As a former PhD student who made $28k (which was on the higher end, most made $20k) I’d always known there were better paying jobs out there.

But I also lived in a LCOL city where my rent was $500 (room in an house with 5 roommates) and I lived super well.

It's not just any job though. Food delivery is amongst the lowest skilled jobs, while research is amongst the highest. Also, good for you that you lived super well But not everyone is comfortable living with 5 roommates.

That's "active work" though. So you're also going to be spending a lot of extra time sitting in your car waiting for delivery offers to come in. Outside of lunch and dinner hours, you'll probably be spending an equal amount of time idle as you are "active" according to DD.

But that 25 active hours per week requires about 50 hours of working. You're just not paid for the 25 hours where you are waiting for an offer to come in. There's only about 3 hours per day when you can consistently get an offer within minutes of finishing one.

And don't forget DoorDash doesn't pay for gas or other required maintenance from the extra use on your car.