Four published ways to make money, compared

The money article lists four routes: collect and sell loot, haul and flip cargo, produce goods at your base, or join the police. Settlement owners and clans that control territories also collect taxes. None of those come with published rates in the material checked here, so any table of hourly earnings would be fiction.

What can be compared is risk. Loot and cargo both depend on carrying goods, and the death rule says a Criminal in Looty Bay loses the inventory while desert death always costs all loot. Base production depends on a plot, and the Federal Raid wipes all plots and bases every seven days. The police route has the mildest published death penalty: an officer loses only department-issued gear, with personal items and equipment untouched.

Territorial tax income is different in kind. It comes from being a settlement owner or a clan controlling territory, and the help centre has a dedicated article on becoming a settlement owner and earning income. It is also the route most exposed to the reset.

This desk's judgement, labelled as such: within a short cycle, carry routes and the police role are easier to reason about than base production, because they do not depend on an asset the reset removes. Kefir has published no numbers to confirm that ranking, so treat it as an editorial reading of the rules, not a game mechanic.