How Much Can You Make a Week With DoorDash in the U.S.?

Are you wondering how much can you make a week with DoorDash as you are thinking of joining their fantastic team of delivery drivers?

Needless to say, the money you make will depend on how much you work and the success rate of your deliveries. Having said that, expedient dashers working 40 hours per week and getting good tips can make almost $1,000 a week.

We break down the numbers below!

Average Earnings as a DoorDash Driver

One of the best gig jobs you can get in the U.S. is delivering DoorDash orders.

Why? Several reasons: DoorDash is the #1 Food & Drink app in the U.S., dashers set their own schedule, they don’t report to anyone, and they choose which orders to deliver.

There’s more! Your total paycheck also comprises three distinct categories: base pay, promotions, and tips—while you always earn a varying base pay amount, the tips and promotions portion of your earnings are all up to you.

If you are an efficient dasher, you can expect to earn around $20–$25 an hour with good tips and after meeting the requirements of applicable promotions.

Provided you keep that pace for 8 hours per day, you can earn between $160 and $200 per day, and if you are lucky enough to have good days for an entire work week (from Monday to Friday), you can expect to make $800 to $1,000 each week.

Therefore, if you dedicate yourself to DoorDash, you could be earning between $3,200 to $4,000 per month—similar to the average weekly salary in the U.S.

Still, you must remember that these numbers are affected by your service area and whether or not you earn an additional percentage off tips and promotions.

Base Pay, Promotions, and Tips Breakdown

As you’ve read above, the base wage you get as a dasher is further complemented by tips and various promotions, especially those happening during rush hours.

The base pay is calculated based on the expected delivery time, the distance, and the desirability of the order, and is the minimum guaranteed amount you would get for the delivery, which more often than not increases with tips and promotions. On average, the base pay portion of your earnings varies between $2 and $10.

But you would often receive decent tips as well, provided you deliver the goods ahead of time. Typically, dashers get 15% to 20% tips per order and keep all of it.

You can also access various promotions if you meet certain conditions. For instance, with ‘Peak Pay’, you earn more if you complete your deliveries during busy hours. Or you can also undertake challenges that involve completing deliveries within a certain timeframe.

What About the Average DoorDash Delivery?

DoorDash’s conventional estimates indicate an average order takes around 40 minutes to complete—20 minutes of which involve getting to the merchant to pick up the order and another 20 to deliver it to the final destination.

As for the money generated from a single order, DoorDash pays $2 to $10 depending on the distance and delivery time, onto which an average tip of $3 to $6 is added and any applicable promotions. The final estimate for a single order pay is $5 to $15.

What Is the DoorDash Weekend Pay Like?

Many DoorDash drivers only work on the weekends since they use this opportunity to earn some extra money on top of their Monday-to-Friday job.

Due to increased order demand, DoorDash drivers can earn up to 50% more on weekends than during weekdays, especially around dinner time on Saturdays and Sundays. For example, some full-time drivers earn about $500–$600 during good weekends.

Average After-Tax Income as a Dasher

Self-employed workers in the U.S., including dashers, typically pay a 15.3% tax on their income, which falls in the lower end of income tax brackets (they go up to 37%). Therefore, if you earn $50,000 per year, you would owe $7,650 in taxes.

With that in mind, dashing looks like a profitable gig since you determine your working hours and don’t report to anyone. On the other hand, filing your taxes as a self-employed worker is rather time-consuming, especially if you are unsure how to do it.

How Much Can You Make a Week With DoorDash Part-Time?

Since most dashers prefer working part time for extra income while studying or working another job, let’s see just how much you can make with limited work hours.

Suppose you are working diligently for 20 hours per week. Then, you can get around $20 an hour, which translates to $80 per day or $400 a week.

However, you can still pick the days and hours of the week you will work. For instance, if you focus on the weekend, you can potentially make more money since Saturday and Sunday see the most orders placed via DoorDash.

Factors That Affect Your DoorDash Weekly Earnings

As mentioned above, the order volume varies daily and peaks during weekends. But other factors may also affect your weekly earnings, including public holidays, the state of the traffic, inclement weather, and more. We check out all these factors below.

1. Work during peak hours and busy days

Since weekdays see less demand for food delivery services, focus on making money by driving on weekends. Also, as a general rule of thumb, the peak hours to work during any week are Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons and nights.

As a full-time dasher, you can maximize your earnings by working between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m., which lets your cover lunch and dinner hours. Alternatively, you can split your working day into two halves: between 10:30–14:30 and 16:30–20:30.

2. Try to deliver during bad weather

You would think inclement weather lowers your dashing profits, but think about it: people tend to increase their take-out orders when they cannot get them themselves.

Therefore, if you are well-equipped with a safe vehicle and can deliver your DoorDash orders on time despite any external factors, go for it. There’ll be more orders for you.

3. Avoid traffic rushes as much as possible

The faster you deliver the order, the more orders you can finalize and the more money you will make—not to mention that customers are eager to tip more if you beat the clock. Conversely, lateness may trigger certain violations that affect your earnings.

One effective method to ensure you arrive on and before time is to beat the traffic, if possible. That would involve thoroughly studying your delivery area and finding less crowded roads that would quickly take you to your destination.

4. Pick a high-income and/or busy area

Needless to say, working in areas bustling with delivery opportunities means more profits down the line. So, metropolitan cities, such as San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and the like, can keep dashers busy throughout the entire day.

But, you should also work in a high-income area where you may be able to boost your earnings via better tips, i.e., well-off customers tip more.

5. Buy a fuel-efficient vehicle

Last but not least, you should buy an economical and low-maintenance vehicle since your main task as a dasher involves driving from point A to point B, and if you spend less money on gas and upkeep while doing that, you’ll maximize your profits.

You could also cut your carbon footprint and gas consumption by delivering with a bicycle, but doing so also cuts into the money you make since you will deliver less.

Bottom Line

If you’ve decided to become your own boss as a DoorDasher, you’d be happy to learn that you can easily make over $500 a week and, on a great week, push your earnings close to $1,000—the average U.S. weekly wage. However, ultimately, it depends on how many hours you work each day and the number of successful deliveries you complete.