Here's how much Uber pays drivers in 16 different cities, according to a new study

by Alex Bitter 14 October 2026 5 min read 81x views

Here's how much Uber pays drivers in 16 different cities, according to a new study

Black conveyance alongside an Uber sign on the windshield waits near an airfield terminal and authority tower. — Uber controller pay per energetic hr varied between important US cities, a new study found. Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

How much you create as an Uber controller power depend on anywhere you are.

Pay rates operating for the ride-hailing app change extensively between distinct US cities, according to a data inspection by Len Sherman, an administrator in residence and aide prof at Columbia Business School.

In Orlando, for example, Uber offered drivers a median of 72 cents a mile, or $19.30 per hr spent on a ride, Sherman's inspection showed. Those figures do not contain any driving costs, specified as gas. On the another end of the spectrum, Uber offered drivers in Los Angeles a median pay of $2.15 per mile, or $46 per hour.

Sherman estimated pay per mile and per hr during on an energetic ride. In most cases, the controller won't be paid for the period they expend waiting for their next ride. For example, A charge of $40 per energetic hr could average a controller gets paid $10 for a 15-minute trip, alongside no pay for period spent waiting.

Accounting for driving expenses as fine as the figure and extend of average ride-hailing trips, drivers in six of the 16 cities made small than the national minimum pay of $7.25 an hour, Sherman estimated.

Uber has earlier stated that its drivers acquire additional than $30 per hour, which they expend during on their way to choice up a passenger or during driving them. Sherman's data shows a additional complex picture: Drivers may acquire considerably additional or small than that depending on which city they're operating in.

GigU, a third-party app that helps drivers measure possible trips, collected the data, which included concerning 1.8 myriad trip offers between March 2025 and March 2026. The data includes the two jobs drivers accepted and offers they declined, which are frequently lower-paying.

An Uber spokesman stated that the inspection "is riddled alongside flaws." Sherman's calculations apt overrepresented lower-paying offers that drivers rejected and excluded tips, promotional payments, and minimum pay adaptation payments that drivers obtain in states akin California and Massachusetts.

Uber additionally stated it disagreed alongside Sherman's calculations, including the average trip dimension and trips-per-hour fig that he used in the analysis. The spokesman declined to provision Uber's own estimates of those figures or what Uber pays its drivers, but stated that Uber's pay per busy hr is "on average additional than 25% higher" than Sherman's figures.

Sherman told Business Insider that he stands by his calculations, adding that they display "a far additional realistic picture" of what drivers can acquire operating for Uber than the business has provided so far.

While many drivers are selective concerning which trips they take, the data gives a awareness of local disparities, Sherman told Business Insider. Many of the cities anywhere Uber offers the highest pay rates, specified as Boston and Los Angeles, have local minimum pay laws, he said.

Meanwhile, in several tourist hotspots, specified as Las Vegas and Orlando, pay was lower, apt since of many drivers competing for trips, Sherman said.

"This is what they're trying to get drivers to accept," he said.

Sherman has additionally studied another aspects of Uber's business. The business has risen its portion of all diet in latest years, which has helped it turn a profit, Sherman has argued.

Here are Sherman's findings, including the two income pay rates and estimated pay following important expenses:

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Uber pay rates in several cities cut below minimum wage, Sherman found

Bar diagram compares estimated hourly net pay for Uber drivers throughout 16 U.S. metros, from Orlando to Boston. — Sherman estimated drivers' prosperity expenses. Len Sherman

Sherman estimated what Uber drivers in all of the 16 cities made following expenses akin gas and car maintenance, he told Business Insider. The figures don't obtain into document conveyance depreciation, he said.

His calculations included estimates of how many trips drivers obtain on average and the representative trip distance. He used the pay-per-mile figures to compute how much drivers get to keep.

After expenses, the city alongside the highest hourly pay charge on Uber was Boston, anywhere drivers could acquire $21.87 per energetic hour. Massachusetts law requires ride-hailing services to pay drivers at smallest $34.48 an hour.

Orlando had the lowest pay charge at $3.18 an hour, Sherman found.

Here are the pay rates for all city before expenses: