[cassieramen]

Backpage does not mean no street pimps. The average profile of a sex worker in the US is a young runaway who begins dating a slightly older man. He takes care of her in a way her family like never did and eventually convinces her to sell herself, becomes her pimp. It's a very rare sex worker that elected to start completely in her own.

[Quarrelsome]

you're trying to define an average. Last report I read said the reasons people went into the sex-trade were varied and many. Defining the average is precisely what always skews the perception and draws the partisan lines so I'm not sure its a good idea to do this.

[astockwell]

Source?

[cassieramen]

This is from my experience consulting with the Alameda County District Attorney's office. I'm using average here less in the statistical sense and more in the ordinary sense.

[hendersoon]

Seems likely those girls were simply those you happened to encounter, possibly because that's what the local cops picked up.

From what I've read, here in NYC most prostitution is Korean immigrants trafficked to the US to work in massage parlors. They are of age, but clearly coerced. So it really is different all over.