient way to earn money in the game, but it's still better than just ignoring this part of Skyrim altogether.

10 Raise Speech Level

Bartering To Increase Sale Price And Get Discounts On Goods Is Pretty Useful

One of the most important steps players must take if they want to get rich is to improve their Speech skills. Speech determines the buy/sell price in shops, so a high Speech skill means buying items for cheap and selling them for heaps.

Speech is commonly improved by buying and selling items, but it can also be increased by reading certain skill books, completing certain quests, or purchasing Speech training (although this costs precious gold), and it can be fortified with enchantments and potions. Nords and Bretons also start with an extra five levels in Speech.

9 Pray To Zenithar

Prices Are Improved In The Player's Favor By 10%

The Nine Divines in Skyrim provide players with useful blessings whenever they pray at their shrines, lasting for eight hours. By praying at a Shrine of Zenithar, players will then enjoy 10% better prices.

There is an easily accessible Shrine of Zenithar in Solitude's Temple of the Divines, so using that city as a home base would be a good strategy. A shrine can also be built once the player has purchased a Hearthfire home.

8 Crafting Potions

High-Level Alchemy Lets Players Craft Valuable Potions

One of the fastest ways to make money is by crafting potions and poisons—and then selling them. Skyrim has a wealth of alchemy ingredients available to the player, and while many of these can be purchased cheaply, they can also be found in abundance all over the wilderness.

A short walk outside the city will yield a full inventory worth of ingredients, which can then be turned into potions. The selling price of these potions is determined by their rarity and potency, and players can even craft Fortify Speechcraft potions to further enhance the money made from the others.

7 Turn Iron Into Gold

Trasmutation Is A Great Way To Gain Valuable Materials As Long As Players Have The Magicka To Spare

Once players have exhausted all the alchemy ingredients in the vicinity, the next method is to transmute iron ore into gold. To do this, players must first acquire the Alteration spell tome for Transmute, which can be found in Halted Stream Camp or Ansilvund Burial Chambers (the former is easier to get to).

After learning the spell, simply mine or purchase iron ore, and transmute it. Iron ore has a value of 2 Septims, but by transmuting it into gold players increase the value to 50. Selling gold ore in bulk while the Speech skill is buffed by potions, enchantments, and Zenithar's blessing will yield optimal profits. There's no need to smelt the ore for this.

6 Restore The Crown Of Barenziah

Nets Players A Buff That Lets Them Accumulate Gems In No Time At All

Throughout the player's journey in Skyrim, they may collect Unusual Gems. Taking one of these gems to the Thieves Guild reveals that they are in fact stones from the Crown of Barenziah and that twenty-four of them need to be gathered to restore the crown.

It takes a while, but completing the No Stone Unturned quest rewards players with a buff that makes gems incredibly common. Players will end up with more gems than they know what to do with, providing a seemingly endless source of wealth.

5 Crafting Jewelry

The Sale Value Of These Jewels Is Immense

If players wish to further increase the value of the gems, gold, and silver they find (or make), they can use the Smithing skill to turn it into jewelry. Silver, and especially gold, necklaces are the easiest way to turn a profit from those metals, but combining them with certain gems can further increase their value.

However, not every jewelry piece turns a profit. Sometimes using a gem with jewelry can decrease its value. Jewelry pieces that do turn a profit include gold diamond necklaces, gold ruby necklaces and circlets, and silver emerald circlets. If none of these gems are on hand, however, the best strategy is to transmute iron into gold and craft gold necklaces.

4 Capture Souls

Soul Gems Are Extremely Valuable

Perhaps not the most ethical way to generate an income, but filling empty soul gems and selling them can turn into quite a lucrative business indeed. Filling a soul gem multiplies its value, so players with a high Speech level can purchase empty ones for cheap and then turn a profit once they're filled.

Petty soul gems are the best to use with this strategy. They are the cheapest, are common, and there is an abundance of creatures with petty souls. Furthermore, their value is quadrupled when filled. As they become more available at higher levels black soul gems are also effective for this strategy—but keep in mind that using them means trafficking in human souls.

3 Enchanting Weapons & Armor

Special Weapons Sell For A Tidy Sum

Players may prefer to use their soul gems to increase the value of weapons and armor by enchanting them, which can often prove more lucrative than simply selling the souls on their own. If a ready source of cheap weapons is available, enchanting them can be quite profitable.

The stronger the enchantment (and the weapon/armor piece), the higher the value. Enchantments can also be applied to crafted jewelry pieces to make them even more valuable.

2 Get Married

Spouses Share Gold And The Lover's Comfort Bonus Can Indirectly Increase Their Reservoir Of Wealth

Getting married might not seem like a good way to get rich, but it has its benefits. Spouses in Skyrim share 100 gold with the Dragonborn each day from their own job, and although it isn't a lot, players don't need to do anything to generate it.

Furthermore, sleeping in the same building as one's spouse grants the Lover's Comfort bonus, which makes all skills improve 15% faster — an excellent boon for improving the Speech skill. Finding a spouse is easy, so marriage is worth it if the goal is to get rich.

1 Treasure Hunting

Can Be Sold For A Tidy Sum To A Fence

While waiting for their spouse to generate income, or if one gets bored with grinding at the other money-making methods, the player can start a lucrative career as a treasure hunter.

Skyrim's numerous dungeons are full of riches just waiting to be claimed by a brave adventurer. Selling these treasures can yield thousands of Septims per dungeon, so treasure hunting is an exciting and profitable enterprise. After creating multiple streams of income and generating a large amount of gold, players are then free to enjoy their wealth and spend it to their heart's content.