Driving for DoorDash is one of the most popular delivery gigs. It seems like everyone has a friend doing it, and you can’t miss the ads all over Youtube, TikTok, and TV.
So why is it so hard to figure out how much DoorDash drivers really make?
Your friend says they make $30 an hour. Then you see an article that says, no, ACTUALLY most DoorDash drivers make less than minimum wage.
And DoorDash is vague about it all: “Make reliable money—working anytime, anywhere!” Ok, but how much money?
This is our big report to find the truth! We studied at all the top data sources around the web to find out how much DoorDash pay really is.
Take a look and see how much Dashers make according to the top resources, then see all the most commonly asked questions about how DoorDash pay really works.
What you need to know
- DoorDash driver pay typically ranges between $10–$25 per hour
- Gridwise, an app that crowdsources data, says DoorDash drivers earn around $15 per hour
- Average pay per delivery is $5–$15
- It’s possible to earn $100 per day. $1000 per week is possible but uncommon
- Pay varies based on the city you’re in, day of the week, and time of day
- Vehicle expenses can significantly reduce your earnings
Want to deliver? Sign up with Uber Eats!
Article Contents
- Table: How Much DoorDash Drivers Make
- Can You Make $100/Day? $1000/Week?
- Earnings Data from Indeed, GlassDoor, ZipRecruiter
- What Top Bloggers Say about DoorDash Pay
- Government & Crowdsourced Pay Data
- How Costs Factor into the Earnings Equation
- FAQ: How DoorDash Pays Dashers
How much DoorDash drivers make, according to recent data
Data Source | DoorDash Earnings |
---|---|
Indeed | $15.41 per hour |
Glassdoor | $14 - $24 per hour |
ZipRecruiter | $18 per hour |
TheRideshareGuy.com | $20 - $25 per hour |
Ridester.com | $15 - $25 per hour |
TheCollegeInvestor.com | $15 - $25 per hour |
Gridwise | $15.57 per hour |
BLS Statistics | $16 per hour |
What does DoorDash say about Dasher pay?
If you visit the DoorDash page about dasher pay, it doesn’t list an earnings estimate. You won’t find any specific hourly pay figure.
Instead of saying exactly how much Dashers make, DoorDash focuses on the other benefits of Dashing, like the flexible nature of the work and the ability to withdraw earnings daily.
DoorDash describes how you get paid, and how the bonus and incentive systems work, but they won’t say HOW MUCH you’ll be paid.
So why doesn’t DoorDash publish earnings statistics?
The FTC has strict regulations about earnings claims, so any specific claim may land DoorDash in legal jeopardy.
To give you an example of the legal risk, Uber got fined $20 million by the FTC back in 2017 for misleading earnings claims.
Combine the legal issues with the fact that Dasher earnings can be all over the map depending on a dizzying number of factors, and you’ll see why coming up with one universal earnings number isn’t easy.
Can you make $100 a day with DoorDash?
According to all the top sources that report DoorDash pay, it is possible to earn $100 per day with DoorDash. It takes around 4–8 hours to make $100.
If you’re only getting $10 per hour, which is in the pay range published by Indeed, it might take 10 hours to get $100.
But when you’re earning $25 per hour on a good day, it will only take you half a working day to get your hundred bucks.
Can you make $1000 per week?
According to the sources we studied, it is possible to earn $1000 with DoorDash on a good week. But don’t count on getting $1000 per week every week.
At $25 per hour, it will take 40 hours to get $1000. $25 is on the high end of the data we found, so anything less means you’ll be working 50+ hours per week to get your thousand dollars.
The DoorDash driver below earned $1195 in one week, and it’s not too hard to find similar screen caps. But how likely is a $1k week?
$1000 per week works out to around $50,000 per year, which is much higher than most sources quote for DoorDash yearly pay.
A $1,000 week means you get consistently high order volume, consistently high pay, and consistently generous promotions from DoorDash.
In other words, the stars have to align for you to get a thousand bucks.
At $15–$20 per hour—the average earnings figure quoted by most of our sources—it will take you 50–65 hours of work to hit $1000. That’s a ton of work and a ton of miles to put on your vehicle.
Is DoorDash a reliable source of income?
DoorDash can be a reliable source of part-time income if you want an extra $100–$1000 per month.
It’s a great way to help pay for bills, or to save up a few hundred dollars each month.
But DoorDash isn’t as reliable for full-time income. Data from real drivers does show that you can make $1,000 per week in some cases, but you can’t expect to make that much every week.
It’s risky to rely on DoorDash for full-time income for more than a few months. Market conditions can change, DoorDash can tweak the pay model, and vehicle expenses may begin to add up.
You can rely on DoorDash as a side hustle as long as you can deliver during peak hours, and you can dedicate 10–15 hours per week to delivering.
What do the big job & career websites say about average DoorDash pay?
It’s easy to find information about how much DoorDash drivers make on big-name job sites like Indeed, Glassdoor, and Zip Recruiter.
All of those sites use user-submitted data to generate their earnings figures. And they have tons of users, so they have lots of data to work with.
But the big issue with job sites is that they don’t show a very deep understanding of how Dasher income works.
They frequently discuss Dasher pay in terms of salary, but delivering for DoorDash isn’t a salaried position.
Most Dashers want to know about earnings per hour, per day, per week, or per delivery.
So you can only use data from those sites in a general sense. Ignore all the irrelevant info about salary, bonus, stock options, etc that would apply to a typical salaried position.
Indeed: Dashers make $15.41 per hour
Indeed has a tool that will let you know how much a DoorDash driver makes in each state of the US.
For California, Indeed claims that the average earnings for Dashers is $15.41 per hour.
The lowest figure they claim is $7.25 per hour, and the highest is $30.95.
The fact that Indeed publishes such a wide range of earnings lends it credibility because Dasher income really can vary that much.
From the anecdotes we see all the time, on a terrible day you can earn $7 per hour, and on a great day you can earn $30.
There isn’t any standardization in the Indeed data because the data is user submitted, and Indeed doesn’t organize and consolidate it.
For instance, one Indeed entry says the DoorDash “courier” portion makes $53,065 per year, while a ‘Driver’ makes $524 per week. That’s a big disparity for the same job.
Glassdoor: Dasher pay ranges from $14 to $24 per hour
Glassdoor’s page for DoorDash drivers quotes an average pay of $16 per hour, ranging from $5 to $30 per hour. That’s a big range!
One issue with Glassdoor’s reporting is that the page doesn’t seem catered to gig work.
Most of the features on the page are left blank because they are about salary, bonuses, promotions, etc. Those aren’t relevant to gig work like DoorDash, and Glassdoor doesn’t adjust each page for the line of work.
ZipRecruiter: Dashers make $18/hour, $36565/year
ZipRecruiter’s page about DoorDash gives a wide range of data that includes details about hourly and yearly earnings.
Their data says that the average Dasher makes around $18 per hour and $38,715 per year.
One helpful feature of the ZipRecruiter data is that they break it down in terms of an earnings distribution, not just one universal number.
They say that on the low end (25th percentile), Dashers make $28,587. On the higher end (75th percentile), Dashers can expect $43,940.
The top-performing Dashers (90th percentile) in their data earned $55,057.
Where do they get their data? ZipRecruiter says, “salary estimates, histograms, trends, and comparisons are derived from employer job postings and third-party data sources.”
What bloggers say about average pay on DoorDash
They may not have a big sets of user-submitted data, but delivery bloggers can give us insight into the earnings conversation.
The Rideshare Guy: $20–$25 per hour
The Rideshare Guy has a helpful article from one of their longtime contributors that gives a good amount of detail about DoorDash driver income.
The article says that Dashers can expect to make $20–$25 per hour.
It then extends that hourly earnings figure into a yearly income, “Assuming an average of $20–25/hour, and 40 hours per week, Doordash drivers can expect to make about $800–$1000/week and $3200–4000/month.”
The Rideshare Guy’s numbers are on the high end compared to others, and it’s not really accurate to say that a certain hourly income will translate to a specific yearly income.
DoorDash earnings are unpredictable, with lots of highs and lows. So multiplying hourly earnings out to a year isn’t the most nuanced method.
But the writer does support their position with their own data, which is always a big plus.
It’s also good to note that the article’s writer is located in one of the hottest delivery markets in the US, which is likely the reason for the higher numbers.
Ridester.com: $15 to $25 per hour
A post by Ridester, a top-ranking blog in the gig economy, states that Dashers can expect to make roughly $15 to $25 an hour.
They go on to say, “Your average hourly pay will hover around $20, though this may not consider the number of expenses you’ll need to factor into your overall earnings.”
The Ridester article doesn’t back up its numbers with hard stats or claims of user-submitted data.
It’s nice that the Ridester article goes into full detail on the payment system and discusses driver costs. Not enough sources discuss costs.
The College Investor: Says Dashers make $15 to $25 per hour
The College Investor is another content source that you’ll commonly see floating around on the first and second page of Google results.
Their post reviewing DoorDash says that Dashers can make $15 to $25 per hour. However, the article is more of a general overview of DoorDash, and doesn’t go into much detail about earnings.
The post does mention that newer drivers might earn less while they learn the ropes, which is an honest admission. Not everyone will hit $25 per hour, especially newbies.
What top data sources say about DoorDash driver pay
Instead of reporting anecdotes, these sources use hard data from thousands, or even millions, of drivers.
Gridwise: Real data from drivers, $15.57 per hour before tips
Gridwise is an app that gives detailed earnings information for rideshare, food, delivery, and package delivery drivers. It tells you when to drive, where to drive, and how much you can expect to earn.
What makes Gridwise so powerful—and accurate—is that all of its data comes directly from its users.
Gridwise reports that DoorDash drivers earn $15.57 per hour, $1.04 per mile, and $7.97 per trip—before factoring in tips!
That is some of the strongest earnings data we found because tips make up a significant portion of Dasher income.
What’s even better about Gridwise data is that they break it down by city. Not every city is at $15 per hour. Some are as low as $8 or as high as $24.
Government statistics: Similar delivery drivers make $16 per hour
Driving for a delivery app is a relatively new type of work, and we all know that the government is slow to catch onto new trends.
You can find government statistics that include apps like DoorDash, but the data is mixed in with other industries.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics collects data for the ‘Delivery truck drivers and driver/sales workers.’ This category includes workers who “pick up, transport, and drop off packages and small shipments within a local region or urban area.”
The BLS reports that workers in this industry have a median pay of $16.51 per hour. Median means that half earn more, and half earn less.
It’s reasonable to include DoorDash into that figure, which lines up with other data we’ve found, so let’s call it reliable.
Why is all of the earnings data so different?
The truth is that it’s hard to give a general answer to the DoorDash earnings question.
There is no set pay. There is no guaranteed minimum (except in California). As a result, two drivers can earn vastly different amounts, even working in the same city.
There are so many variables to account for, and once you’ve figured out a way to model the earnings problem, DoorDash may change how driver pay works.
And there’s a big regional problem because Dashers in one city may earn significantly more or less than Dashers in another.
The time of year is another major factor. It’s nearly accepted fact that business slows down during the winter months—but not always!
Then there’s the full-time/part-time divide. A part-timer working the best hours might be able to brag about $30 per hour.
But if you switch to full-time, you don’t always have the luxury of only working the best hours, so your pay can dip.
Some data sources factor in expenses, and others don’t. You can usually assume that a blogger, YouTube, or internet commenter isn’t carefully factoring in expenses unless they specifically say that they are.
All of this adds up to make it difficult to accurately say how much DoorDash drivers really make.
How driving costs factor into the income equation
Almost all of the analyses you’ll find online only talk about the income side of the equation. Expenses are missing from the conversation.
Income – Expenses = Profit!
You won’t know your actual earnings unless you calculate your expenses because, unlike most traditional jobs, being a Dasher comes with a lot of expenses.
Big expenses include:
- Fuel
- Maintenance and repairs
- Insurance
- Depreciation
So why don’t all the top sites talk about expenses when they publish income figures?
Accounting for expenses is complicated. Each vehicle and driver can be vastly different. The total cost to operate a $3k Prius will be much lower than the cost to operate a $40k Tahoe that gets 14MPG.
The attitude seems to be, “Here’s how much DoorDash sent in the direct deposit. You can figure out the rest!”
But for those who have never operated a vehicle-based business before, it’s not easy to figure out the true profit and loss.
Especially when you have to factor in taxes, which are a lot more complicated than typical W2 earning
According to AAA, a typical smaller vehicle costs around 40 cents per mile to operate. So if you drive 20,000 miles per year for DoorDash, that’s $8,000 in vehicle expenses.
That’s a big number to take off the top. Does that mean you’ll be subtracting that directly from your expenses? Yes, but no.
This is where the standard mileage deduction comes in. It’s a generous tax deduction that will account for most or all of your vehicle expenses. And vehicle expenses are the most significant expense for Dashers.
The standard mileage deduction reduces expenses/increases income
The IRS standard mileage deduction is designed to compensate drivers for ordinary vehicle expenses. At 65.5 cents per mile for 2023, it’s a generous deduction.
For example, if you drive 20,000 miles for DoorDash, the standard mileage deduction will lower your taxable income by $13,100. That means you don’t have to pay taxes on that income.
If you add up all of your vehicle expenses and divide them by the number of miles that you drive, chances are it costs you much less than 65.5 cents per mile to operate your car.
So the standard mileage deduction is a big benefit for drivers. It can offset most vehicle expenses by taking a big chunk out of your taxable income.
Make sure you carefully track your mileage! DoorDash provides some mileage tracking data, but you will want your own numbers too. DoorDash may undercount your deductible miles.
FAQs about DoorDash pay
How are DoorDash drivers paid? What’s the earnings formula?
Dashers are paid for each completed delivery. The earnings formula is: Base pay + promotions + Tips
Base pay is a variable amount ranging from $2 to $10, depending on several factors.
Promotions include Peak Pay and Challenges, bonuses sometimes added to orders during busy times.
Dashers keep 100% of tips, and you can see if a customer has tipped or not before you start an order.
When an order request comes in, you’ll see an estimated payout that includes base pay, promotions, and some or all of the tip. You are free to accept or decline any order.
In some markets, DoorDash also offers the option to Earn by Time. When you choose the Earn by Time mode, you will receive a guaranteed hourly minimum pay while you are actively on deliveries.
One limitation with Earn by Time is that you can only reject 1 or 2 orders per hour.
When does DoorDash pay Dashers? Can you get paid daily?
By default, DoorDash pays once weekly via a free direct deposit.
To get paid daily, you can also use Fast Pay to withdraw your earnings whenever you want. There is a $1.99 fee for each Fast Pay withdrawal.
If you sign up for the DasherDirect debit card, your earnings will be deposited to the card at the end of each dash, for no fee.
DasherDirect is subject to approval.
Can Dashers see tips up front? Does DoorDash hide tips?
An order request has an estimated payout that can include some or all of a tip.
That means that DoorDash may ‘hide’ some of the tip if it exceeds a certain amount.
For example, in some markets, DoorDash hides tip information when the total payout is greater than $7. Under that system, an estimate for $5 means that you are getting base pay and a small or no tip.
If the order estimate is $7, it indicates that you’re getting base pay with a tip that is more than a few dollars. The tip could be even higher, but you won’t know until the order is completel.
How much is DoorDash base pay?
Base pay for a DoorDash order ranges from $2–$10. The amount depends on a number of factors, and the specific calculation is not shared with the public.
Can you show some examples of Dasher payouts?
This article has many examples of Dasher payouts, ranging from high to low.
Does DoorDash pay for gas or other expenses?
DoorDash does not cover any of your expenses. As an independent contractor, you are responsible for all of your own costs.
You have to pay for fuel, insurance, maintenance, etc.
See the section about driver expenses to see how the standard mileage deduction will significantly offset your costs.
What are Peak Pay and Challenges?
Peak Pay is a bonus paid for completing individual deliveries when it is busy. Challenges give you a bonus for completing a set number of deliveries within a specific time frame.
What are the best days and times to drive?
Generally, you will earn the most during lunch and dinner hours. Saturdays and Sundays are the top days of the week, but that’s not always the case. You’ll have to experiment with your city to find out.
Use Gridwise to see the best days and times to drive in your city. Gridwise uses real driver data.
Summing it up: Does the pay make DoorDash worth it?
Is DoorDash worth it? Can you make enough to make it worth your time, energy, and the wear and tear on your vehicle?
As we’ve shown, don’t expect rock-solid, perfect data that can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you’ll always make enough with DoorDash.
In reality, you’ll earn around $10–$25 per hour. There will be highs and lows. Get used to unpredictable income.
An incredible $1000 week will make you feel like this is one of the best jobs you’ve had, then a $300 week during the winter will make you want to quit.
But to answer the question, DoorDash is worth it if your city has a reasonably high order volume and if you can keep your expenses low.
Dash in a fuel-efficient vehicle. Use mileage tracking apps to track and write off every business mile you drive.
Treat DoorDash like a business. If income minus expenses doesn’t generate a profit that meets your goals, you may need to move on to something else.
Lizz says
So far, my experience is $10-13 an hour. That’s about on par with minimum wage in my grand ole state of Virginia. I drive a gas guzzler SUV. I live in a small town with about 1 in 3 deliveries being rural. So after gas expenses, I figure I’m really doing 7.00-8.50 per hour. Door Dash only has stats for the densely populated state capitol, Richmond, which is 6 hours away. LOOOL. Like that’s gonna be in any way accurate? I started using Gridwise, but it is having issues syncing and running in the background. If I can get the kinks out of it, I can get a better idea of what’s going on. I could totally drive my husband’s Nissan Versa instead of the Nissan Pathfinder and get better mileage. But delivering giant boxes of chicken nuggets down gravel driveways in the mountains is a heck of a lot easier with 4WD. (Best tippers there!) I could also deliver more at night time when it’s a lot busier. But as a woman with small children to feed and put to bed 6-9 pm, it makes more sense for me to deliver in the afternoons when my husband doesn’t need as much help with that rowdy crew. I already have another part time job substitute teaching for the local schools. So for me, delivery is just a little extra cash to help us out.
Jan says
The articles that I’ve read fail to mention the important information that DoorDashers are independent contractors who not only need to pay for their gas, which takes a huge chunk out of any income, but that Dashers also need to pay their own income tax, Social security payments, health insurance, etc. out of the money they receive. So Indeed and other sources reporting income potential if $40k or $50k are very inflated as to how much income a DoorDash driver will actually have for supporting their living expenses. But that’s the way so many businesses, even professions, are going now. I see it with mental health therapist positions. Since COVID, mental health agencies have realized that it’s much cheaper and lucrative to have workers be independent contractors who work from their own homes or cars and are responsible for paying all taxes, social security, health insurance, retirement, and just don’t get paid for sick time or vacations. The model has caught on line wildfire across professions and the work world. The individual is stuck fending for the individual. Brave new world.
Doug H says
Excellent point. Our article does have a section about vehicle expenses and taxes to help give people a better idea of the true profit and loss of delivery
L says
I think the data all skews to savvy users and full timers. Like people who just need money for their utility bill every couple months probably aren’t using gridwise. And a lot of the time they are probably making more like $4-8 an hour before expenses. My market is horrible and that range is the best possible outcome a lot of the time. You have to multi app to make almost minimum wage.
BJ says
And so the world goes around. I remember a time when I could order a sandwich from the local deli and the owner of the deli would send one of his part time kids out to do a delivery. I called a “sandwich shop” today and was told that I could not place an order for delivery with the young lady who anwered the phone. I had to call the delivery service, that was 3 steps up the ladder. that was after I downloaded the APP filled it out, told the world my story and maybe I would get my sandwich in several hours.
I am seventy years old, the world has changed alot since I was a kid (I cannot say for the better). We have children starving to death in the world while we bicker over who makes more money delivering my sandwich. That use to be how kids paid for their college. Good luck to you all