Last updated: January 28, 2024While you can look up salaries for most jobs on sites like Glassdoor and LinkedIn, it’s harder to find how much stars in the adult entertainment industry take home. While there are plenty of rumors and myths surrounding the salaries of porn stars, there is little concrete data available to provide a clear picture of what these individuals actually earn. In this analysis, we will cover the salaries of porn stars based on our findings from talking to 100’s of performers and production company staff in the industry. So, how much do porn stars make? Let’s find out.
You are welcome to copy the findings from our study, just remember to reference us as a source.
The following numbers are based on per-scene/shoot/video/movie earnings. In other words, our data covers the earnings that a performer makes during an entire video or photoshoot, typically ranging from 1 to 4 hours.
When taking into account all income streams, including video/photo shoots with studios, OnlyFans, etc., adult performers earn the following per year:
| Job | Salary |
|---|---|
| Female Performer, Man/Woman Scene | $500 – $1,500 |
| Female Performer, All-Woman Scene | $400 – $1,200 |
| Male Performer, (Straight Scenes) | $300 – $1,500 |
| Male Performer, (Gay Scenes) | $200 – $1,000 |
| Top 10% of male and female performers | $1,500 – $5,000 |
| Extreme scenes | $1,500 – $3,000 |
| Director | $500 – $3,000 |
| Cameraperson | $200 – $700 |
| Sound Technician | $200 – $400 |
| Production Assistant | $100 – $200 |
| Writers | $200 – $500 |
| Still Photographers | $300 – $800 |
| Makeup Artists | $250 – $500 |
The most popular porn stars earn significantly more than the average stars in the adult industry. The following earnings are estimates based on publicly available information and include all revenue streams: adult content, sponsorships, social media collaborations, merchandise selling, strip clubs, and more.
The highest earning porn stars such as Riley Reid, Johnny Sins, and others earn millions of dollars per year.
Top 20 porn stars by net worth and popularity:
| # | Porn actor | Net worth |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jenna Jameson | $40,000,000 |
| 2 | Lana Rhoades | $28,000,000 |
| 3 | Riley Reid | $19,000,000 |
| 4 | Tera Patrick | $14,000,000 |
| 5 | Jesse Jane | $10,000,000 |
| 6 | Johnny Sins | $8,200,000 |
| 7 | Kimmy Granger | $7,500,000 |
| 8 | Traci Lords | $5,500,000 |
| 9 | Mia Khalifa | $5,000,000 |
| 10 | Nicole Aniston | $4,500,000 |
| 11 | Peter North | $4,000,000 |
| 12 | Jenna Haze | $4,000,000 |
| 13 | Lexington Steele | $3,750,000 |
| 14 | Maria Takagi | $3,700,000 |
| 15 | Brandi Love | $3,500,000 |
| 16 | Dillion Harper | $3,250,000 |
| 17 | Adriana Chechik | $3,000,000 |
| 18 | Mia Malkova | $3,000,000 |
| 19 | Katie Morgan | $2,500,000 |
| 20 | Eva Elfie | $2,300,000 |
Overview of the top porn star’s salary per video:
| Earnings Percentile | Median Earnings per Scene |
|---|---|
| Top 10% | $1,800 – $3,000 |
| Top 5% | $3,500 – $5,000 |
| Top 2% | $7,000 – $10,000 |
| Top 1% | >$10,000 |
Most amateur stars start at the bottom of the pay brackets covered above. Here are the median earnings per scene for amateurs:
| Job | Salary |
|---|---|
| Amateur Female Performer, Man/Woman Scene | $400 – $700 |
| Amateur Female Performer, All-Woman Scene | $300 – $600 |
| Amateur Male Performer, (Straight Scenes) | $200 – $500 |
| Amateur Male Performer, (Gay Scenes) | $200 – $400 |
The average RPM (rate per 1,000 video views) in 2023 on Pornhub was $0.66, and owners of videos are paid 80% of that.
So if you have 5 videos that have 100,000 views each, you will generate (80% x $0.66 x 500,000 views / 1000) = $260.40. So one will earn about $260 for 500,000 views.
A user that really has succeeded on Pornhub is the couple behind LeoLulu. They said:
“It took us around half a year to get traffic, and then slowly build up our fan base. The primary thing that influences your profit is your number of views, so it’s important to keep putting out content that people love.”
They have more than 931,000,000 views. Based on the earnings rate that we discussed above, that’s 80% x $0.66 x 931,000,000 / 1,000 = $491,568.
There are several factors that can influence a porn star’s earnings. Some of the main factors include:
Creators on OnlyFans don’t generally earn money from a single income stream — they often take advantage of the various monetization options the platform offers, as well as making money off-platform. This includes content on OnlyFans (via subscriptions, tips, and premium content), other creator-focused sites, and porn sites.
Overall, earnings are very much dependent on a creator’s following. Let’s look at a few examples:
It’s important to note that the earnings discussed throughout this article are averages and medians based on a limited sample size. Many factors influence the earnings of an individual performer.
