Washington
LOW · source quality below tier-2
LOW. The published $18.40/hr is DC's general minimum wage standing in for delivery pay; it is supported verbatim by does.dc.gov but it is not a delivery rate and does not legally reach contractor couriers. Earlier versions of this field were stale at $17.95 and repeated an uncited 'highest in the US' claim; both are corrected. DC has no delivery-specific pay ordinance of the NYC (DCWP), Seattle (OLS) or Prop 22 kind. To promote: a DC Council delivery ordinance (none proposed) or a tier-1/2 source publishing DC-specific delivery hourly rates.
Only HIGH-confidence cities carry a full verification audit. See the methodology for what each tier means.
Earnings (USD per hour)
Source: DC general minimum wage (no delivery-specific pay floor)
What would you take home in Washington?
Take-home, weekly
n/a
Take-home, monthly
n/a
Gross, weekly
$552
Gross, monthly
$2,392
Take-home is gross hourly minus an estimated tax/expense rate per country. See the methodology page for the derivation. This widget assumes you actually work the hours you set. For app-based delivery, a portion of logged-in time is unpaid waiting; the headline rate reflects engaged time only where regulators have defined it.
Cost of living vs. earnings
Pay vs. local labour market
Gross hourly is 100% of local minimum wage, 54% of local median.
Notes
DC's general minimum wage is $18.40/hr from 1 July 2026, but it reaches employees only; app couriers are independent contractors, so none of it is guaranteed to them. Couriers typically run DoorDash plus Uber Eats; the large federal worker base supports a strong tipping culture.
View Washington on the interactive map
See full source citations for this city on the sources page. Read about how each metric is computed in the methodology.
Primary earnings source: does.dc.gov/service/office-wage-hour-compliance-0 · archived