Updated: 07/01/2021
According to a study from Earnest, 85 percent of gig economy workers make less than $500 per month. However, almost 15 percent of Americans now earn some amount of money through at least one gig economy platform. How does that work? And how do you become part of the 15 percent making a more significant chunk of profit every month? Here are the top 4 gig economy platforms.
Airbnb hosts make the most
The study revealed that Airbnb hosts brought in triple the average income of other gig economy workers. Rather than 15 percent making more than $500, over fifty percent came in over that threshold.
The average for Airbnb hosts was $924 per month.
TaskRabbits beats Fiverr for second place platform
TaskRabbits workers tended to make more than Fiverr workers. They also ranked second for overall average monthly earnings (behind Airbnb), coming in at $380 per month.
Fiverr, on the other hand, ranked with Getaround and Etsy for the highest percentage of low income earners.
TaskRabbits is likely to be on another upswing since the study came out. IKEA recently purchased all the company’s stock. Most expect IKEA to bring some kind of increased business or capital (or both) into TaskRabbits. This will spell more opportunities for Taskers and, hopefully, more growth for the company.
Lyft over Uber
Although totals for Uber and Lyft were below Airbnb and TaskRabbits, they still came in pretty close. Lyft drivers averaged $377 while Uber drivers averaged $364. Both were over $100 above the next closest ranking platform (DoorDash).
Uber over Lyft (sometimes)
An interesting anomaly popped up with those drivers who worked for both Uber and Lyft. These drivers averaged $481 a month on Uber and $396 a month on Lyft—nearly $100 different.
Of course, Earnest wasn’t necessarily taking into account drivers who drive at a near full-time level (although they did cross off workers who pulled extremely low hours).
DoorDash as the special mention
Although not a particularly high-level platform, DoorDashers weren’t doing too badly on Earnest’s study either. According to the study, they earned about $229 per month.
Between tips and the regular delivery charges, smart Dashers can easily manage two or three deliveries per hour. When you add in tips, this can translate to around $25 per hour—not bad if you work close to full time.
Dashers keep 100 percent of their tips, and can also select which doors to dash to. For example, orders that are very far out of your way decrease your efficiency. Conversely, it may be worth going a little farther to do a large or expensive delivery. Why? You’re likely to be bringing more value and convenience to the customer (after all, the alternative is for them to drive to said fancy restaurant themselves and sit and wait for the food). This combined with the fact that many people tip based on a percentage of their order means you’re likely to get a higher tip. Many DoorDash customers tip at around the standard food industry rate—10 to 15 percent of the cost of the order.
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