Uber Releases Driver Income Numbers: Uber Drivers Get Paid ~$16.20 – $30.35 Per Hour

Uber is a seriously popular ride sharing service, as witnessed by the number of searches that Google reports Uber receives per month. The word “Uber” alone gets one million monthly searches, while “Uber promo code” is also pretty popular at 90,500 searches per month. (Of course, some people are still asking Google, “What is Uber?”)

Uber has finally released more information about their income numbers and the amounts they pay Uber drivers, which can vary anywhere from $16.20 to $30.35 per hour and beyond, as reported by Time. The Uber hourly income rates are based on where the Uber drivers are located, such as the widespread Los Angeles area on the lower end in comparison to the higher-paying New York region. These numbers, however, don’t include driver’s expenses – like gas and insurance – so that plays into the actual amount of take-home pay for Uber drivers, which can work out to around $7.20 per hour in some instances.

The actual Uber report released on the Uber blog shows numbers that reflect Uber’s exponential growth, including the fact that Uber has paid out more than half a billion dollars to what they call their “driver-partners” in the United States in just the fourth quarter of 2014.

“The vast majority of driver-partners say they are better off financially because of Uber — 71 percent of partners say that their income is better since signing up with Uber. In fact, in the last quarter of 2014, Uber paid out over $650 million to driver-partners in the U.S. And comparisons to government data on the average earnings of taxi and limo drivers tell a similar story.”

The Uber income report comes in the wake of the ridesharing service taking heat for reports about an Uber driver being arrested for sexual assault claims, as reported by the Inquisitr, along with other Uber rape claims.

All in all, Uber credits their popularity with the fact that people simply want jobs that offer them more flexibility in their schedules, as opposed to a regimented 9-to-5 job that doesn’t offer the varying amount of travel opportunities that Uber offers — along with the ability to meet a whole bunch of different people each day.

“We also found that Uber is drawing more individuals into the vocation of being a driver. But that isn’t because more people are turning to contract work; instead, it’s because self-employment offers them a more flexible way to earn a living.”

Indeed, Business Insider reports graphically how the number of Uber drivers is rising year after year, and with these new income numbers being reported by Uber, expect that number to keep climbing.

[Image via Uber]