I was watching Cops the other night and a prostitute was arrested.
When questioned how much she made on an average night she said between $700 and $1000.
So that brings up my question, how much “work” does that $1000 take to make?
How many hours is a night?
How much is charged for each act?
The data tables in this paper are quite illuminating. (warning - PDF).
ETA: In other words, she’s probably lying.
FYI - Steven Levitt, one of the authors of the cited paper, is also the co-author of Freakonomics.
Based on the typical hookers busted on Cops, there’s no “probably” about it. It would take them at least a couple weeks to get to $1000.
Slightly OT, but one of my all-time favorite segments on Cops involved a sleazy-looking white woman who flagged down a cop car in a dodgy neighborhood. Her complaint? She’d been trying to make a drug buy at a nearby house and the woman there kept her money but didn’t give her any drugs. Could the officer get her money back?
Seriously.
The cop goes to the house in question, where a variety of black people are milling around in the yard. He finds the woman who allegedly kept the money. She explains that the other broad stopped by under the delusion that the place was a drug house, and insisted on handing over dough for drugs even when told that no one was dealing. As for her, she was offended that anyone would think she was a drug dealer.
“I’m a prostitute” she said, proudly.
That seems ridiculously high. Street-walkers, around here, are in the $25-$50 range, from what I hear. Craigslist hookers are in the $150-200 range. Top tier high-class call girls up to the $800-$1000 range. I really doubt some prostitute picked up on Cops is going to be one of the latter types.
I think there’s a big factor of “what the market will bear”. If a prostitute thinks you’re willing to pay $1000, she’ll ask for that. But if she doesn’t think you’ve got that kind of money and doesn’t have the prosepect of finding somebody with that kind of money, she’ll ask for $100.
I’ve read that some prostitutes who advertise online create seperate personas for different price levels. You’ll see an advertisement for “Christine” whose price range is $800-$1000. And the same site might have another advertisement from “Amber” whose price range is $150-$200. And Christine and Amber are the same woman performing the same services.
I’ve been offered oral sex for £5 by a prostitute and I had a friend that for a time was charging £500 for a few hours (she was doing well because she looked quite young which is worrying), so it all depends on the individual.
In my neck of the woods, Chicago, near NW side, your prostitute is going to charge $20 for a “handjob,” up to $50.00 for oral sex and $50 - $100 for intercourse.
All is negotiable though, because unlike the movies prostitutes don’t look at it like a job. It’s not like they are saving money and such. They are out there to get enough money to pay rent on a flop and to get enough money for their drug fix. Again it’s not like the movies, where you have the prostitute with the heart of gold. Virutally every women who is a prostitute is also a junkie.
You also have your overhead to your pimp, who will expect so much and performs so much back at you. Like getting you out of jail, and maybe paying your rent or being your dealer as well. Your pimp also gives you some protection from other prostitutes trying to move in on your area and such.
So if a prostitute needs $100 once she hits that she quits, it’s a hand to mouth type life. It’s not like she saves up for another day. Why should she? The pimp is going to take any extra money she makes, and if she has made enough to satisfy him and pay her daily fix then she just quits for the day.
Ha! I remember that one - it’s my favorite Cops segment too. She was really offended that anybody would think she was a drug dealer instead of a prostitute.
Wait . . . oh, never mind.
She makes maybe $60 hooking, but then she parlays that into a grand by astute day-trading.
There was a spate of recent newspaper articles about how prices have recently plunged and business has taken a big hit. Regulars are making less frequent visits and business is very slow generally. Superfreakonomics has more about prostitute pricing.
The one I saw was from Toronto and quoted $40 (that’s Canuck bucks, though they are almost at par) for oral sex on the street.
A quick perusal of backpage shows $80 - $160 for a half hour for those posting prices. These are mostly hotel girls in Queens NY, so take out about one trick per day for room. I’ve no idea about pimps and their percentage, nor about volume, nor about historical pricing.