Here's How Much Uber Drivers Are Really Earning

Last month, Business Insider talked to Uber drivers who said they weren't making nearly that much.

In response to criticism about how much drivers really make, Uber's New York City general manager Josh Mohrer said he would speak on the record to journalists who took 10 random Uber rides and collected pay stubs from their drivers.

BuzzFeed reporter Johana Bhuiyan decided to take Mohrer up on his offer. In doing so, she took Uber rides with 11 random UberX drivers and collected eight of the 11 drivers' pay stubs (Uber didn't provide the pay stub for one driver, and two others weren't comfortable showing Bhuiyan their payment information).

Many factors affect how much an Uber driver takes home: There's the basics, like how many hours a week they drive, what time of the day or the year it is, and what the weather's like outside. But there are also expenses drivers pay for - the cost of a car rental, insurance, gas, and normal wear-and-tear. These expenses aren't covered by Uber, so they come out of drivers' pockets.

It's possible to make a decent hourly wage with Uber, but that's before all the expenses that independent contractor drivers pay out of pocket.

To make $90,000, Bhuiyan found, a driver would have to make approximately $7,500 a month, or $1,731 weekly.

After doing the math, Bhuiyan concluded drivers are taking home far less than $90,000.

You can read BuzzFeed's whole report here.