How Much Do DoorDash and Uber Eats Drivers Really Make After Expenses?

The number DoorDash or Uber Eats shows you at the end of the week is not your wage. It is the revenue of a one-person delivery business — and that business pays for gas, tires, oil changes, insurance, depreciation, and both halves of Social Security and Medicare. Once those costs come out, a week that looks like $18 an hour can land below the $7.25 federal minimum wage. This guide walks through the exact math with the current IRS numbers so you can run it on your own week — or let the free gig driver pay calculator do it in thirty seconds.

The two costs the app never shows you

Your car. The IRS publishes a standard mileage rate that bundles gas, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation into one per-mile number. For 2026 it is 72.5 cents per mile (irs.gov) — up 2.5 cents from 2025. That figure works in two directions: it is what you deduct on your taxes for every logged business mile, and it is a realistic estimate of what each mile actually costs you. Drive 400 miles in a week and roughly $290 of your gross never belonged to you.

Self-employment tax. Delivery apps classify drivers as independent contractors, so nothing is withheld from your payouts. Under IRS Schedule SE (irs.gov), you owe 15.3% — 12.4% for Social Security plus 2.9% for Medicare — applied to 92.35% of your net profit. That is about 14.1 cents of every profit dollar, and it comes out before regular income tax even enters the picture.

The formula for your real hourly wage

Subtract vehicle costs from gross earnings (tips included), subtract self-employment tax, then divide by every hour you were online — waiting time included:

Real $/hr = (gross − miles × $0.725 − SE tax) ÷ hours online
where SE tax = (gross − vehicle costs) × 92.35% × 15.3%

Three details decide whether the answer is honest. Gross means everything the app paid plus tips and promos. Miles means every odometer mile with the app on — including deadhead miles back from drop-offs and out to hotspots, which earn nothing but cost the full 72.5 cents each. And hours online means all the time the job takes, not the "active time" platforms like to advertise, which quietly deletes the waiting from your denominator.

Worked example: a 30-hour DoorDash week

Say you gross $540 in a 30-hour week with tips included, and you put 400 miles on the car doing it. The app calls that $18.00 an hour. Here is the same week after costs:

Line	Amount	Per hour
Gross earnings (incl. tips)	$540.00	$18.00
Vehicle cost: 400 mi × 72.5¢	−$290.00	—
Net profit before tax	$250.00	$8.33
SE tax: $250 × 92.35% × 15.3%	−$35.32	—
Real take-home	$214.68	$7.16

$7.16 an hour — nine cents under the federal minimum wage. Nothing about the week was unusual: no breakdown, no ticket, no slow Tuesday. The gross was fine; the miles ate it. That ratio — dollars earned per mile driven — is the single number that decides whether app work pays, and it is why two drivers with identical grosses can take home wildly different real wages.

Why the per-mile cost keeps climbing

If 72.5 cents per mile sounds high, look at the trend. The IRS adjusts the rate as real vehicle costs rise, and it has moved in one direction:

Year	IRS business rate per mile
2022 (Jan–Jun)	58.5¢
2022 (Jul–Dec)	62.5¢
2023	65.5¢
2024	67¢
2025	70¢
2026	72.5¢

Source: IRS standard mileage rates (irs.gov). A mile of driving costs about 24% more than it did four years ago. Base pay on most delivery apps has not climbed anything like that, which means the same routes return a little less real money every year.

How to raise the number

• Track every mile from day one. A mileage log turns 72.5 cents per mile into a tax deduction. In the worked example, 400 logged miles is a $290 deduction — miss it and you pay tax on money you never kept.
• Judge offers in dollars per mile, not dollars. A $9 order that takes 14 miles round trip nets almost nothing. A $6 order at 3 miles is the better job.
• Count your hours honestly. If you are parked waiting for pings, you are working. Measure your wage against the whole shift or you will keep overestimating it.
• Set aside 25–30% of profit for taxes. If you expect to owe $1,000 or more for the year, the IRS wants quarterly estimated payments — April 15, June 15, and September 15 in 2026, then January 15, 2027.

When local gigs beat app work

The structural problem with delivery apps is that the miles are mandatory and the deadhead is yours to eat. Local work flips that. A moving-help job, a furniture assembly, a yard cleanup, or an errand run booked directly by a neighbor usually pays a flat rate for a few hours in one place — the drive is a couple of miles each way instead of 400 a week. Browse local gigs near you and compare what a Saturday of loading a truck pays against a Saturday of pings. And if you go direct, price the work like a business rather than letting an algorithm do it: the service price calculator builds your costs, taxes, and profit into an hourly rate before you quote anyone.

Before your next shift, run your own gross, hours, and miles through the gig driver pay calculator. It takes thirty seconds, and it is the fastest way to find out whether the apps are paying you — or you are paying them.

FAQ

How much do DoorDash and Uber Eats drivers really make per hour?

It depends almost entirely on miles driven per dollar earned. In the worked example above — $540 gross over 30 hours and 400 miles — real pay is $7.16 per hour after the 2026 IRS mileage rate and self-employment tax, versus the $18 the app displays.

What is the IRS mileage rate for 2026?

72.5 cents per business mile, up 2.5 cents from 70 cents in 2025. It bundles gas, maintenance, insurance, and depreciation into one deductible number. Multiply your logged work miles by $0.725 to estimate both your real vehicle cost and your tax deduction.

Do DoorDash and Uber Eats withhold taxes for drivers?

No. The apps treat drivers as independent contractors, so nothing is withheld. You receive a 1099 and pay both the employee and employer halves of Social Security and Medicare yourself — the 15.3% self-employment tax, applied to 92.35% of your net profit.

Do gig drivers have to pay quarterly estimated taxes?

Yes, if you expect to owe $1,000 or more in tax for the year. Payments go to the IRS via Form 1040-ES, due April 15, June 15, and September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027. Setting aside 25–30% of weekly profit keeps those payments painless.

Can I deduct miles driven to a hotspot or while waiting for orders?

Generally yes — miles driven while working with the app on, including repositioning to hotspots, driving between orders, and returning from drop-offs, are deductible business miles. The trip from home to your first working area may count as commuting, which is not deductible. Keep a contemporaneous mileage log.

Should I use the standard mileage rate or actual expenses?

Most gig drivers do better with the standard mileage rate — 72.5¢ per mile in 2026 — because it covers everything with minimal paperwork. Actual expenses can win with an expensive or gas-hungry vehicle but require receipts for everything. You pick the method the first year the car is used for work.