Salary
Average Salary: $9,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $375,732
When carolers fill the streets and every commercial plays with your heartstrings, the shoppers head to stores by the millions. This means Santas can make big bucks come Christmas time.
It's difficult to pinpoint exactly how much money St. Nick can fit into his big red pockets from each sitting, but it seems that $100 to $175 per hour is a good midpoint (source). You can figure the experienced Santa works a lot during the month of December, ending up with a salary estimate close to $30,000 for the holidays.
It's not mortgage money, but it's enough to make rent, utility, and car payments. And you still have eleven other months you can do something else. Maybe shave the beard and become a Ben Franklin reenactor?
Many Santas don't make that kind of cash, as the low end of the pay scale dips way down to a paltry $10 per hour. Those with real beards tend to make more money, provided they have the patience and genetics to actually grow one.
On the other end of the pay scale, the well-connected Father Christmases (Christmasi?) who have contact lists filled with people who throw fancy holiday parties can command up to $300 an hour. We're talking forty to fifty thousand dollars to let rich socialites sit on your lap. It's not a bad way to make a living.
We need to reiterate that it's a seasonal job. Don't expect to make any money wearing your Santa suit in July—unless you're sitting out on a busy downtown street with a cup out. Then you'll probably end up with a couple pity bucks, but don't go trying to make the rent with that plan.