How DoorDash pay works for Dashers

What makes up a Dasher payout

DoorDash shows offer amounts before you accept in Earn per Offer mode. The total can include base pay, peak pay or promotions, and tips. Busy dinner hours in one ZIP can look nothing like a weekday afternoon somewhere else. That is why this site never puts a single national wage in a title or H1.

Earn per Offer vs Earn by Time

DoorDash’s official Dasher pay page describes two ways to earn. Which mode is available, and the guaranteed active hourly rate in Earn by Time, are local. Check the Dasher app for your market. This page does not invent a US hourly number.

Earn per Offer

• You see the guaranteed minimum you will earn before you accept an offer.
• Base pay is based on estimated time, distance, and desirability of the offer.
• Customer tips and applicable promotions sit on top of that base.
• Peak Pay, when it is running, is an extra amount per delivery in this mode.

Earn by Time

• You earn a minimum guaranteed active hourly rate shown in the Dasher app for your market.
• Active time starts when you accept an offer and ends when you complete that delivery.
• Waiting for the next offer between deliveries is not active time.
• Tips and applicable promotions still apply on top.
• Peak Pay, when it is running, adds to the guaranteed active hourly rate rather than appearing as a separate per-delivery add the way it does in Earn per Offer.

Active time vs clock time

The Earn by Time clock is not “hours you left the app open.” Active time is the accept-to-complete window on a delivery you already took. Time spent waiting between offers — even if you are on the schedule and watching the app — does not count toward the Earn by Time guarantee. That distinction is why the homepage card says “active-time vs clock time,” and why a national hourly headline would mislead.

Crimson vs Fast Pay

• DasherDirect ended April 1, 2025. New payout banking for Dashers is DoorDash Crimson.
• DoorDash Crimson can receive earnings after each dash without using Fast Pay.
• Fast Pay still lets many Dashers cash out for a $1.99 fee when they use weekly direct deposit instead.
• Fast Pay cannot stack with Crimson. If Crimson is your payout method, you are not also using Fast Pay on those deposits.

Cash net vs tax deduction

Gas is cash leaving your pocket. The IRS standard mileage rate is a tax deduction that already assumes fuel and vehicle wear. Model both in the net-pay calculator with the correct 2026 half-year rate (72.5¢ then 76¢).

California Prop 22 only

In California, Prop 22 sets an engaged-time guarantee of about $20.28 per engaged hour plus about $0.37 per engaged mile at the 2026 statewide floor (local minimum wages can raise the hourly figure). Tips are separate. This is a California rule — never a national average.