Verified on Sep 2, 2026
You pick up restaurant orders and drive them to people. Grubhub does not publish a national pay rate. It publishes set rates only in Seattle, New York City and California, and you pay for your own gas.
You get an offer on your phone. It shows a restaurant, a drop-off and what the delivery pays. You accept it, drive to the restaurant, pick up the bag, and take it to the customer.
Then you wait for the next offer. You can deliver by car, motorcycle, bicycle or scooter, depending on your market.
You are not an employee. You are a contractor, which means the costs are yours.
Here is the honest answer, and it is not the one most sites give you.
Grubhub does not publish a national pay rate. Not an hourly rate, not a per-order average, not even an “earn up to” claim. What it publishes is base pay set by mileage, delivery type and time spent. You keep 100% of tips.
Grubhub prints real numbers in only three places. It prints them there because the law in those places sets a minimum:
Everywhere else, Grubhub publishes nothing. It says only that it tops pay up to a minimum guaranteed rate for your local market, on scheduled blocks. It never says what that rate is.
We checked Grubhub’s published rates against the government bodies that set them. Two do not match.
Seattle’s labor standards office sets the 2026 minimums at $0.47 a minute, $0.80 a mile, and $5.34 per offer. Grubhub’s page still shows the older, lower figures.
California’s State Treasurer publishes the Proposition 22 mileage rate each year. For 2026 it is $0.37 a mile. Grubhub’s page still shows $0.34.
We cannot see inside the app. So we cannot tell you which number the app actually pays. It may pay the current rate and show an old one. It may pay the old one. Here is what to do about it. If you deliver in Seattle or California, check your pay against the city or state figure yourself. The government page is the one that counts.
This fits you if you have a working vehicle, a phone, and hours that move around.
It fits if you want to start and stop whenever you like. Nobody schedules you, though scheduled blocks matter for the local minimum.
It fits if you would rather be moving than sitting at a screen.
In some markets you can deliver by bicycle or scooter, so it can work without a car.
Skip this if the car costs would eat the pay. Gas, maintenance and insurance are all yours. A high per-hour figure means little if your car is old and thirsty.
Skip it if you cannot carry a hot bag up a flight of stairs. Skip it if you cannot spend hours in a driver’s seat.
Skip it if you need to know what you will earn. Outside three jurisdictions, Grubhub publishes no rate at all.
Skip it if you are under 18. You must be 18, and 21 in Las Vegas.
Skip it for now if your market is closed. Grubhub pauses sign-ups in some markets and runs a waitlist.
Day 1. Work one lunch rush only. Write down the time you started, the time you stopped, and every dollar you were paid.
Day 2. Do the same at dinner. Compare. Most drivers find one of the two is worth far more than the other where they live.
Day 3. Fill the tank and write down the cost. This is the number that turns your pay into your actual pay.
Day 4. Try a different part of town. Distance between restaurant and customer decides your hourly rate more than the offer amount does.
Day 5. Do the arithmetic. Total pay, minus fuel, divided by hours with the app on, including the waiting.
Deliver in Seattle or California? Add one more step. Compare your pay against the city or state minimum yourself. Do not rely on the rate printed on Grubhub’s own page.
You need one thing on day one that Grubhub does not send you in time: an insulated bag. The rest is comfort.
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Every driving cost is yours. Gas, tyres, brakes, insurance, and the value your car loses. None of that comes off your taxes automatically either.
You are a contractor. No benefits, no sick pay, and you handle your own taxes.
Pay is unknowable before you start in most of the country, because Grubhub publishes no rate there.
Grubhub’s own published rates in Seattle and California are behind the current legal minimums.
Three account violations block your account. The rules for what counts as a violation are Grubhub’s, not yours.
You get paid once a week by direct deposit on a Thursday. Same day cash out is capped at $500 a day and costs $0.50 at most banks.
What does Grubhub actually pay an hour? Grubhub does not say, and we will not guess. Outside Seattle, New York City and California, no figure is published anywhere on its driver site.
Do I keep the tips? Yes. Grubhub says drivers keep 100% of tips from completed deliveries, on top of base pay.
Do I need a car? Not always. Car, motorcycle, bicycle or scooter, depending on the market. You need a licence and insurance only if you drive.
Why does the pay on Grubhub’s Seattle page not match the city’s? We do not know, and we asked the question rather than smoothing it over. Seattle’s 2026 figures are higher than the ones Grubhub prints. Check your own pay against the city’s page.
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