Pimps in Washington, D.C. can make nearly a quarter-of-a-million dollars per year, according to an in-depth study on sex work and sex trafficking from The Urban Institute.
According to the study, “typical” D.C. street and Internet prostitutes are required to fulfill quotas of up to $1,000 per day.
“It depends on the pimp, but it is typically $500 on weekdays and $1,000 on weekends,” a law enforcement official told the researchers. “That totals out to be $234,000 a year for one girl if they meet the quota.”
Most pimps in D.C. generally sell between one and four women.
Another law enforcement official said that D.C. “is the place to be” for pimps and prostitutes because they are able to charge much more for their services than in other major cities. Why? Government workers.
“You have D.C. and Virginia where most of the johns [buyers] are … the majority of them are from outside the District of Columbia. They come into D.C. to purchase sex,” the official said. “So that is where you have that money coming in. You have the federal workers, industry workers, construction workers, not necessarily labor but your regular construction.”
Another chimed in, “We have arrested all walks of life, from the homeless guy to the executive.”
The study also found that there are many Asian “massage parlors” that are run out of businesses “scattered around downtown D.C.,” which is where many of the lobbying firms are located.