Yellow Taxi vs Uber Fares in NYC: Trip Data Compared

In short: In TLC's trip records for September 2025 to August 2026, the average yellow taxi fare was $21.08 and the average Uber/Lyft fare was $27.49. The median (middle) trip was $15.60 by taxi and $19.69 by app. But app trips were longer: 4.91 miles on average against 3.54 for yellow taxis. Per mile, the order flips (about $5.95 for taxis against $5.60 for apps), while per minute the app trips cost more. Riders choose each mode for different trips, so these numbers describe the trips people actually took, not the price of the same ride two ways.

"Fare" here means the metered fare (taxi) or the base passenger fare (app), before tips, tolls, taxes and surcharges. All numbers are TLC Help aggregations of the public TLC Trip Record Data, using trips of 1 minute to 4 hours and under 150 miles. "App" means the high-volume services (Uber and Lyft).

The numbers at a glance

Fare, distance and time by sector

Dividing the average fare by the average distance and time gives a rough price per mile and per minute. These are ratios of averages, our arithmetic, not prices any rider was quoted:

Short trips raise the per-mile price because the taxi's $3.00 start charge is spread over fewer miles, and yellow taxis do more short trips. App trips are longer in miles but only a little longer in minutes, so app riders pay more per minute.

Fare by month

The yellow taxi average stayed between $19.49 (November 2025) and $22.44 (December 2025). The app average moved between $25.77 (January 2026) and $28.80 (June 2026). App prices change with demand through the companies' pricing; taxi meter rates did not change in this period.

What "fare" leaves out

Riders pay more than the fare. We added every recorded charge on the same trips. Before tips, the average total was about $27.07 per yellow taxi trip and $33.23 per app trip (TLC Help, same records):

Taxis don't charge sales tax; app trips do. The NYS congestion surcharge and the MTA congestion toll are also higher per trip for apps ($2.75 and $1.50 when charged, against $2.50 and $0.75 for yellow taxis — see the rate card on our fare guide). Yellow taxis also add time-based surcharges such as the $2.50 weekday rush-hour charge. The full yellow stack is on what's inside an average NYC taxi fare.

Why simple comparisons mislead

The two modes carry different trips:

• Where trips happen. 72.4% of yellow trips were charged the Congestion Relief Zone fee, against 32.9% of app trips: taxis work mostly in Manhattan's core, apps everywhere.
• Length. 51.2% of yellow trips were under 2 miles, against 36.2% of app trips.
• Flex Fare. Between about 18% and 30% of yellow trips in these months were Flex Fare trips with an upfront app price (see card vs cash payments), so not every taxi fare here came from the meter.
• Shared and WAV app trips are mixed into the app average.

What the data can't tell you

• It can't price the same trip both ways. For that, use a fare estimator for the taxi side and the app's own quote.
• It doesn't show driver income. Taxi drivers pay a lease and fuel out of fares; app drivers receive "driver pay" set by the company within TLC's minimum. See Uber and Lyft driver pay per trip and the minimum pay rule.
• Black car, livery and luxury limousine trips that are not app-dispatched are not included; TLC's files for them have no fare fields.
• TLC publishes the files about two months after each month ends and can revise them.

How many trips each sector carries is on NYC taxi and Uber trip statistics, and the rule differences between the two licenses are in taxi vs FHV rules compared. More on the money hub.