DoorDash & Rideshare Driver Net Pay Calculator
Find your true net hourly pay after vehicle costs and self-employment tax across delivery and rideshare platforms.
The pay a delivery or rideshare app advertises is not what you keep. Fuel, vehicle wear, self-employment tax, and income tax all come out first. This calculator works backward from your weekly base pay and tips across each platform to a true net hourly wage — the number that tells you whether a shift is actually worth driving. Enter your hours, platforms, mileage or actual car costs, write-offs, and tax profile, and it shows weekly and annual net pay plus a per-hour figure with a plain warning if that rate is thin. Everything is computed in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
How true hourly pay is worked out
Your platforms' base pay and tips are added into a weekly gross and annualized by your working weeks. The tool then tracks vehicle costs two ways. For taxes, it uses the standard mileage deduction — business miles times $0.70 per mile — to lower your taxable profit. For real cash flow, it estimates what driving actually costs you: fuel (from your miles, MPG and gas price) plus roughly $0.22 per mile of wear and tear. Taxes are figured on the taxable profit: self-employment tax on 92.35% of it, a 20% QBI deduction, the extra federal income tax stacked on any W-2 wages, and a flat state rate.
True net hourly = (annual cash profit − self-employment tax − income tax − state tax) ÷ weeks ÷ weekly hours
With $700 a week over 50 weeks ($35,000 gross), 450 miles a week gives a $15,750 mileage deduction that cuts taxable profit to about $18,725, while estimated real driving costs are about $7,883 — leaving roughly $26,592 of cash profit. After about $2,646 self-employment tax, $1,639 federal, and $1,498 California state tax, annual net pay is near $20,809: about $416 a week, or roughly $13.87 an hour across 30 hours.
Why the mileage deduction helps twice
Notice that the mileage deduction ($15,750 in the example) is much larger than the estimated cash cost of driving ($7,883). That gap is the quiet advantage of the standard mileage rate: it shelters profit from tax that you actually keep in your pocket. The hourly figure is colour-coded — the tool flags a rate under $7.25 (the federal minimum wage) as a critical loss, a rate under $15 as a low margin, and anything above as healthy. Those thresholds are benchmarks for comparison, not legal wage floors, and many states and cities set minimums well above $7.25. Switching to the actual-expenses method lets you enter real gas, insurance, maintenance, depreciation and tolls with a business-use percentage instead.
Assumptions and limits
This is an estimate for planning, not tax or financial advice. The $0.70 mileage rate is the 2025 IRS standard business rate, and the $0.22-per-mile wear figure is an assumption built into the tool; the IRS sets the official standard mileage rate every year, so verify the current one. The 20% QBI deduction is applied flat, without the income limits that can reduce it, and the state figures are flat approximations of systems that are usually progressive. The federal brackets, standard deduction and Social Security wage base reflect recent tax-year figures that change annually. Real deductions require mileage logs and records, and your actual results depend on your full tax situation — check with a tax professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this calculator store my earnings or mileage?
No. All of the math runs in your browser. Your platform pay, mileage, expenses and tax details are never uploaded or saved, and reloading the page resets them.
Why is my true hourly pay so much lower than the app shows?
Because the app total ignores your costs. This tool subtracts real fuel and vehicle wear plus self-employment and income tax, which together can take a large bite out of gross pay — especially on high-mileage, low-payout routes.
Is the $15 warning a legal minimum wage?
No. Only the \$7.25 figure is the federal minimum wage; the \$15 mark is a comparison benchmark the tool uses to flag thin margins. Local minimum wages vary and are often higher, and gig workers are generally treated as independent contractors rather than hourly employees.
Is this tax or financial advice?
No. It is general information for planning only. Mileage rates and tax figures change yearly and several inputs are approximations, so consult a qualified tax professional before relying on the numbers.