Do Panhandlers Make $50 An Hour?

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How true to life is the "wealthy panhandler" trope, and how much do they really make an hour on average?

Kim LaCapria

Published Dec. 13, 2016

Claim: Panhandling is a lucrative business, averaging an hourly rate of $50. Rating: Unproven

About this rating

On 12 December 2016, the Dallas Morning News published an 2009 repeated the rumor that many downtrodden beggars were "secret millionaires," made wealthy by posing as people in need:

Maybe it's the economy - people have money on the mind - or maybe it's because I recently moved to Los Angeles, which (believe it or not) has a lot more panhandlers than my native New York. Whatever the cause is, the old "I heard some panhandlers are actually millionaires" has come up in conversation much more often recently. Whenever it does, it's always accompanied by statements like "I saw it on TV once" or "My Mom swears it's true." I'm still waiting on proof.

It seems more like a popular construct than truth; if I can believe a grubby panhandler is really a secret millionaire, I can feel less guilty when I don't give him any change. We're all hurting for money in one way or another right now, and perhaps the fantasy of panhandling ones way to fortune is a nice thing to think about.

panhandling and being swindled, vulnerability to those who would fleece us, and general anxiety about to how often our trust in others might be misplaced.

Kindly people getting defrauded or harmed by those posing as victims is a perennial theme in modern folklore, inviting us to test and reframe our true opinions about the poor, needy, and down on their luck. A stranded or distressed person isn't just often a potential con artist in these tales of caution, but also frequently a gang member, or 1891 Sherlock Holmes short story "The Man with the Twisted Lip"; a primary plot point involves the discovery of an apparently destitute man who is in fact living a secret "reputable" life. 

Just as its impossible to produce even a ballpark figure of how many folks on the streets are truly, desperately in need, so too is figuring out how much the average panhandler can make. Location, season, visibility, personality, appearance, the economy, and a giver or mark's own views of the activity are among the variables that affect how lucrative it can be. Numerous articles including "estimates" of panhandling incomes are available; one penned by a self-identified reported by a news outlet in 2013 tracked more closely with the actual research than the "wealthy panhandler" trope:

He said a panhandler can make more than minimum wage. His informal "study" took place at the exit ramp off highways 205 and 99 in Oregon City.

The man behind the study, David Spears, spent two weeks last summer on that Oregon City exit ramp — and recorded his findings.

"I got my oldest pair of work pants, a ratty T-shirt, I grew out my beard as far as it would go," Spears told KOIN 6 News.

And he made — on average — $11.10 an hour. That's more than $2 above Oregon's minimum wage of $8.95.

A $300 monthly average income and spending donated money on food was far less attention grabbing than the trope of the wealthy panhandler, but research didn't indicate anywhere near a $50 hourly take was common for beggars under the best of conditions. That dichotomy was present in a November 2015 article titled "How Much Do Panhandlers Make? New York City Homeless Man Earns $200 An Hour Sitting On Sidewalk With Dog[.]" Although the