Nevada's State and Local Statistics

Most of Nevada’s 3 million residents live in either one of two counties — Washoe in northern Nevada with 15 percent of the state’s population and Clark in the south with 72 percent of residents. Prostitution is illegal in Washoe County, but it borders four counties — Churchill, Humboldt, Lyon, and Storey — where prostitution is legal, and those as young as eighteen years old can legally be purchased for sex in a brothel. The demand for commercial sex crosses county borders. In Nevada, where prostitution is legal, the following statistics reveal a high demand for the trafficking of women and children:

• Nevada ranks number one in the nation (adjusted for population) for rates of women and children in the sex trade. In Nevada, over 5,000 women and girls are being sold for sex illegally online at any point in time, 1,500 of which are northern Nevada. Based on this data and Awaken’s own work, it is estimated 300 children are sold in this region at any given point in time.
• “Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (e.g., commercial sexual exploitation of minors) is the most common form of trafficking seen in Nevada,” according to the VOCA Needs Assessment Gaps Analysis.
• Nevada ranks in the top 10 in the nation for human trafficking cases reported (the most common form of trafficking in Nevada is sex trafficking).
• In 2017, Nevada ranked first per capita in the nation for prostitution and commercialized vice arrests for minors under 18.
• Nevada had the highest rate of prostitution and commercialized vice arrests for all ages in 2017.
• Nevada ranked second for number of commercial sex act offenses in the FBI Human Trafficking Data Collection Report for 2018.
• Nevada ranks 7th in number of human trafficking cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, despite being one of the least populous states in the nation. In 2018, Nevada ranked third in the nation for forcible rape.

Women in Reno Experience Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Mapping Commercial Sex Advertising around Reno, NV

Nevada’s Online Commercial Sex Trade

Adjusted for population, Nevada’s commercial sex market is by far the largest of any state.

• At least 5,016 individuals are sold for sex in an average month in Nevada. Nevada’s number of prostituted persons per capita is 63% larger than the next largest state of New York, and more than twice as many as in California.
• Legalized prostitution appears to have done nothing to stem victimization within the illicit sex trade — the data in the study show that prostituted persons in the illegal trade around licensed brothels are at a similar risk of having been trafficked as those in areas without legal brothels.

More than 13% of Nevada prostituted persons are advertised under the age of 21.

• More than 1 out of every 10 prostituted persons in Nevada is too young to buy alcohol. These young individuals are almost twice as likely to “travel” while being prostituted compared to those who are 21 and older.
• Many prostituted persons are advertised for their youth, regardless of their stated age. For example, phrases like “fresh meat,” “brand new” and “daddy’s little girl” are all used to connote the youth of sex workers.

Youth is an important characteristic sought by sex buyers in Nevada.

• Evidence of the importance of youth to sex buyers in Nevada comes from the advertised prices of young prostituted persons. The data show higher prices are charged for younger females in Nevada.
• The data put Nevada in the top ten states in the country in terms of youth of prostituted persons.

This study was commissioned by Awaken and research was funded by the Nebraska Women’s Foundation of Omaha. Study design, data collection, and analyses were devised and implemented independently by HTI. Several outside reviewers gave commendations of the report. The research team retained full and exclusive authority in deciding whether and how to respond to comments from outside reviewers, and as such is fully and solely responsible for the report’s findings and interpretations.

UPDATE APRIL 2018:

“Backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized as part of an enforcement action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, with analytical assistance from the Joint Regional Intelligence Center.”

Global Statistics

• The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that more than 40 million people around the world were victims of modern slavery in 2016.
• At any given time in 2016, 4.8 million people were victims of forced sexual exploitation. On average, they are held for 23.4 months in their situation before escaping or being freed. The vast majority are women and girls. Children represent more than 20% of the victims.
• ILO estimates that annual profits per victim of sexual exploitation is $21,800.
• The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) notes that children make up almost a third of all human trafficking victims worldwide and women and girls comprise 71 percent of human trafficking victims.
• UNODC estimates the total market value of illicit human trafficking at 32 billion US dollars.

National Statistics

• More than 31,600 total cases of human trafficking have been reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in the last eight years. The Hotline receives an average of 100 calls per day.
• One out of every three adolescents on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home according to the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children.
• The National Runaway Switchboard estimates that on any given night there are approximately 1.3 million homeless youth living unsupervised on the streets, in abandoned buildings, with friends, or with strangers. Homeless youth are at a higher risk for physical abuse, sexual exploitation, mental health disabilities, substance abuse, and death.
• In 2016, an estimated one out of six endangered runaways reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were likely child sex trafficking victims. Of those, 86 percent were in the care of social services or foster care when they ran.
• Several studies have found that 50 to 72 percent of women in street prostitution have experienced severe violence at the hands of buyers, pimps/traffickers, and police officers.
• A report from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Urban Institute found that pimps surveyed from eight major U.S. cities cited making anywhere between $5,000 to $32,833 per week.

To learn more about what CSE and sex trafficking look like in Nevada, please download the full report.