There is no shortage of ways to make money in Stardew Valley. Almost every facet of the game includes items that can be dropped into the shipping bin, turning into cold, hard cash.
However, not all items are equally profitable!
In fact, a handful of items can take your farmer from moderately wealthy to taking Scrooge-McDuck-style high dives into a vast pool of gold and treasures.
The best ways to make money in Stardew Valley are as follows:
- Utilize the special orders board
- Choose your seeds wisely
- Pick the right professions
- Stock up at the Night Market
- Don’t be above dumpster diving
If you want your Stardew Valley farmer to learn how to count in the billions, then read through the details of each of these steps found below!
1. Utilize the Special Orders Board
On the second day of the Fall of the first year, Mayor Lewis takes credit for the new Special Orders Board that Robin has just built.
Every Monday, this board will contain two new quests that you can choose between. In exchange for some favor, the poster will reward you with gold and other rewards.
The reason that the special orders board can be so lucrative is that the rewards are usually formulated in one of two ways; either the poster will give much more than the standard profit for some number of items, or you will be able to sell the items as usual plus collect the reward as an added monetary bonus!
For example, one available quest comes from Demetrius and asks for someone to catch 20 lake fish to “help reduce numbers”.
You can turn around and sell all of these fish for a profit, plus collect the extra 1500g as a reward for completing Demetrius’s quest.
Sometimes the item you are asked to collect is not particularly valuable, such as bat wings for a Clint special order.
However, you are sure to come across many gems (especially in the lower levels of the mine) that will fetch a good profit, in addition to the reward of 6000g from Clint’s order!
The richest folks know how to squeeze every last ounce of gold they can out of the system, so implement this philosophy at the special orders board every Monday morning.
2. Choose Your Seeds Wisely
Sometimes choosing the most profitable seeds is actually quite counterintuitive.
If it’s only profit that you are concerned with, then you should choose seeds that will grow into produce with a delicate balance of individual sell price, growth time, and the number of produce yielded per seed.
Take pumpkin seeds as an example. One pumpkin seed costs 100g from Pierre’s, takes a total of thirteen days to become a pumpkin, and then can be sold for a base price of 320g.
Your profit is 220g per pumpkin or just under 17g per day.
The base price of 320g might seem incredible in comparison to other fall crops. For example, cranberries with a base price of 75g.
However, when you take the cost of the seed, sell price, growth time, and the number of yields into account, the cranberry is actually the more profitable seed to purchase.
When calculated as a per-day profit, cranberries earn at least 18g per day!
However, there are two seeds in the game that boast profits that far exceed any other — rare seeds and ancient fruit seeds.
The ancient fruit seeds will eventually turn into a fruit that gives about 57g per day and often more, depending on the quality of the ancient fruit produced.
Rare seeds will grow into a Sweet Gem Berry, after a long 24 days in the fall. They sell for a base price of 3000g; or, a total of 83g per day!
How to Get Rare Seeds
Every Friday and Sunday, you can find the Traveling Cart in the Cindersap Forest. The merchant has a variety of random goods for sale, with varying prices.
One item that is often (but not always!) stocked is the rare seed for 1000g.
Purchase all of the rare seeds you can get your hands on before Fall! The profit to be made on this crop is the single highest in the entire game!
How to Get Ancient Fruit Seeds
The only way to get ahold of ancient fruit seeds is to diligently search for and donate artifacts to the museum.
Eventually, one such artifact is an “ancient seed”. It isn’t any good for planting, so donate this one to Gunther at the museum.
Gunther will then reward you with a single ancient fruit seed that can be planted. From here, it is a matter of growing ancient fruits and harvesting seeds from them with a Seed Maker.
Read more: Most profitable crops to grow in the greenhouse
3. Pick the Right Professions
All of the professions upon reaching level 5 and level 10 in a skill come with substantial benefits.
However, there are some professions that are undeniably better when it comes to making a profit. Most notably at the level 10 milestones.
This is the case with the Artisan, Botanist, Angler, and Gemologist professions for the Farming, Foraging, Fishing, and Mining skills, respectively.
How to Make Money with the Botanist Profession
When you choose the Botanist profession, all foraged items will now be of the highest quality. This means iridium quality items such as salmonberry, blackberry, truffles, etc.
This effectively doubles the worth of all your foraging, which is usually pure profit.
Just be sure to keep some room in your backpack to pick up items you forage on your adventuring and the money will start piling up!
Profiting as a Gemologist
Once you choose the Gemologist profession, you will immediately begin earning 30% more on all minerals and gems you sell.
If you spend time in the Mines, Skull Cavern, or Quarry, this can add up very quickly.
However, the real profit will start rolling in if you pair the profession with a shed full of Crystalariums!
These machines require you to insert a gem or mineral of your choice and then will reproduce that item every five days — forever!
Keep making Crystalariums to produce gems such as diamonds, rubies, or emeralds for a hefty profit.
Best Items in the Artisan Profession
With the Artisan profession, all Artisan items become worth 40% more. This is a great blanket increase to all sorts of items that you might be making on your farm.
Of course, there are some items that are going to be worth paying extra attention to.
Here are some of the most profitable items in the Artisan Profession:
| Item | Base Price | Artisan Price |
|---|---|---|
| Fairy Rose Honey | 680g | 952g |
| Truffle Oil | 1065g | 1491g |
| Pale Ale | 300g | 420g |
| Caviar | 500g | 700g |
How to Maximize the Angler Profession
Becoming an excellent fisherman is one of the best ways to make lots of money in the game, regardless of whether you are in the early, mid, or late game.
When you get to level 10 and choose the Angler profession, the fish you sell will become 50% more valuable.
This can turn into huge profits if you know how to avoid catching fish like carp or anchovy while successfully landing the Legendary Fish, sturgeon, and super cucumbers.
This can be done if you complete the following:
- Get good at the fishing mini-game. This can be achieved with practice, getting the iridium rod, and finding lures and bobbers that work well for you.
- Always have more bait than you think you could possibly need.
- Learn the schedules of the more valuable fish.
- Find out the location and seasons of all five Legendary Fish. The Angler’s base price of these prize fish range from 1500-7500g!
Information about the Legendary Fish can be obtained by finding Lost Library Books and reading them in the museum.
Read more: Mountain Lake Location and Available Fish
4. Stock Up at the Night Market
One of the most exciting yearly events of Stardew Valley is the Night Market!
During the 15th through 17th of Winter, there is a festival down at the Beach after 5 pm. There are various merchants, shows, and other curiosities to check out.
There are also very expensive fish that can only be caught on the deep sea fishing tour.
Ensure that you get there fully prepared at exactly 5 pm and pay the submarine captain 1000g.
He will take you down to the deepest depths of the water, where you can find special fish like the blobfish, spookfish, and midnight squid!
Even without the Angler profession, these fish fetch a large profit.
Particularly the blobfish, which can be sold for a 500g base price or a 750g Angler price!
5. Don’t Be Above Dumpster Diving
All of the town’s garbage cans have the possibility of having an item per day that you can pocket. Interacting with one will produce a sound, animation, and a potential treasure.
Sure, you will end up with a lot of trash, but there is also a chance of finding valuable items such as pink cake, gold bars, fish tacos, or even diamonds.
Just don’t let any of the other Pelican Town citizens see you! They tend to be pretty judgemental if they see you looking through their trash.
Read more: 20 Best Farm Layouts in Stardew Valley