New Yorkers Get Candid About How They Make Their Annual Salaries, from Sex Worker’s $284K to Lice Lady’s $75K
New Yorkers Get Candid About How They Make Their Annual Salaries, from Sex Worker’s $284K to Lice Lady’s $75K
Lexi LaneSat, March 14, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC
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Large pile of cashCredit: Getty -
New Yorkers got candid about how they are making money in various unique ways for New York Magazine's new cover story
Some include a sex worker who made $284K in 2025, and a "lice lady" who earned $75K
The publication surveyed 60 Manhattan residents about their financial earnings, marking a follow-up to a similar poll done in 2005
New Yorkers are making money in various unique ways.
For New York Magazine's new cover story, published on Monday, March 9, the publication surveyed 60 Manhattan residents about their financial earnings, marking a follow-up to a similar poll done in 2005.
Some standout ways people made their annual salaries were through sex work, being a theater-ensemble actress, serving as a matchmaker and working as a "lice lady," among others.
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An office worker (stock image).Credit: Getty
The sex worker who spoke with New York Magazine made $284,000 last year. Specifically, $104,000 came from taxable income, which was listed as "escorting, porn, cam modeling," and $160,000 was nontaxable from "cash gifts from partner for living expenses," they told the outlet.
"In 2024, I made $800,000, and the year before that, I made $1.2 million," the sex worker further explained. "But last year, I took a kind of maternity leave to get to know my primary partner’s children. I also started a business helping adult-industry professionals with their finances."
"A lot of girls say they’re making less money these days camming — for many reasons, including age-verification laws and foreign competition," they added. "Clients can pay a Ukrainian something like 50 cents a minute instead of paying you $6 a minute."
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Another New Yorker earned $75,000 in 2025 working as a lice lady, primarily in areas where children live in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
"We get paid by appointment," she told the outlet. "If a family is fully infested, it takes two or three hours — it’s around $150 to $225 per head, depending on hair length and severity of infestation."
"I have a daughter; she’s 8 years old," the woman added. "She’s living in Georgia, my home country. This is such a hard time for me, but I’m so happy that I get to have contact with kids all day. It’s a lot of fun."
Elsewhere, a tugboat chief engineer said they earned $145,000, a matchmaker said they made $200,000, a ghostwriter collected $164,768 and a theater-ensemble actress took home $42,112.
"New York is one of the higher-paid ports," the engineer said, further detailing that he earns $750 per day on a boat. "The people in the New York Harbor make a lot more than, say, the people down in the Mississippi River doing the same job."
The Broadway ensemble actress, meanwhile, told New York Magazine, "I’m on a contract until May, so I’ll make about $50,000 from the role."
"It’s a feast now, but it will be famine," she added.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
