Uber Driver Earned $100,000 But Only Took Home $20,000

Driving for Uber can be lucrative, as long as you look at how much you could possibly make on paper. The truth is way less rosy as, one Uber driver detailed to Business Insider. He made over $100,000 in gross income, but after taxes and expenses, he really only made $20,000.

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If anyone were to take a look at Dean Ceran’s gross earnings from being an Uber driver in 2023, you’d think he made a nice living. Insider took a look at Ceran’s tax documents from the previous year and he made over $103,000 in gross income. His take-home was much less lucrative: just $20,000. So just where the hell did all his money go? Back to Uber and vehicle expenses. Digging into the numbers it gets ugly.

Ceran says he’s been driving for Uber since 2016 using a car he’s put over 410,000 miles on; 67,000 of those miles were in 2023 alone. His mileage deduction on taxes was $44,000. Insider detailed his vehicle expenses:

When filing their taxes, there are two ways drivers can calculate their business expenses. First, they can input their gas, insurance, maintenance, and other vehicle expenses in a given year — but these can be tricky to keep track of. Ceran estimated that in 2023, he spent $13,000 on maintenance, $9,000 on gas, $2,000 on car insurance, and $800 on tolls.

Another chunk of change was Uber’s slice of the income pie. Insider described it as “booking and service fees.” The booking fee is a variable four percent fee that Uber automatically takes off the top of each ride. The service fee is the difference between what a rider pays and what the driver earns on the trip. Uber says it varies but in the end it doesn’t matter as Uber will be the one getting the money. This amounts to $38,000 in Uber’s pocket. Between that and his mileage deductions, you get his $20,000 in income as Insider explained.

When Uber’s $38,000 commission and the $44,000 in mileage deductions are subtracted from his $103,000 in gross earnings, his business profits fall to about $21,000. Take out $800 worth of tolls, and you get about $20,000.

It’s not that bad, but it depends on how you look at it. Insider pointed out that if you exclude his expenses, even including Uber’s chunk, Ceran still made over $65,000. I don’t think a lot of people will see his situation any better though.

But just how did he make this much money? By accepting every single ride that popped up as he explained to Insider: “The idea is to let the app keep giving me trips and keep accepting them so I keep rolling and keep making money,” he explained.

Even after losing out like that, Ceran still plans to keep driving for Uber. He claims to be satisfied with the amount of money he’s making. And it seems he just loves to interact with people with him saying he loves “the interaction with the wide variety of people that request Uber rides.” Cool, but for $20,000 after taxes and expenses? It might not be worth it.