Freakonomics - Why do drug dealers live with their mothers? Freakonomics - Why do drug dealers live with their mothers?

Why do drug dealers live with their mothers? Because they can't afford not to. The average corner drug dealer could earn more by working at McDonald's, than they can pushing drugs ($3.30 an hour), without facing the high likelyhood of getting shot.

So, why sell drugs? Same reason there are thousands of "actors" waiting tables in Las Angeles. The rewards at the top are extremely attractive. The top drug dealers in a city (in their case, Chicago) made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, tax free. The top of the local gang made almost $100k a year - but had almost 100 people working for him, most at below the minimum wage.

Interestingly, probably because of the danger involved, drug dealers are much faster to drop out of that business than are aspiring actors when they figure out they aren't going to make it to the big times.