How Much Do Drug Dealers Earn?

Usually less than minimum wage, it seems.

Not many illegal drug gangs publish their accounts. However, a maverick economist (Steven Levitt) was lucky enough to get some detailed financial records for a Chicago gang dealing crack cocaine in the 1980s (described in his book Freakonomics).

Most gang members were street-corner dealers, who gained very little profit for their time. They had about the same take-home pay as somebody on minimum wage. And had to put up with the hazards of violence from rival drug gangs, volatile clients and a strict discipline regime within the gang. The low pay is why most of them still lived with their mothers.

Occasionally a street-corner dealer would get promoted to a deputy, with some management duties, earning 2-3 times as much as minimum wage.

Only very rarely might a deputy get promoted to be Gang Boss, who earned a moderately well-paid salary, comparable to a senior university lecturer or upper-management in a medium-sized company.

The Gang Boss reported (and paid dues to) a Board of Directors who oversaw crack distribution in the Chicago area. We don't know what these individuals earned, but probably they had other criminal interests supplementing their incomes. And almost certainly there were more individuals in the supply chain further up, the people who really make a fortune out of drug-dealing.

Add Comment

Report