Stripper salaries and other surprising facts about strippers

Strippers make around $74,000 a year, and many of them have undergraduate degrees.

(Image credit: Corbis)

last updated 8 January 2015

A new British study into the lives of strippers has come up with some interesting figures, so to speak — concluding, for instance, that about one in four are college graduates. That's just one of several recent research claims about those who take their clothes off for a living. Here's a round-up:

Strippers earn more when they're ovulating

Strippers make an average of $30 per hour more when they are ovulating than when they are menstruating, according to a study by the University of New Mexico. Women on the pill — who generally do not ovulate — made significantly less. Researchers said this was proof men react to female ovulation, a claim that had some critics scoffing. But, then again, maybe "a stripper who feels sexy gives a more tip-worthy lap dance than one who feels uncomfortable during her period," said Sharon Begley at Newsweek.

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Some say they make as much as lawyers...

How much money does a stripper typically earn? According to a new study from the University of Leeds in the U.K., it's around $74,000. That's approximately as much as an American attorney, according to salary experts PayScale. "I congratulate the women who make more money than I do out of a job they say they enjoy," says Katy Guest at the Independent. But that doesn't mean I don't "viscerally object to lap dancing."

... and are quite happy with their jobs

According to the same study, strippers reported very high levels of job satisfaction. The researchers found the women were overwhelmingly motivated by "career and economic choices" rather than drug addiction or coercion. "These young women do not buy the line that they are being exploited, because they are the ones making the money out of a three-minute dance and a bit of a chat," says study author Teela Sanders.

Sweden is being shortchanged by strippers

The Swedish government is cracking down on online strippers for failing to reveal their assets. Internet stripteases are legal in Sweden, and the government says that strippers may be dodging up to $5 million in taxes. "The bottom line" here, says Andrew Swift at Foreign Policy, is that "the Swedish tax authority has apparently never heard of the phrase 'not safe for work.'"

Canada has a stripper shortage

So few Canadian girls are willing to strip that Ontario strip-club owners were forced to hire legal consultants in 2008 to find a way for get foreigners to staff their clubs. Until 2004, the Canadian authorities would give foreign women visas allowing them to strip in the country — but a crackdown prompted a widespread stripper shortage that continues to this day. "The government's putting a real squeeze on the industry," said Tim Lambrinos, of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada. "It really is affecting our ability to find dancers."