Seattle now faces the highest DoorDash delivery prices in the United States

Starting this month, consumers in Seattle will face even more increases on DoorDash service fees for all deliveries due to the city's regulations that raise delivery and operating costs.

DoorDash, which reported operating at a loss in Seattle in 2024, announced the fee hikes in response to the city's policies and revenue losses due to decreased orders from the existing high fees.

The PayUp law, enacted Jan. 2024, was supposed to ensure minimum wage paid by gig work companies, including DoorDash, UberEats, and Instacart, but some restaurants and customers have said it backfired.

Seattle's regulations require delivery platforms to pay workers nearly $30 an hour before mileage and tips, which DoorDash representatives say is significantly higher than the city's minimum wage.

In order to meet the $26.40 an hour minimum wage before tips requirement, DoorDash tacked on a $4.99 fee to all orders, and in August 2024 added an additional $1.99 minimum service fee for orders from DashPass subscribers.

In the July 2025 announcement, DoorDash did not say what exactly the service fee increase will be this time, but it makes the third increase in just under a year.

These measures have made Seattle the most expensive market for delivery services in the United States, DoorDash says.

Average fees for Seattle consumers are now the highest in the country, more than double those in cities like Denver, San Francisco, and Portland.

DoorDash says the delivery pay law has also led to increased fraud, resulting in a 35% rise in delivery delays for Seattle consumers from December 2023 to December 2024.

Local businesses are feeling the strain, reporting a 2% drop in average monthly revenue per store in Seattle, while similar cities saw sales increase by over 10%.

KOMO News previously spoke with Spice Waala owner Uttam Mukherjee, who reported that fee led to far fewer orders, and his three restaurants had lost roughly 30% of their delivery business.

“I think we need to understand what the fees are by the delivery partners, how much commission they’re charging the restaurants, how much the drivers are actually earning nowadays, and then how much money is actually being spent by consumers,” he explained.

DoorDash also claims its dashers, the intended beneficiaries of the law, are also struggling: They are receiving half as many daily delivery offers and waiting three times longer for potential deliveries, leading to a more than 20% decrease in average hourly earnings from the end of 2023 to the end of 2024.

“A lot of people were happy with the pay they got and everything was working good, but now that they only get one delivery a day or two deliveries a day, that really cuts into their income," said Eric Franklin, a delivery driver, in a May 2024 interview with KOMO News.

Following complaints from DoorDash and local restaurants, in April 2024 the City Council discussed rewriting the PayUp law to reduce the hourly wage for gig workers to around $20, which DoorDash said could lead them to remove the $5 fee.

However, the council did not vote on the legislation.

As DoorDash continues to raise fees while blaming the regulations, some drivers and activists have called out the company for repeatedly raising the fees while blaming the city legislature

“They're trying to get out of paying their responsibility and pushing it off to the customers,” Lisa Leibacher from Seattle stated. “They take an $18 meal and turn it into $35, $36, and now add $2 more onto that! Not gonna do it.”

One anonymous driver told KOMO News she didn't quite understand the reasoning behind another fee.

“I feel like driving the distance that I have been, that I am being paid fairly,” she explained.

“I can pay bills without working extra extra hours, and that’s what people don’t talk about, you don’t have to work as long to pay your bills," said Kimberly Wolfe, another delivery driver.

“Seattle has made it clear all workers deserve a minimum wage, and it’s disappointing DoorDash thinks it can get away with anything less and thinks that it can work with Council President [Sara] Nelson to achieve a pay cut for workers,” Working Washington Communications Director Hannah Sabio-Howell stated.