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Many people have a misconception on how much Uber and Lyft drivers actually make. For this reason, I wanted to start off with visually showing you some of my weekly income statements.
I work in the San Francisco market, drive a 2007 Toyota Prius, and drive the standard services (UberX, Uberpool, Lyft, Lyftline) and I make over $2,000 per week.
On my Uber and Lyft income reports page you will find in depth income reports that breakdown my earnings, expenses, and other important stats on a weekly and monthly basis.
Click any slider image to be directed to that weeks report or click the link below for all reports.
Earn As Your Own Boss
$70,513.19 $16,119.54 Driver Referrals $10,262.74 $3,080.04 $125.00
Ride Earnings
Promotional Earnings
Tips
Passenger Referrals
How much do Uber and Lyft drivers actually make?
Here you have my years worth of rideshare earnings. My gross income of $100,100.41 derives from two main sources: Uber and Lyft. I have five different categories of earnings.
Related: 5 Tips To Maximize Your Uber and Lyft Earnings
These categories are ride earnings, promotional earnings, tips, driver referrals and passenger referrals.
Press show more or view the graph to see how much I made in each category.
| Uber Earnings | $76,968.81 |
$52,477.46 $15,245.44 $7,210.00 $2,036.01
Ride Earnings
Promotional Earnings
Uber Driver Referrals
Uber Tips
| Lyft Earnings | $23,131.60 |
$18,035.73 $874.10 $3,052.74 $1,044.03 $125.00
Ride Earnings
Promotional Earnings
Lyft Tips
Lyft Passenger Referrals
$2,517.01 $4,398.10 $2,854.92 $1,277.99 $588.00 $1,375.00
Car Maintenance
Gas Expense
Car Insurance
Cellular Data Plan
Tickets/Fines
Car Depreciation
Here are all my expenses.
My largest expense was gas for the car. I saved thousands due to my Toyota Prius.
Car insurances comes next. Rates are dependent upon several factors, so yours could be higher or lower than mine.
What type of car maintenance did I pay for throughout the year?
I had to replace my front and back brake pads, rear struts and headlight/taillight bulbs. I had to get multiple oil changes.
With driving thousands of miles, tire alignments and replacing tires are a must.
Why are cell phones an expense?
You need them to operate the uber/lyft apps. You will need unlimited data.
Tickets/fines... stay away from bus stops.
To calculation car depreciation, I averaged my the total cost of my car ($5,500) over four years. There are multiple methods you can calculate car depreciation. Cars that full-time drive for taxi/rideshare services typically have a asset life of 4 years. Depending on how new your car is and how much you drive it varies this calculation.
How much do Uber and Lyft Drivers actually make?
After a year of hard work and dedication, I was able to gross over $100k and net over $87 thousand. Not too bad for driving a car around.
Click here to access Uber's sign up bonus.
Now you may be wondering, how much did I pay in taxes?
First off, everybody's taxes are different. There are many different factors that lower or heighten taxes paid throughout the year.
It is important to note that rideshare drivers are independent contractors. Uber and Lyft do not take out our taxes. We pay them on our own.
After I completed my taxes, I paid approximately $15 thousand.
With that, I took home over $72,000 after expenses and taxes.
Related: 25 Rideshare Tax Deductions Uber and Lyft Drivers Can Use in 2018
Make Money When You Want
| Total Gross Wage/Hr | $34.90 |
| Total Net Wage/Hr | $29.84 |
If I were to tell people they could make over $29.00 and hour driving for Uber and Lyft most people wouldn't believe me; however, its true given you are in the right market.
Now of course, my hourly wage isn't just from jumping in my car and driving around aimlessly.
You have to have strategies. Understanding your market is critical to boosting your profits.
Through trial and error, I developed my own strategies that led me to my success.
| Total Net Wage/Hour After Taxes | $24.00 |
Uber Vs Lyft Gross Hourly Wage
See the image above?
I bet you are thinking why does he make that much more per hour with Lyft?
Here is the answer.
I categorize myself as a full-time Uber driver and a part time Lyft-driver.
I drive for Uber full-time because they offer me weekly incentives. If I complete a certain amount of trips I get extra cash.
However, I do not receive these incentives with Lyft. My car is too old. If my car were a 2012 I would be eligible for the Lyft weekly power driver bonuses.
I tend to only drive for Lyft during primetime high demand times.
During those times I can get paid 2x, 3x, and more which boosts my hourly wage dramatically.
I tend to drive for Uber for quantity of rides often when rides aren't worth as much to attain my incentive.
This is why my Lyft hourly wage is more than Ubers.
Understand that without Uber, I could not have made six figures. Those weekly incentives are critical to my income.
| Total Hours Worked | 2,570 h 35 min |
| Uber Hours | 2,121 h 10 min |
| Lyft Hours | 449 h 25 min |
I worked 49 weeks out of 52 weeks.
By looking at the rideshare hours worked graph, you can see that I worked 50 - 60 hours 16 times.
My average hours per week came out to 52 hours.
One interesting statistic is I had 10 weeks where I worked less than 40 hours.
With 10 weeks under 40 hours, it shows I still left a lot of money on the table.
I believe I could have grossed upwards to $115,000 if I wanted to.
That's the freedom of rideshare.
You can work when you want as long or short as you want.
With that said, if you want to make the big bucks you have to grind!
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Dash Cams, Phone Mounts, and More!
| Total Completed Trips | 7,221 |
| Uber Trips | 5,767 |
| Lyft Trips | 1,454 |
| Total Miles Driven | 55,613 mi |
With all this statistical information, I hope you better understand how much Uber and Lyft drivers actually make.
I was able to make over 100k and I definitely could have made even more.
Now, of course this is dependent on your market. San Francisco is one of the best rideshare markets in the world.
This isn't possible in every city, but that doesn't mean your city doesn't provide opportunity to make extra cash.
Whats Next?
I will be going into the specifics of how I made over 100k rideshare driving.
I will go into depth about strategies I use, how I schedule my days, how to fully understand your market, and so much more.
My rideshare 101 course will be coming out soon as well.
My goal is to help you learn so you can put more money in your pocket.
Subscribe to the Six Figure Driver's email list so you can learn more and earn more.
Join The Community
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$100,100.41 $76,968.81 $52,477.46 $15,245.44 $7,210.00 $2,036.01 $23,131.60 $18,035.73 $874.10 $3,052.74 $1,044.03 $125.00 $13,011.02 $2,517.01 $4,398.10 $2,854.92 $1,277.99 $588.00 $1,375.00 $87,089.39 $34.90 $32.89 $44.40 $29.84 2,570 h 35 min 2,121 h 10 min 449 h 25 min 7,221 5,767 1,454 55,613 mi
Income Breakdown
Total Gross Income
Uber Earnings
Ride Earnings
Promotional Earnings
Uber Driver Referrals
Uber Tips
Lyft Earnings
Ride Earnings
Promotional Earnings
Lyft Tips
Lyft Passenger Referrals
Expense Breakdown
Total Expenses
Car Maintenance
Gas Expense
Car Insurance
Cellular Data Plan
Tickets/Fines
Car Depreciation
Net Profit Breakdown
Total Net Profit
Wage/Hr Breakdown
(Passenger & Driver Refferals Not Included in Calculations)
Total Gross Wage/Hr
Uber Gross Wage/Hr
Lyft Gross Wage/Hr
Total Net Wage/Hr
Hours, Trips, & Miles
Total Hours Worked
Uber Hours
Lyft Hours
Total Completed Trips
Uber Trips
Lyft Trips
Total Miles Driven
Sean Marsland
Sean Marsland is the Six Figure Driver. Currently, he is located in California in the Bay Area. He loves entrepreneurial opportunities. Apart from rideshare driving and website developing, he is into personal fitness and outdoor activities.