How much can you make driving Uber in Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara and Ottawa?

Why there is no honest single number per city

Search for what Uber drivers make in Hamilton or St. Catharines and you will find confident figures with no method behind them. The only large, independent analysis of Ontario ride-hail earnings covers Toronto, where the city collects trip data from licensed platforms. For other cities, earnings depend on the same rate structure applied to very different demand, and nobody has published comparable measurements. This guide sets out what is known, what changes from city to city, and how to work out your own number before you commit your car.

Toronto: the one city with hard data

A 2025 study of 84 million Toronto trips between January 2023 and April 2024 found median gross earnings of $33.52 per engaged hour in 2023. After vehicle operating and ownership costs, that fell to $15.31. Counting every logged-in hour, including the time spent waiting for requests and driving to pickups, median net earnings were $7.94 in 2023 and $5.97 in 2024, and more than 95% of drivers earned below the minimum wage of the time on that measure.

Toronto is the busiest ride-hail market in the province, with airport runs, dense downtown demand and strong evening peaks. If waiting erodes earnings this much in Toronto, it is worth being cautious about assuming better results in a market with fewer requests per hour.

What changes in Hamilton, Niagara, Ottawa and smaller cities

Ottawa is a large market with government and hospital demand, and Lyft operates in the Greater Toronto Area and in Niagara, including Welland, alongside Uber. In tourism-driven Niagara, earnings can swing with the season: summer weekends near the Falls and wine country are a different market from a Tuesday in February.

The rules are the same everywhere in Ontario

• Minimum wage for engaged time: since July 1, 2025, ride-share, delivery and courier platforms must ensure at least the general minimum wage, $17.95 an hour from October 1, 2026, for work assignment time. Waiting is not covered, and tips do not count.
• GST/HST: ride-share drivers must register from their first fare anywhere in Canada, with no $30,000 small-supplier exemption.
• Vehicle costs: the CRA's 2026 reference rate is 73 cents a kilometre for the first 5,000 km and 67 cents after. It is a benchmark, not your car's exact cost.

How to work out your own number in two weeks

1. 01Log every shift: the time you went online, the time you went offline, and your odometer at both.
2. 02From the app, record paid trip minutes and total earnings, including tips, for each shift.
3. 03Estimate vehicle cost per km. Start from your fuel spend per km and add a fair share of insurance, maintenance and depreciation, or use the CRA rate as an upper benchmark.
4. 04Net per logged-in hour = (earnings minus kilometres x cost per km) divided by total hours online.
5. 05Compare that figure with the minimum wage and with your other options. If it is well below, change when and where you drive, or add work that pays for longer stretches of driving.

What to compare before you choose where and when to drive

• Your distance to demand: living 20 minutes from the busy area means 20 unpaid minutes at the start and end of every shift.
• Your car's real cost per kilometre: fuel economy, tires and maintenance differ widely between a compact hybrid and an SUV.
• Your peak hours: in tourism and campus markets, a few strong evenings may beat a long weekday shift.
• Your insurance: make sure your policy reflects every kind of paid driving you do.
• Your tax position: ride-share requires GST/HST registration from the first fare, so build the filing time into your week.
• Your alternatives: longer pre-priced work, such as intercity courier runs, can fill hours when passenger demand is thin.

Longer jobs change the arithmetic

The biggest lever on net hourly pay is the share of your time that is paid. Intercity courier work is built differently from ride-hail: one job is one run between cities, priced in advance. At PrimeRoutes, the job fee is 70% of the job price before tax and tips, drivers keep 100% of tips, every offer shows the job fee before you accept, and pay is weekly with a minimum wage top-up when job fees fall short. Runs start in the Niagara region, Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area.

Courier work has its own costs to price in, chiefly an insurance policy with a commercial-use endorsement for deliveries and at least $1 million in liability, and the drive home after a one-way run. Track it the same way: paid job time, total time and kilometres. Read how PrimeRoutes driving works before you decide whether it fits alongside ride-hail.