Thanks for link, DC. IMHO, payscale.com may be off base in a few areas. They really don't know how things work in my former field, so they're immediately suspect wrt dancers/strippers. Especially considering that the exotic dancer field has more cases of un/under reported income than most other fields.
I'm curious where payscale.com gets it's data. (Cooperative respondents, culling tax returns, etc.) The part that I really question is the number of years as a dancer income graph resembles a trajectory pretty much in line with a vanilla job. Graph has 5 yr dancers making $52K, 10 yr dancers making ~ $72K, and 20 yr plus dancers making $142K. I don't doubt that there are some dancers north of 38 yo making 6 figures. Seeing that dancers have a limited shelf life like pro athletes, I would suspect that income would rise at a steep curve the first 5 to 10 years, then level off, not be a shallow rise the first 10-15 years as presented, then skyrocketing years 15-20.
Minnow is right to question the reliability of the data. Where did the pay data come from? For people who receive wage payments, the government can categorize these payments by occupation. But strippers make their money from cash payments that do not go thru the required reporting of SS payments and IRS withholding.
Strippers also make a lot of tax-free income, which counts for more than taxed income. They often (usually) underreport their income or don't report any income at all.
My ATF, for example, did not even know how much she made. She kept no records, paid no taxes, and simply spent everything she earned. From our conversations, I estimated she made over $100K a year (tax-free), but there was no way to verify this.
I enjoyed the description of the stripper's job on the site DC9428 referenced:
Job Description for Stripper/Exotic Dancer
The position of a stripper/exotic dancer requires a great deal of physical strength and a positive attitude. A stripper is a person who dances provocatively for an audience to obtain tips as payment, and this type of job requires dancing abilities and possibly the ability to work with a pole. Exotic dancers are often required to travel from place to place when hired for certain events.
A typical day is spent dancing at the place of employment, ranging from on-stage to private dances with a customer one-on-one. This job requires extensive customer service skills and the ability to work well with others, and is paid primarily on commission and tips. Hours for this job are primarily on the weekends at night, but daytime hours are available depending on the location.
Most strippers prefer working the evening hours on weekends, as there are more customers and more opportunities to make money. Formal education is not required, and many places are willing to offer on-the-job training. Most places of employment prefer those who are young and physically fit, as exotic dancing requires heavy physical strength to endure for long periods of time. (Copyright 2018 PayScale.com)
Stripper/Exotic Dancer Tasks
Perform on stage or in private settings.
Build and maintain audience excitement and enthusiasm.
Prepare and practice costumes and routines.
I think it varies from whore to whore based on which club, which city, and what they look like... it is almost as useless a number as the average ceo salary. One thing is for sure if you ask her you get a different number based on who you are
Potential Sugar Daddy.... she makes 4000 a week and if you want to buy her out of the club that is what it takes
Boyfriend..... while she makes a ton of money she does not have enough to buy peanut butter for her kids
Other whores.... she makes bank over all those sluts
The underlying theme here is that she is a lying manipulating whore and everything that comes out of her mouth should be considered a threat to your wallet
There is no "average" as most jobs/careers can be defined.
A few that I know that talk about their income will work 4 nights a week and have a goal depending on each night of the week.
This year for some reason appears to be a down year even in places that are known for being high pay.
But.....every dancer who has been doing it for a year or more will state it only takes one guy to walk in the door to change the night from a poor one to a great one.
To many variables to even determine an accurate range.
Depends on the region / city.
Depends on the club.
Depends on the shifts worked.
Depends on the your age / look.
Depends on how often and hard you work.
Depends on what you're willing to do in the VIP.
Also, as far as an "average week," it depends on the time of year. I know if we are talking about annual earning, we have to add up all 52 weeks of earnings and find the average of that, but in general, earnings totally fluctuate based on the time of year.
Right now, it is slow almost everywhere across the country, with a few exceptions. August is my least favorite month to work. It sucks for various reasons (guys are going on end of the summer family vacations, back to school shopping, paying for kids' college tuition, having a few more family BBQs before the kids have to go back to school, going to the beach, etc). It is absolutely here in Detroit.
So in the month of August, I only work about 3 days a week and am lucky to make $1500 in that week. It would be more if I were working more night shifts (which I usually do), but so far this month I've been working mostly days. Going back to nights now though, so I'm sure it'll be better.
Now if it were November in Detroit and I worked 3 days a week, I'd probably average about double that (I am a serious hustler so it is not uncommon for me to make 1k a night during Season).
If it were winter at Mons (Tampa), I would work about 4-5 days a week and average about 3-5k in that week.
If I went on a work spree and worked a week straight at the right club at the right time, I could make 7K in that week.
So, in short, assuming I work anywhere from 3-7 days in a week, I could make anything from 1-7K range in a week.
My average is probably a little over $2000 a week if I'm working 3 nights.
Can only comment on on, my ATF. She made enough that she stopped dancing, she had a condo on the beach and drove her Porsche. I'd say she did just fine. BTW, she was never a drug user and very thrifty.
Like Ishmael said it depends on many factors.
FWIW, my xATF said she'd need $700/week (~36k/year) to not strip...
but could make over 1k/night on certain nights in a low mileage club.
I'm sure there are good, sweet dancers.... I'm also sure there are bitches that feed on our belief that there are good sweet dancers. While in life I believe you are innocent until proven guilty, in clubs I believe she is guilty until proven innocent
19 comments
I should work more often.
I'm curious where payscale.com gets it's data. (Cooperative respondents, culling tax returns, etc.) The part that I really question is the number of years as a dancer income graph resembles a trajectory pretty much in line with a vanilla job. Graph has 5 yr dancers making $52K, 10 yr dancers making ~ $72K, and 20 yr plus dancers making $142K. I don't doubt that there are some dancers north of 38 yo making 6 figures. Seeing that dancers have a limited shelf life like pro athletes, I would suspect that income would rise at a steep curve the first 5 to 10 years, then level off, not be a shallow rise the first 10-15 years as presented, then skyrocketing years 15-20.
Strippers also make a lot of tax-free income, which counts for more than taxed income. They often (usually) underreport their income or don't report any income at all.
My ATF, for example, did not even know how much she made. She kept no records, paid no taxes, and simply spent everything she earned. From our conversations, I estimated she made over $100K a year (tax-free), but there was no way to verify this.
Job Description for Stripper/Exotic Dancer
The position of a stripper/exotic dancer requires a great deal of physical strength and a positive attitude. A stripper is a person who dances provocatively for an audience to obtain tips as payment, and this type of job requires dancing abilities and possibly the ability to work with a pole. Exotic dancers are often required to travel from place to place when hired for certain events.
A typical day is spent dancing at the place of employment, ranging from on-stage to private dances with a customer one-on-one. This job requires extensive customer service skills and the ability to work well with others, and is paid primarily on commission and tips. Hours for this job are primarily on the weekends at night, but daytime hours are available depending on the location.
Most strippers prefer working the evening hours on weekends, as there are more customers and more opportunities to make money. Formal education is not required, and many places are willing to offer on-the-job training. Most places of employment prefer those who are young and physically fit, as exotic dancing requires heavy physical strength to endure for long periods of time. (Copyright 2018 PayScale.com)
Stripper/Exotic Dancer Tasks
Perform on stage or in private settings.
Build and maintain audience excitement and enthusiasm.
Prepare and practice costumes and routines.
Potential Sugar Daddy.... she makes 4000 a week and if you want to buy her out of the club that is what it takes
Boyfriend..... while she makes a ton of money she does not have enough to buy peanut butter for her kids
Other whores.... she makes bank over all those sluts
The underlying theme here is that she is a lying manipulating whore and everything that comes out of her mouth should be considered a threat to your wallet
A few that I know that talk about their income will work 4 nights a week and have a goal depending on each night of the week.
This year for some reason appears to be a down year even in places that are known for being high pay.
But.....every dancer who has been doing it for a year or more will state it only takes one guy to walk in the door to change the night from a poor one to a great one.
You can upload them to (I think the site name is) imagebox.com.
Depends on the region / city.
Depends on the club.
Depends on the shifts worked.
Depends on the your age / look.
Depends on how often and hard you work.
Depends on what you're willing to do in the VIP.
Also, as far as an "average week," it depends on the time of year. I know if we are talking about annual earning, we have to add up all 52 weeks of earnings and find the average of that, but in general, earnings totally fluctuate based on the time of year.
Right now, it is slow almost everywhere across the country, with a few exceptions. August is my least favorite month to work. It sucks for various reasons (guys are going on end of the summer family vacations, back to school shopping, paying for kids' college tuition, having a few more family BBQs before the kids have to go back to school, going to the beach, etc). It is absolutely here in Detroit.
So in the month of August, I only work about 3 days a week and am lucky to make $1500 in that week. It would be more if I were working more night shifts (which I usually do), but so far this month I've been working mostly days. Going back to nights now though, so I'm sure it'll be better.
Now if it were November in Detroit and I worked 3 days a week, I'd probably average about double that (I am a serious hustler so it is not uncommon for me to make 1k a night during Season).
If it were winter at Mons (Tampa), I would work about 4-5 days a week and average about 3-5k in that week.
If I went on a work spree and worked a week straight at the right club at the right time, I could make 7K in that week.
So, in short, assuming I work anywhere from 3-7 days in a week, I could make anything from 1-7K range in a week.
My average is probably a little over $2000 a week if I'm working 3 nights.
FWIW, my xATF said she'd need $700/week (~36k/year) to not strip...
but could make over 1k/night on certain nights in a low mileage club.
At $2000 per week =$100k per year. in 10 years 1 million. crazy money, 3 day work week.