The Best Paying Jobs

You don't play for long before you realize that different jobs pay different amount of money and XP. You put in energy, and you get back some of both money and XP. 

And then sometimes later you find that you need some quick cash. Here's where you can get the most money for your Energy. I just calculated the average payout for each job, and the amount of energy you put in per roll, and calculated a Return on Energy - RoE. 

Final Stop, Hong Kong $3518

Stock Exchange, Hong Kong $3240

Baja, Mexico $3180

Final Relic France $3125

Retrieve the Relic, Russia $3107

Those are the only jobs that give $3000 for each Energy unit put in. You might notice that they are from the last four districts in the game at present. If you are not that far along, here are the best-paying jobs in each of the other districts.

Italy. Ambush $2673

Westside. Armored Takedown $2500

Downtown. Steal a Rival's Protection Fees, $1575. NOTE: Downtown has a secret job DJ, that pays $1750. If Downtown is as far as you've gotten, you'll want to be able to use that job to get more case. 

Meatpack. Open a Strip Club, $766

Midtown. Move Stolen Goods $590

Tracks. Bank Robbery $284. NOTE: Secret Job Movie Set gives $383.

Slums. Skull Market $211

You can do these jobs over and over, if you've completed the boss job for that district. It's always a good idea to "5-star" a district so you can get more Stat Points (SP). I usually try to complete the following district before I 5-star a district, in case I run low on cash in the next district and need to use the previous one. 

But even after you have 5-starred a district, you can return and roll on jobs you like. 

WHAT ABOUT THE MOST XP PER JOB?

I mentioned above that you get two things when you do a job: money and XP. Perhaps you are close to leveling up, and you'd like to know how to get the most XP for a job. Here are the five jobs that give the most XP for a job. NOTE that if you have Penelope, you will get one more XP for each job (and in some conditions, more than that). This list assume that you have Penelope seated somewhere in your inner circle. 

Slums, Find Leads. Costs 2 energy, gives 3 XP, 1.50 XP per E. This is the tappingest job you can do. I know people including me, who have tapped this baby 500 times in a row to get to a new level.

Tracks, Escort Duty. Costs 8 energy, returns 11 or 12. I call it 11.5, and that's a 1.44 ratio. 

Tracks, The Shakedown. Costs 6, returns 8 to 10. This is the job where luck can take you above the Find Leads return. It averages just short of 1.5 - you get the 8 more than the 10 - but sometimes you get the 10, and 10 for 6 is the best return anywhere. 

Midtown, Rob a Jewelry Store. Costs 8, returns 11. That's a 1.38 ratio.

Downtown, Prepare for War. Costs 18, returns 24, 1.33 ratio. If the return is important, but not critical, this one will save you some tapping. If you have a baron, it will take 54, and return 72, and catch you up pretty fast. 

Honorable Mention: Italy's Warm Welcome gives 1.30, and $1000 per Energy. A fine balance. 

SUMMARY

Most of the time, you're going to want to get SP for your jobs. Once you've 5-starred a job, you would only want to go back and do it again under unusual conditions, such as if you are trying to level up quickly, or need cash to heal or buy property. But some players have 5-starred all of the properties. Those players generally spin the dice jobs, which give a little money and a little XP but lots of LT's. Dice jobs are a different animal, and we'll talk about them another time.