But these jobs may be little more than a side gig for them. A recent survey suggests they could be among thousands of Miamians raking in cash on the subscription-based social media platform OnlyFans.
According to the study, Miami has the most OnlyFans creators per capita of any large city in the nation, with 1,110 accounts per 100,000 residents. Las Vegas came in second place with 670 OnlyFans creators per capita, and "no other cities are close," according to the study released by men's supplement company Madhouse Labs.
Miami's demographics, party culture, and never-ending hunger for bare skin, borne out by its history in the X-rated media industry, are fostering a fertile market for adult content on OnlyFans. Meanwhile, as the cost of living continues to climb and Miami cements itself as one of the least affordable housing markets in the country, more and more people are getting creative to try and make ends meet.
"You got South Beach, Miami, it's a different culture. You're not going to go to Tampa and get the same rhythm you're going to get down here," one adult-entertainment industry source tells New Times. "Other parts of the country maybe haven't caught up. OnlyFans takes adult media to another level."
Launched in 2016, OnlyFans allows creators to monetize their content and interact with fans online. Paid subscribers are charged fees to access creators' content, between $4.99 to $49.99 per month. OnlyFans takes 20 percent of the subscription revenue and the creator typically pockets the rest.
While the site serves as a marketplace for musicians and personal fitness experts, it is known for its X-rated content, having grown in popularity among adult entertainers as other social media sites clamped down on explicit material.
Miami-based model Kira Shannon decided to join OnlyFans in 2019. She had been doing fashion portrait photography and modeling on the side when she realized that her photos from a recent bikini shoot were popping off on social media. Tired of working an office job, she explored new avenues to make a profit.
"I wanted to find a way to be paid for my results and not my time," Shannon tells New Times. "I really wanted to start a business, and I was super interested in building wealth. If there's people out there that are gonna pay for it, why don't I just try?""I wanted to find a way to be paid for my results and not my time."
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Shannon, a college student at the time, was initially making around $1,000 a month on OnlyFans. After a year on the platform, she started working with a management company that helped build and market her page. She says that partnership helped her make "life-changing" money.
In addition to subscription revenue, content creators make money by putting exclusive content behind paywalls for users to purchase. Fans can privately message their favorite creators for additional fees. The site also has the option for fans to tip creators.
"I would say primarily my money comes from one-on-one messaging and subscriptions," Shannon says. "The top creators in Miami are doing $100,000 to $400,000 a month, but that's rare. I would say it's much more common to be in the range between $20,000 to $60,000 a month."
The Miami area is no stranger to the adult-entertainment industry. Dating back more than fifty years, Miami-Dade County served as a hub for X-rated content and the production site of the famed 1972 porn film Deep Throat. Among other porn production companies, Bang Bros has counted Miami as its headquarters. And the metro area has doubled as a sort of giant porno set in recent years, with scenes shot in Airbnb rentals, a Miami-Dade County public bus, and local businesses, including Gramps bar in Wynwood, a Coral Gables gym, and a well-known local arcade.
"[Miami] is a major adult film market for one, and there's a lot of young foreigners who want to work for themselves," the adult-media industry source, who asked not to be named on account of privacy concerns, tells New Times. "Where else can you go and make a million a year as a 21-year-old? Obviously, this opens up doors to OnlyFans."
Management companies specializing in OnlyFans promotion have been sprouting up all over South Florida over the past three years. Some of them have grown to represent more than 20 models.
Shannon says OnlyFans is more popular here in Miami because adult media work is more accepted and normalized than elsewhere. In her prior hometown of Boston, she felt like she was treated like a zoo animal, with people bombarding her with questions once they found out she was an OnlyFans model.
"I think it's still difficult to be an [adult entertainment] worker in Miami and do OnlyFans — like there's a lot of social stigma, especially with dating. People make assumptions that you might not be as worthy of being a long-term partner because of what you do for work," Shannon tells New Times."People make assumptions that you might not be as worthy of being a long-term partner because of what you do for work."
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While the money has changed Shannon's life, some aspects of the job do stress her out, particularly filming the more hardcore content. She says she prefers not to share that she does OnlyFans, especially with those who do not know her well. If someone asks what she does for work, she lies or says something "boring."
"I don't want people to see me in a like sexual light because I want them to get to know me and understand who I am first and that I have other hobbies," Shannon explains. "I'm not just an OnlyFans girl."
OnlyFans' network of creators grew rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, as artists and entertainers stuck at home and out of work turned to the platform as a reliable source of income. The platform offers models and adult performers the flexibility to control their content, how much skin they want to show, and how much they interact with fans.
On the state level, the recent study ranked Florida second in the U.S. for most OnlyFans accounts per capita behind Nevada. Some unexpected creators in the OnlyFans network nationwide included a New York administrative law judge, paramedics, and teachers.
Last month, Business Insider spoke to eight OnlyFans models who reported taking in between $143,000 to $5.4 million a year from the platform. The average account, including content that is not adult-themed, is estimated to rake in a more humble sum, a few thousand dollars a year.
For her part, Shannon has amassed nearly 160,000 subscribers on OnlyFans, along with 189,000 followers on Instagram and 320,000 subscribers on YouTube.
As to when Shannon will log off OnlyFans for the final time?
"I plan to do it either until I find a rich husband [and] I can be a trophy wife or until I save up enough to have the capital work for me," Shannon quips. "I usually save a lot of money and try to invest in other things. Right now, I'm trying to buy a condo."
