If you want to make some extra cash, being a DoorDash driver (aka Dasher) is one of the best side hustles to consider.
It's simple to start, accessible from most cities in the USA (as well as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), and flexible enough to fit any schedule.
This flexibility makes DoorDash perfect for part-timers looking to make money in their free time and full-timers who might need a temporary income source after a layoff.
Regardless of the category you fall into, you probably have a specific monthly income goal.
And you might be wondering “How much Does DoorDash pay?” and more importantly, “Can I reach my goal as a Dasher?”
This article will cover everything from DoorDash’s pay structure to real-world examples of Dasher earnings to the different factors that could impact your earnings—so you can decide if being a Dasher is worth it for you.
Let’s get into it.
How does DoorDash work as a driver?
As a DoorDash driver, you’re the middleman between DoorDash merchants (restaurants partnered with DoorDash) and DoorDash consumers (people who place orders via DoorDash.)
Now that you’ve got the basics, here’s how DoorDash works for drivers and how you can get started:
1. Sign up as a Dasher
Your journey as a Dasher starts with a simple application via the DoorDash website or the Dasher mobile app.
To qualify, you must meet the following requirements:
- Age: Be at least 18 years old
- Vehicle: Have a car, scooter, or bicycle
- Documentation: Provide a driver’s license (if you’re using a car) and a social security number
When you submit your application, you’ll have to wait for DoorDash to complete background checks and approve it.
This could take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. Some Dashers report that this could extend from a few days to more than 2 weeks.
2. Complete deliveries and get paid
Once your application is approved, you can start fulfilling deliveries and making money via the Dasher app.
The app lets you set your availability in two ways: Schedule shifts (aka Dashes) in advance or use the “Dash Now” button to start working immediately.
During your Dash, the app will send you delivery requests (aka offers) with their estimated earnings, distance, and other details. Based on these details, you can decide to accept or decline the offer.
If you accept an offer, you’ll pick up the customer’s order from a restaurant or retail shop and deliver it to their doorstep. Once you drop off the order, you'll confirm the delivery in the app, get paid, and be ready to take the next offer.
After completing your first delivery, DoorDash will send you a welcome kit. It includes an insulated bag for keeping your customers’ food hot (or cold) and a red card for completing Shop and deliver orders that require you to pay on behalf of customers at the store.
3. Withdraw your earnings
DoorDash tracks all your earnings in the app and lets you cash out in three main ways:
- Weekly payouts: DoorDash automatically deposits your earnings into your bank account every week without any extra charges
- Fast Pay: Instead of waiting for weekly payouts, you can cash out once per day for a fee of $1.99
- DasherDirect: Sign up for the DasherDirect prepaid Visa card to earn instantly after every Dash without any charges. Plus, you get 2% cashback on gas purchases made with the card
How DoorDash calculates earnings
So you know DoorDash pays you after every successful delivery.
But what exactly makes up your earnings?
Here’s the simple formula:
Base pay + Promotions + Customer tips = Total earnings
You’ll always earn a Base pay after every delivery.
This varies between $2 and $10+ per delivery, depending on factors like distance (and time) required to complete the delivery and the delivery’s desirability.
If an order has low desirability, it means few drivers are willing to accept it, so DoorDash bumps up its base pay to encourage you to accept it.
DoorDash offers various Promotions at different times to boost your earnings. This includes:
- Peak pay: Additional pay during busy times in certain areas.
- Challenges: Bonuses for completing a set number of deliveries within a specified timeframe. For example, you can earn an extra $15 for completing 10 deliveries within the week.
- Delivery streaks: When it’s available, you’ll earn extra cash for completing a set number of consecutive deliveries without fail.
Then there are Customer tips, which could easily make up at least 50% (or more) of your total Dasher earnings.
Customers have the option to tip when placing their order and can even add a tip after delivery if they’re impressed with your service (they have up to 30 days to do this). The best part is that DoorDash lets you keep 100% of the tips you receive.
How much does DoorDash pay per hour?
On average, Dashers earn between $15 and $25 per hour. However, you could earn more or less depending on factors like your location, times you choose to dash, and your vehicle (more on that later).
To calculate your own hourly earnings, it’s important to understand the difference between dash time and active time:
- Dash time is the total time you’re logged into the DoorDash app, including waiting for offers and completing deliveries.
- Active time only counts the time you’re actively working on an order, from the moment you accept it to when it’s delivered.
Because active time excludes waiting periods, your hourly rate based on active time will often be higher.
Imagine you were logged into the app (Dash time) for 3 hours but spent only 2 hours actively completing deliveries. If you earned $60 in total during this period, then your hourly rate is:
- $60 / 3 hours = $20/hour based on dash time
- $60 / 2 hours = $30/hour based on active time
That said, most Dashers calculate their hourly rate based on their dash time since this is the time they’ve dedicated to making money, whether they spent it actively delivering orders or not.
Earn-per-offer vs. earn-per-time on DoorDash
Earn-per-offer is the traditional way to earn on DoorDash. It lets you cherry-pick offers that match your preferences and pay well. As a result, you could focus on high-paying offers and potentially earn more.
However, the downside is that you won’t be paid for time spent waiting—whether that’s sitting in traffic or waiting too long at a restaurant.
To fix this, DoorDash rolled out the earn-per-time option in June 2023. So now, before you start dashing, you can choose to earn per offer or earn per time.
The app will show you the guaranteed hourly rate for the earn-per-time option, which only applies to active time, not your dash time.
Let’s say before you started your Dash, the earn-per-time option offered a guaranteed hourly rate of $20. If you spent only 45 minutes within one hour accepting and completing deliveries, you would only earn $15 for that active time.
In other words, the idle time you spend waiting for offers won’t be paid.
So yes, this model compensates for any delays you encounter while completing deliveries. However, you’re less likely to earn customer tips with this option. Plus, you can only decline one request within an hour. If you decline a second one, your earn per time session will end.
Depending on your city or market conditions, one of these models might work better for you.
A general rule of thumb is that if you’re working in a high-demand area, go with earn-per-delivery. And if you’re in a slower market with inconsistent demand or where delays are the norm, you might be better off with earn-per-time.
That said, it never hurts to try both to see what works better for you.
Average earnings of 6 DoorDashers
Earlier, we discussed the average earning range for Dashers. But what are Dashers actually making in real life?
I hopped onto Reddit to take notes and here’s a summary of Dashers’ hourly earnings, based on total Dash time:
Part-time Dashers
Many Dashers work part-time, often focusing on peak times like dinner hours to maximize their earnings:
One Dasher living in a small mountain city averages about $16.70/hour. Here’s what they shared:
“I make $800+ a month dashing about ~4 days a week for about 3 hours each of those days during the dinner rush. I live in a small mountain city too where it’s really hard to earn money off this app because everyone lives so rurally compared to the city.”
Another Dasher averages about $24-$30/hour:
“I usually make at least $600 dashing for 20-25 hours a week in Casa Grande Arizona.”
This Dasher noticed a big difference in hourly rates between cities. In Portland, OR, they earned $17–$25/hour, while in Houston, TX, their rate dropped to $9–$15/hour:
“dashing from Jan-June this year in Portland, OR I was making $17-25 per hour, driving peak pay shifts every night. I was driving 4-5 hours shifts making $100+ per shift. dashing In Houston, TX this week I'm only making about $9-15 per hour. no peak pay. shit tips and long drives with no AC. I'm moving back to Portland.”
Full-time Dashers
Full-time Dashers earned roughly the same hourly rate as part-timers. The key difference was that full-time Dashers made more weekly (and monthly) because they spent more time on the job—typically 7 to 9 hours a day, 5 to 7 days a week.
One of these full-time dashers makes about $25-$31.25/hour:
“I make similar [to $1400/week], 8 hour days to make $200-$250. There have been weeks where I’m at $1,000 by the end of Thursday.”
Another earns about $20-$23/hour:
“I make a consistent minimum of $1,000 per week on an avg. of 45 to 50 hr. When I do 65 hr, I cash in $1,300 to $1,500 when I put those extra hours on weekends.”
This Dasher averages about $20/hour:
“For 40hrs I usually make $800. I don't take anything under $6.75 if I can help it, try to keep my mileage down and unassign if the pay I was offered doesn't match up to the time I'm spending on the order.”
Top 3 factors that can affect your DoorDash earnings
As we’ve seen from DoorDash’s earning calculations and real-world Dasher experiences, hourly earnings can vary widely. The differences come down to three main factors:
1. The hours you choose to dash
DoorDash orders peak during specific times, and working during these periods boosts your earnings.
These peak times include:
- Weekends
- Late nights
- Bad weather
- Public holidays
- Sporting events
- Lunch and dinner times
2. The city you’re dashing in
Your location heavily influences your earnings.
Urban areas with plenty of restaurants and customers tend to have a constant flow of orders, with a good mix of high-value ones.
Meanwhile, rural or slower markets may have fewer orders, fewer peak pays, and little to no customer tips, all of which contribute to lower hourly earnings.
3. Your delivery vehicle
Gas purchases are one of the major expenses you’ll incur during dashing. Keeping this low means you get more money in your pocket.
For example, Dashers using bicycles or scooters spend little to no money on gas compared to those driving cars.
Even among cars, fuel costs can vary widely. Compact, fuel-efficient cars are far cheaper to operate than larger vehicles like trucks or SUVs, which burn more gas per mile.
10 tips to earn more on DoorDash
Maximizing your Dasher earnings isn’t just about the hours you work, it’s also about working smarter.
Here are some tips to help you make the most out of every Dash:
- Know your area: Get familiar with the best times to work and the fastest delivery routes. From here, you can expand into new territories.
- Position yourself in high-demand areas: Focus on “power strips,” areas with a high concentration of restaurants, to get frequent orders.
- Dash during peak times: Schedule your shifts around busy hours, like lunch and dinner, and take advantage of promotions like Peak Pay.
- Choose orders strategically: Cherry-pick orders to maintain a minimum hourly rate or maximize your earnings per mile.
- Deliver excellent customer service: Communicate delays, handle orders carefully, and use insulated bags to keep order items warm or cold. This helps to boost your post-delivery customer tips.
- Invest in extra gear: Get equipment like a catering bag to qualify for taking large orders and a pizza bag to qualify for pizza deliveries.
- Use a fuel-efficient vehicle: Save on gas by dashing with a vehicle that gets great mileage.
- Join DoorDash rewards programs: To qualify, you must meet minimum customer ratings, acceptance rate, and completion rate. When you qualify, you enjoy perks like priority access to high-value orders and priority customer support.
- Multi-app to stay busy: Use multiple delivery platforms like Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Instacart to reduce idle time and maximize your earnings.
- Track expenses for tax deductions: Keep records of gas, maintenance costs, and total mileage so you can claim tax deductions and maximize your net income.
Is DoorDash worth it?
Yes, DoorDash is worth it for most part-time and full-time workers.
As one of the largest food delivery services in the U.S., DoorDash offers plenty of opportunities to earn.
Whether you're looking to make extra cash on the side or commit full-time, DoorDash provides the flexibility to work as much or as little as you want. You could dash for as little as 4 hours a week or go all-in with 9–10 hours daily, 7 days a week—it's up to you.
Another plus is their helpful and responsive support team. If you run into an issue, like showing up to a restaurant that’s closed, you can snap a photo, send it to support, and they’ll partially refund the delivery cost.
That said, your location (which you may not be able to control) greatly affects your earnings.
In slower areas, there are fewer orders, promotions, and tips. This can make it tough to reach your goals, especially after factoring in expenses like gas, taxes, insurance, and maintenance. If that’s the case, DoorDash may not be the best fit for you.
Make more money online with Whop
DoorDash is a great way to make money if you have the time to invest and want to quickly hit your short-term income goals.
However, relying solely on a platform where your pay is tied to your time might not be sustainable long term.
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You could share your DoorDash tips and experiences, or tap into skills from your job, hobbies, or studies. There’s always something you can package and share with the world. We have creators making thousands selling everything from sports betting tips to writing courses.
People will be happy to pay to learn from you and get to earn passively—it’s a win-win for everyone!
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FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions about how much DoorDash pays:
How much do DoorDashers get paid per order?
DoorDashers earn a base pay of $2–$10+ per delivery, plus 100% of customer tips and any additional promotions.
Can I make $1000 a week with DoorDash?
Yes, you can make $1,000 a week with DoorDash. In a location paying around $20/hour, you’d need to work 50 hours to reach that goal. By focusing on peak times like lunch, dinner, holidays, and weekends, you could even exceed $1,000.
Does DoorDash pay immediately?
Yes, you can withdraw earnings instantly after each delivery with no fees, but you’ll need to sign up for the DasherDirect prepaid Visa card.
Do Dashers get paid for waiting?
DoorDash’s earn-by-time mode pays a guaranteed hourly rate from when you accept a delivery to when you complete it, including wait times at restaurants and in traffic. In contrast, the earn-per-offer mode doesn’t pay for waiting. With both options, idle time spent waiting for orders isn’t compensated.
