Rideshare Statistics for 2024

Uber and Lyft dominate the U.S. rideshare market, with nearly 100 percent of the market share.

Market Share

As of March 2024, Uber held 76 percent of the U.S. rideshare market, while Lyft held the remaining 24 percent, according to Bloomberg Second Measure data.¹

Who Rideshares in the U.S.?

The average rideshare customer in the U.S. as of 2018, the most recent year for which we have data, is between 18 and 29 years old, has a college degree or higher, and has a household income of $75,000 or more, whether they use Uber, Lyft, or both.²

How Often Do Americans Use Ridesharing Apps?

According to a Statista Consumer Market Insights study conducted between October 2022 and September 2023, most Americans (72 percent) do not use ride-hailing apps. Twenty-one percent consider themselves occasional users, while only 8 percent are frequent users.³

Globally, the rideshare market was worth around $158.9 billion in 2023. By 2029, a Statista Market Insights analysis projects a market value of $212.8 billion, a 34 percent increase.⁴

While Uber is available in countries around the world, Lyft is only available in the U.S. and Canada. This is one of many reasons Uber has much higher revenue, market share, and number of riders than Lyft.

Riders

Both Uber and Lyft experienced significant growth in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period the previous year: Uber saw a 15 percent year-over-year increase in the number of platform users5, and Lyft saw an increase of 12 percent6. But while their growth rates were similar, Uber had almost seven times as many riders as Lyft.

Driver Pay

The amount of money that drivers can make working with Uber and Lyft varies greatly depending on various factors, including when and how far they drive. According to pay data collected by Glassdoor, Uber and Lyft drivers make $17 to $25 per hour on average⁷.

Revenue

In the first quarter of 2024, Uber’s revenue grew by 15 percent compared to the first quarter of 2023, and Lyft’s grew by 28 percent. But while Lyft had a greater increase, Uber earned 693 percent more revenue overall.

People who used Uber in the first quarter of 2024 spent about 17 percent more money on the service than Lyft riders. On average, people spent $68 with Uber and $58 with Lyft.

Segments

Another reason Uber dominates in terms of revenue, riders, and revenue per rider is its diversification. Uber doesn’t only do rideshares — it also has a delivery service, Uber Eats (which, despite its name, is more than just food delivery), as well as a freight service for commercial trucking. That said, mobility (ridesharing) still makes up the largest segment of Uber’s business, at 56 percent.

Safety

More than 99.9 percent of all Uber and Lyft trips occur without a safety incident. However, we compared the latest safety data to see which company saw more car crash fatalities, physical assaults, and sexual assaults. Uber’s most recent U.S. Safety Report covers 2019 to 2020, while Lyft’s covers 2020 to 2022. So we’ve used data from Lyft’s previous report to calculate data for the period from 2019 to 2020 to make the comparison as fair as possible.

Incidents were exceedingly rare with both companies, and they both had the same incident rate when rounded to the nearest 10,000th of a percent. Lyft had slightly higher incident rates in two of three major categories, the exception being physical assault. For both companies, sexual assault was the most common safety incident in the 2019-to-2020 period, according to each company’s safety report.

Ridesharing disrupted the transportation industry by providing on-demand app-based rides, both private and shared. This affected not only ridesharing services’ direct competitor, taxis, but also public transportation.

Public Transportation

From 2019 to 2020, public transportation trips in the U.S. decreased by 53 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have since rebounded but still hadn’t reached pre-pandemic levels as of 2023¹¹.

While Uber trips declined during this period as well, they only decreased by 27 percent and have rebounded more significantly since 2020. Uber trips worldwide increased by 88 percent between 2020 and 2023, while the number of U.S. public transportation trips only grew by 51 percent.

Many people switched from public transportation to Uber during the pandemic to limit their interactions with other passengers. And although President Joe Biden declared the pandemic “over” in September 2022, its effects on behavior and habits still linger, as many people still choose Uber over public transportation.

Microtransit: On-Demand Public Transportation

Not everyone can afford rideshares, but many don’t have access to convenient public transportation like bus lines or light rails. A new form of transportation has emerged to fill this gap, an amalgamation of both rideshare services and public transportation: microtransit, otherwise known as on-demand public transportation.

Microtransit is a more affordable version of a rideshare service. It’s popular in suburban and rural areas, as well as smaller cities without larger public transportation infrastructures. Riders pay a fee to ride in a small van or shuttle, first waiting in a pickup spot and then getting dropped off near their destinations.

While this industry is too new for substantial national data, transit agencies are running microtransit pilot programs in the following cities:

• Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, California
• Austin, Texas
• Bloomington, Illinois
• Columbus, Ohio
• Houston, Texas
• Jersey City, New Jersey
• Johnson City, Kansas
• Kansas City, Missouri
• Los Angeles, California
• Montpelier, Vermont
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Santa Clara County, California
• Toledo, Ohio

Time will tell if and how microtransit disrupts the rideshare industry, just as rideshares disrupted taxi use before it.

Taxis

There’s no question that ridesharing has had a drastic effect on the taxi industry. Rideshare revenue has steadily increased since 2017 (with the exception of a drop during the pandemic), while taxi revenue has steadily decreased¹². In fact, rideshare revenue exceeded 2019 levels in 2023, but taxi revenue has remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Taxi fleets around the country have recently been joining forces with Uber as more and more people turn to app-based ridesharing, underscoring the shift that is taking place in the industry as a result of these tech companies.

If you’re one of the millions of people around the world who use rideshare services, here’s what you need to know to stay safe. Learn more in our rideshare safety guide.

• Call 911 when necessary: If you feel unsafe, call 911 via the Uber or Lyft app. The benefit of going through the app rather than calling 911 directly is that if you use the app, the police will automatically receive your location information and trip details. Additionally, Lyft’s partnership with the home security company ADT means that a security professional from ADT will contact the police for you from their end. With Uber’s service, you’ll have to speak with 911 over the phone, so your driver is likely to overhear you.
• Check the driver’s rating: Review the driver’s rating and prior experience before you enter their car.
• Confirm car and driver information: Make sure the car has the correct license plate number, make, model, and driver. The driver should confirm your name as well.
• Don’t share personal information: While it’s OK to make small talk with your driver, don’t share personal information like your last name, phone number, or home address.
• Don’t use cash: Tip through the app to avoid using cash. Do not share any personal financial information.
• End the ride if you feel unsafe: You are not obligated to complete a ride if you feel unsafe.
• Request your ride and wait indoors: It’s best not to wait outside for your ride, especially if you are distracted by your phone.
• Share your trip: Use the rideshare app to share your trip status with a friend or family member so someone knows your whereabouts.
• Sit in the backseat: While it can be tempting to sit in the front, especially if you get motion sickness, your chances of assault lessen if you stay in the backseat.
• Track your route: Use Apple or Google Maps to track your trip as it’s taking place.
• Wear your seat belt: Always wear your seat belt to reduce your chances of injuries or death in the event of a crash.⁹

Rideshare companies provide insurance for their drivers known as transportation network company (TNC) insurance. However, TNC only covers the periods when there are passengers in the driver’s car. It does not cover the times when the app is on and the driver is waiting for a request or when they’ve accepted a ride and are driving to the pickup location.

A rideshare driver’s personal auto insurance policy won’t cover them during these periods, either, since they’re technically working and not operating their vehicle for personal use. So how should rideshare drivers handle car insurance? Enter rideshare insurance.

What Is Rideshare Insurance?

Rideshare insurance covers the gaps in TNC coverage, protecting rideshare drivers when they’re waiting for a customer and driving to a ride. It’s a commercial car insurance policy the driver can add on to their regular, private passenger auto insurance.

What Does It Cover?

Rideshare insurance offers the same coverages as a personal policy, which include the following.

• Bodily injury liability: If you cause an accident, bodily injury liability coverage will pay for the injuries of everyone outside of your car.
• Property damage liability: Property damage will pay for any property you damage outside of your vehicle.
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage: If you get into an accident with someone with no or insufficient insurance, this coverage would pay for your injuries and damages.
• Personal injury protection/medical payments coverage: Known as PIP or MedPay, depending on whether you live in an at-fault or no-fault state, these coverages pay for your and your passengers’ medical bills. PIP also includes coverage for lost wages and childcare.
• Collision coverage: Collision insurance covers your car’s damages in either accidents you caused or accidents where the other party’s property damage coverage limits were too low to cover your car’s losses.
• Comprehensive coverage: This coverage pays for any damages to your car that aren’t caused by collisions, which includes theft, vandalism, inclement weather, and more.

How Can I Get Rideshare Insurance?

A rideshare driver can find rideshare insurance by adding a rideshare endorsement to their existing policy (assuming their current insurance provider offers it). Some companies with rideshare coverage include Allstate, GEICO, State Farm, and Progressive. We’ve also reviewed the best companies for rideshare insurance.

Big tech has disrupted a ton of industries, and transportation is one of the best examples. Thanks to new technology, it’s easier than ever for people to get from one location to another without using their own vehicle or public transportation. It’s clear that ridesharing isn’t going anywhere and will likely only grow more commonplace in more areas worldwide. That said, it’ll be interesting to see the lasting effects of the pandemic on people’s transportation habits and if microtransit can make a dent in rideshare companies’ profits. If you’re wondering how many people still own cars in this age of ridesharing, check out our report on car ownership in the U.S.

We used data from the following sources:

• Bloomberg Second Measure
• Glassdoor
• Lyft 
• Pew Research Center
• Statista
• Uber 
• University of Michigan