This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Can a Lyft driver really make $2,000 a week? In this episode, we're gonna break down ride share earnings, what's possible, what's rare. If you've been listening for a while, you know that I generally encourage people to stay away from the so-called gig economy. It can be a good thing to start out with when you're learning about the world of side hustles, but actually you're gonna do much better by creating something for yourself, building some kind of asset for yourself, or just not relying on these kinds of platforms because they are effectively low-wage employers these days, employers/contract providers, that's a legal issue. But the point is, you can't usually make a lot of money driving for Uber or Lyft, but we're gonna hear today from a caller who is reporting what might be an urban legend or an internet brag, but he's hearing about how top drivers can pull in weekly income of $2,000 or more.
So is this real, is it just some kind of marketing might it be real in some cases, and what are those cases? I think that's probably the real question because anything's possible, it's just not always common. So if you are interested in driving for Lyft, or if you're just curious like, what's the status of that these days, how much are people really making, and what's a way to actually do better than most common drivers, I'll do my best to pull apart the numbers, detailed question, and my answer in this short action-packed episode coming right up. [Music]
Hey Chris, this is Darren from the Greater Boston area. I had a Lyft ride last week and my driver told me he was pulling in around $2,000 per week, just from driving full-time.
That sounded a little suspicious. I know gig work can be profitable under the right conditions, but is it really impossible to earn that much on a regular basis? I'm curious if that's an outlier, a hustle stacked on top of multiple gigs, or if there's something about the ride share world I'm missing. Can you break down whether numbers like that are actually realistic? Well, anything is possible, but it's rare and it comes with caveats.
So let's break it down. I did some research. I always wanna recommend my longtime friend, Harry Campbell, the ride share guy. He's done a lot of work in this area. I wrote about him a couple of times in my books, but just a quick little take for me to hit $2,000 a week, most likely that driver is working 50 to 70 hours a week.
Perhaps they are stacking earnings across multiple platforms, Lyft plus Uber plus delivery apps maybe. They're likely in a high demand city with surge pricing, and they're probably optimizing bonuses and promotions offered by the platforms, which is nice, but they're not always there. They're not reliable. It's also important to understand that $2,000 or whatever the number is, most likely it's gross, not net. Doesn't account for gas, maintenance, insurance, taxes.
Like once you factor this in, the take-home income drops significantly. And then perhaps most importantly of all, most drivers are not making anything close to $2,000 a week. I looked at a survey from GridWise. This is 2024 data. Average Lyft drivers, Uber drivers, are earning close to the $800 to $1,200 a week range if working at it full time.
So that's not a bad income, but there are lots of expenses, as I said. There's also a great deal of uncertainty. So most drivers are really not doing that well. Just keep that in mind whenever you hear stories about somebody who does really well, just know that it's not common. Okay, I think there's something better that you can do.
Kind of like what I said to the love spell seller a week or two ago, somebody's like, "Can I sell magic spells on TikTok and Fiverr and Etsy?" And my answer is, I guess technically you can. People have done that, but can you do better? I think so. So that's my recommendation. sidehustleschool.com/questions If you have a comment or question or wanna share your experience, much more is coming up.
New episodes every day. You can download or stream the complete archive of the show on that website. And of course, I'll be here tomorrow. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
