How Much Do Cam Girls Make? The Honest Guide

With the explosion in high-speed internet connections over the past 20 years, many online-centered businesses have seen a commensurate rise in demand for their services. 

Nowhere is this more true than in the camming industry. Sex, famously, sells. And live-streamed sex personalized to the viewer and with performers that respond in real-time? They really sell. 

This leads, naturally, to the assumption that cam girls make a lot of money. But how correct is this assumption and how much do cam girls make? What does the average cam girl make, and how much of that does she get to keep once she accounts for outgoings and any third parties that might be entitled to a cut? 

We plan to examine these questions – and many more – as we take a look at the camming industry and the kind of money that goes into (and out of) it. 

Is Camming A Lucrative Profession? 

In a nutshell: yes. Though it’s not uniform across the entire industry and varies a lot according to the hours worked, the gender of the performer, and the platform used, camming is generally far more lucrative than, say, a full-time minimum-wage job in the US.

Someone working full-time for minimum wage can expect to come away with around $300 before tax. Conversely, a cam girl can expect to earn around $1050 per week – and that’s assuming a relatively light schedule of 18 hours per week. 

This averages out to about $59 per hour – far higher than the minimum wage, which tends to be around $15 per hour. This average isn’t a hard and fast rule, however – low-earning cam girls will only get around $4.70 per hour, while the biggest names in the business can command as much as $315 per hour. 

Why Do Cam Girl Earnings Vary So Much? 

There’s obviously a lot of variation between the earnings of different cam girls, which naturally leads to the question of why there’s so much variation. Let’s take a look at the various factors that can influence how much a cam girl can make. 

Experience 

Camming may be a freelance gig, and it may largely involve selling your body for cash, but that doesn’t mean that experience isn’t important. In fact, it’s hugely important. 

A cam girl that’s brand new to the industry can expect to command much less of a following than her more established peers. The average hourly rate earned by a first-year cam girl is around $43/hour. This is less than half of that of an experienced cam girl (with 3+ years of experience), who can expect to earn $103/hour. 

Time Spent Camming 

It will be to the surprise of nobody that the more time you spend camming, the more you can expect to earn. While most cam girls are content to earn a decent wage from camming part-time and spend more time relaxing, the fact is that those who treat it as a full-time occupation stand to make a great living. 

Those who spend more than 35 hours a week camming earn, on average, more than $2500 a week. Over a year the average ends up being almost $130,000. That’s almost twice what the average household in the US earns – making camming an extremely lucrative option for many women. 

Quality Of Equipment 

If you’re only offering a choppy SD feed, it stands to reason that fewer clients are going to pay for your time, and your earnings will be lower. That’s why many top cam girls invest in the best equipment to ensure the best possible experience for their clientele. 

What comprises this equipment? While there’s no set laundry list of suitable camming apparatus, at the minimum, you’ll need: 

• A private space dedicated entirely to camming (preferably a room)
• Lighting equipment (usually with at least three different lights to properly illuminate your cam space) 
• Sex toys such as Lovense vibrators, fuck machines, dildos, etc. 
• A webcam (the higher quality, the better) 
• Lingerie, costumes, etc. 
• Makeup

If you’re keen to know more about the vital kit every cam girl needs, be sure to check out our cam girl starter kit here to find out everything you need to know!

As with so many professions, it takes money to make money. The better your space is set up and the higher the quality of your equipment, the more clients you’ll have interested in tipping you or taking it to private chat. And these two things are where the money’s at. 

Looks 

When it comes to camming, you’re selling your body. That means that, quite often, appearance is going to be a factor. Simply put: the hotter you are, the more attention you can expect to command – and the more you’ll make. 

This isn’t, however, a hard and fast rule – and, in fact, looks are often not the most important factor at all in whether or not clients are interested in cam girls. Being pretty certainly helps, but it means nothing without the other factors on this list. One such factor that far outstrips looks is… 

Persona 

For many camming clients, nothing is more important than the cam girl’s persona – least of all, how pretty they are. And that’s why it’s vital that a cam girl puts a lot of thought into her niche and the persona that best fits that niche. 

This is why you’ll find that a lot of the top cam girls are not necessarily super attractive – they just inhabit the role that they play extremely well. That role might be that of a kawaii Belle-Delphine-esque living anime character, or it might be that of a hard-as-nails dominatrix clad in latex and wielding a cat-o’-nine-tails. 

The precise persona doesn’t matter too much – it just matters that it’s a persona that’s in demand and that clients will respond to. If you can identify such a persona and nail the associated accouterments and demeanor of that persona, then you can stand to make a lot of money. 

So, How Much Do Cam Girls Make? 

As we’ve seen, cam girl earnings can vary a great deal. Figuring out exactly how to bump that figure is not yet a precise science, but it’s certainly getting there.

By paying attention to the factors pointed out in this article and working on them, you can ensure that your earnings skyrocket.

Want to find out more about the live sex cams industry? Explore our cam girl section for a behind-the-scenes insight covering everything you need to know!