2026 Pole Industry Financial Survey Results

Thank you to everyone who took our third pole industry financial survey! (see results from the first survey here conducted in 2022 and the second survey here conducted in 2024)

Our goal with collecting this data is to help people make informed decisions about their businesses in the pole industry and to help those not yet in the industry to better understand the market before entering.

Survey Structure

This was a sprawling survey that covered some basic demographic information.

Then, it asked specific questions relevant to the five categories of pole industry businessperson currently recognized by the IPIA. Some questions were repeated with slight tweaks, such as types of revenue and expenses while other questions were specific to each category.

Questions for current or future pole industry professionals such as: “What should I charge for classes?” or “How much money can I make as a pole performer?” can be answered using this data.

Does this survey represent everyone? No, not yet. It does begin to establish a baseline to build from as an industry. The exciting thing is that we are really starting to see trends across the three surveys conducted over six years showing a normalization of costs, revenue, and ways of working.

Survey Updates

The 2026 survey mostly repeated questions from the 2024 survey. We broke out some questions to be easier to answer and to compare data in the future. We also added a few questions such as if a pole instructor held any teaching certifications.

We did change that respondents are no longer able to choose currency when responding, unfortunately. The conversion process in 2024 to normalize the data took a lot longer than expected and was very complicated so for 2026, we asked everyone to report as best they could in US dollars to make it easier to compare data.

The number of respondents decreased by almost 10% and had representation from North America, Australia, and Europe.

 

Click here to view all the results.

 

Below are the survey highlights. At the end of these results are some notes on trends.

Highlights from general demographic data (Questions 1-11)

• 136 people took the survey which is a slightly decrease from 2024. Most respondents (90.44%) are from North America, and the next largest population of respondents are from Europe (5.88%). **compared to the previous survey, more people from North America took the survey this time and the overall number of people taking the survey decreased.
• Most respondents went by she/her pronouns (91.04%) and most respondents (45.59%) were between the ages of 35-44.
• And interestingly, 6 years after the start of the pandemic, most people still conduct their pole-related business face to face at 95.04%. **consistent with the previous survey

Highlights from the survey broken out by category

Here are some interesting highlights from the pole studio owners questions (Questions 12-49):

• Most people who generated a profit for their studio did so in 3 years or less. Only 11.63% of respondents never generated a profit. **consistent with the previous two surveys.
• Most studio owners also taught at their studios. ** consistent with the previous two surveys.
• Most studio owners seem to spend a mix of time teaching a well as on admin and/or marketing. **consistent with the previous survey.
• Most studios (>47%) were in suburban areas. ** consistent with the previous two surveys.
• Interestingly, hired teachers were split almost equally between part-time employees 42% and contractors at ~48%. each ** consistent with the previous two surveys. Full time pole instructor employees seem rare.
• The most common hourly rate for teachers at studios was between $21-30/hr. **consistent with the previous two surveys.
• The average number of students per class was 7-10. **consistent with the previous survey.
• Single classes cost on average between $21-30/class, which was consistent between pole and non-pole classes. ** consistent with the previous two surveys.
• Most pole studio owners (66.67%) had very little if any debt ($0-100), and then on the high end 22% had more than $5k+ of debt.
• Most pole studio owners (45.95%) have more than $5k in savings which is a new and very positive trend!
• Most studio owners are thriving (45.95%) **this is a decrease from the previous survey (63%).

Here are some interesting highlights from the pole instructor questions (Questions 50-69):

• Pole instructors have a lot of longevity in teaching, with 44% teaching 7 or more years. **this is consistent with the previous survey.
• NEW question, if pole instructors held any certifications, 78% responded that they did. With most of them being certified by XPERT.
• Most, but not all instructors, had insurance to teach pole (85.76%) either through individual coverage or by their studio. ** this is consistent with the previous survey.
• Instructors reported their most popular classes were beginner pole, then intermediate pole, followed by advanced pole. **this is a change from the previous survey which had intermediate as the most popular class.
• Most (81.03%) pole instructors did not have any debt related to their pole instruction business. ** this is consistent with the previous survey.
• Most (38.6%) pole instructors also did not have any savings or very little savings ($0-100) related to their pole instruction business although more than 20% reported having a savings greater than $5,000. **this is a new trend from the previous survey with less people saying they had no savings and more having a significant amount of savings.
• Most pole instructors are maintaining their business (55.93%). **consistent with the previous survey.
• The average payment for classes was $21-30/hr. ** consistent with the previous two surveys.

Here are some interesting highlights from the pole business questions (Questions 70-89)

• Most pole businesses have been in business for 1-3 years (45.16%). **in previous surveys there seemed to be continued growth in the 4-6 year range, with a curve peaking at 4-6 years and tapering off. Now there seems to be growth in the 10+ year and the newer business but a drop off in the 7-9 year old businesses. So did the business in the 4-6 range in 2024 close before the 2026 survey? Or just not answer?  
• Most pole businesses (66.67%) spend an average of 1-20 hours on their business. **consistent with the previous two surveys.
• Most pole businesses (57.89%) employ contractors and provide free items to their staff as a benefit. **consistent with the previous survey.
• Pole businesses were divided, 45% are thriving and 45% are maintaining with 10% were struggling to stay open.

Here are some interesting highlights from the performer questions (Questions 90-105):

• Most performers (67.64%) had been in business for 6 or less years. **consistent with the previous survey.
• Most performers (97%) were not in any unions or groups like SAG. **consistent with the previous two surveys.
• Most performers reported they were performing 1-5 paid performances a year, in the next question, most performers also reported they were performing at least 1-3 hours a week. It is possible that these are unpaid performances. **this is different from the previous survey.
• Most performers charge an average of $0-200 for performance (a performance on average being 1-4 hours including warm-up, call time, etc.). **consistent with the previous two surveys.
• Most performers (65.63%) were paid in a combination of a flat fee and tips. ** consistent with the previous two surveys.
• Most performers (48.15%) were maintaining their business. **consistent with the previous survey (55%)

Here are some interesting highlights from the stripper/sex worker questions (Questions 106-116):

• Most strippers/sex workers (83%) have been in business 3 years or less. **this is a new trend from the previous survey that was the opposite with more in the 10+ year category
• Most strippers/sex workers (50%) worked 1-5 hours per week and most (40%) made $251-500 per night or session. ** consistent with the previous two surveys.
• Strippers/sex workers were divided, 40% are thriving and 40% are maintaining. **this is an improvement from the previous survey when 40% were thriving and 40% were struggling

Here are some interesting highlights from the summary questions (Questions 117-122):

• Most people in the pole industry (65.98%) have other employment related income. **consistent with the previous survey.
• People have a mix of income from non-pole contract work or full-time employment, while some are in school. **this is different from the previous survey that had more than 71% of full-time employment outside of pole.
• Most people in the pole industry (39.34%) make between $47K-100K per year total income (pole and non-pole). **higher than the previous survey.
• Some (mostly $250 or less) of other income goes to support an individual’s pole business. **consistent with the previous survey.
• Most people feel “neutral” overall about their current financial security and income. **consistent with the previous survey.
• Most people would like support increasing their revenue in the pole industry. **consistent with the previous survey.

Concerning potential trends from the survey

Less people took the survey overall, and the survey is still skewed towards North America and white people, although those that identify as “Black” or “African American” (this year that question is opened ended rather than a check box) is still the second greatest number of respondents with those of mixed race a close third. This year we did a greater marketing push and personal push than ever before to attempt to increase survey numbers and it did not work. It is unclear why that is as we have seen other businesses use this data, so we know it’s helpful!

Most people who take the survey are pole instructors or studio owners with the least amount of representation in the other demographics of pole business, performer, stripper/sex worker. This trend has been consistent across all three surveys. It is possible that particularly performers and stripper/sex workers are served by other organizations and have not found the IPIA as a resource.

There consistently seems to be a disconnect between instructors and studio owners in terms of how they feel which has repeated for two surveys. More studios report they are thriving but less instructors report the same thing.

Also, instructor rates have not gone up in the past two surveys (since 2022), which means they have not been adjusted for inflation despite inflation increasing. The cost for pole classes has also not gone up!

Positive potential trends from the survey

After three cycles and six years of collecting data, the trends are emerging. As we analyzed the data, we have the clearest and most consistent information for studio owners and instructors with pole businesses close behind. Performers and strippers/sex workers have the most variability in the data. Some of that is because it is the smallest group that responds to the survey, and it may also reflect the nature of their work which is more tied to very discretionary spending with pole as entertainment as opposed to the other demographics that support more pole as wellness or fitness which for many consumers may be a different budget line item, still discretionary but perhaps less so.

There is a significant amount of consistency in the studio owner responses particularly with some interesting changes this survey in the debt and savings questions which may mean that businesses are expanding or that they are preparing for economic downturns.

There seems to be some interesting changes happening in the length of time a pole business is open. There seemed to be a clear growth path for 4 years that has changed. More new pole businesses are starting, and some are lasting for more than 10 years but those in the 7-9 year range particularly are not as strong. It is unclear if this is tied to economic indicators, localization issues, or even personal issues (children, marriage, divorce, aging parents, health issues, etc.) that drive people out of this industry. To be clear, it is good that new businesses are starting, and it is good that some businesses are showing great longevity, the question remains, how do we support businesses that are in the middle of their journey?

Sometimes all we hear about is bad news, and that is not what the data says. Yes, some people and businesses in our industry are struggling and we don’t want to diminish that but most people across all the demographics of the pole industry are generating profit and thriving or at least maintaining their businesses.

The path forward

For the third iteration of this survey, we tweaked the 2024 a little bit but kept things mostly consistent to better see year over year trends. We invite others to explore the data and see how it can be useful in your business.

In general, more support is needed for all pole businesses as the industry continues to grow but perhaps more in the middle and less in the very established and in the very early businesses. Helping people understand how to grow, pivot, expand, or otherwise deal with the challenges that life will throw at them while keeping their pole business vibrant.

While the desired/reported focus (as a survey response) is on revenue, more education can also play a huge role in improving revenue generation in this industry. The more people know where go to for help, the faster they can improve and grow their businesses.

The IPIA will run another broad survey in two years to again “take the pulse” of the industry and continue providing low-cost education and support for pole businesses primarily through resource posts and webinars.

Is there something we can help you with? Let us know!