DoorDash / Food Delivery Driver Earnings Calculator
Calculate true net hourly earnings as a DoorDash, Grubhub, or Uber Eats driver after fuel, mileage deduction, self-employment tax, and vehicle wear costs.
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The gross-vs-net trap of food delivery
DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub all display gross pay, which is what they paid out before any expense you incurred. New drivers see “$25/hour” on the app and assume that’s the take-home. It’s not. Once you subtract fuel, vehicle wear, equipment, and self-employment tax, real net earnings on most markets fall between $8 and $15/hour.
Expense math
fuel cost = (miles ÷ MPG) × gas price per gallon vehicle wear = miles × your wear rate per mile total weekly expenses = fuel + vehicle wear + equipment net weekly = gross weekly − total expenses net hourly = net weekly ÷ active hours
A driver earning $400 gross over 25 active hours, driving 300 miles in a 30-mpg car at $3.50/gallon, with $2/week of equipment and $0.08/mile for wear:
- Fuel: 10 gallons × $3.50 = $35
- Vehicle wear: 300 × $0.08 = $24
- Equipment: $2
- Total expenses: $61
- Net weekly: $339, or $13.56/hour net
The wear field starts empty and stays empty until you fill it. There is no defensible default: the right figure depends on whether the car would exist without this job, and a number the page picks for you is a number you will never question. Blank means wear is left out and the panel says as much.
Tax, and why a flat percentage gets it wrong
Knocking a flat 24% off the net is the usual shortcut and it misstates the answer in both directions. Self-employment tax is 15.3% charged on 92.35% of business profit, and profit for tax is not the cash you took home. Under the standard mileage method it is gross minus (miles × the IRS rate), which is usually a much smaller number than your cash net. The section below works the example through.
Picking a wear rate
The standard AAA per-mile cost of car ownership runs about $0.20 to $0.30/mile when you factor depreciation, insurance, tires, brakes, and routine maintenance. Around $0.08 covers only maintenance and incremental depreciation beyond your normal driving, on the assumption you would own a car anyway. Drivers who buy a car specifically for delivery should enter $0.20+ per mile in the vehicle-wear field, which dramatically changes the math.
A car with 200,000+ miles on it (often) loses tens of thousands in resale value compared to the same car at 100,000 miles. Tires last 25k miles instead of 50k. Brakes wear at delivery-specific rates.
The IRS mileage deduction, the only thing keeping the math positive
The IRS resets the Standard Mileage Rate every January. It was $0.67/mile for 2024 and $0.70/mile for 2025. That is why it is a field on this page rather than a constant in its code: a rate baked into a web page is wrong from the following New Year onward, and this one moves every year.
At the 2025 rate, a driver doing 300 miles a week (15,600 a year) deducts $10,920 from gross. Without it you would owe self-employment tax on the full $20,800, which is about $2,939. With it, taxable profit is $9,880 and the self-employment tax is about $1,396. The mileage log is worth $1,543 a year before income tax even enters the picture.
Critical: track every mile, every shift. Apps like Stride (free), MileIQ, or QuickBooks Self-Employed automate this. Without records, an IRS audit will disallow your deductions entirely.
Realistic hourly net by market type
| Market | Typical net hourly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Major urban (NYC, SF, LA, Boston) | $14 to $22 | Higher gross, higher fuel/tolls/parking |
| Mid-size suburban | $10 to $15 | Best balance for most drivers |
| Small town / rural | $7 to $12 | Lower volume, longer drives between orders |
| College town | $12 to $18 | High peak demand (lunch, late-night) |
| Tourist destination | $10 to $20 (seasonal) | Big swings between high and low season |
The “stacking” advantage
The drivers earning at the high end of these ranges run multi-app simultaneously: DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub on the same phone, or on two phones. When DoorDash sends a $3 order, they reject it and take the $8 Grubhub order that came in 30 seconds later. Single-app drivers leave 30 to 50% of potential income on the table.
Hidden costs most drivers miss
- Phone plan upgrade for unlimited data and faster connectivity ($20 to $50/month over what you’d otherwise pay)
- Phone replacement every 12 to 18 months (heavy use destroys batteries)
- Insurance. Standard personal auto insurance usually does not cover delivery driving. Some insurers cancel policies if they find out. Either get a rideshare/delivery rider ($20 to $60/month) or risk a denied claim.
- Parking tickets in cities where you double-park to make deliveries, easily $50 to $200/month
- Tolls and bridge fees rarely reimbursed
- Health insurance. Gig workers get nothing from the platforms. Marketplace plans cost $400 to $800/month for a healthy adult.
The mental cost
Most experienced drivers report two real psychological costs: the gamification (orders constantly arriving with countdown timers) and the loneliness (rarely talking to customers; brief interactions with restaurant staff). Burn-out is high. Most drivers do not last more than 12 to 24 months in the role.
When delivery makes sense
- Filling extra hours around another job (best use)
- Short-term income while looking for full-time work (3 to 6 months)
- Living in a high-tip / dense market where stacking apps works
When it doesn’t:
- As a primary income in a low-density market
- With a car you bought specifically for delivery (depreciation eats most earnings)
- Without rigorous mileage tracking (you’re paying tax on income that isn’t taxable)
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
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