Self-employment method
All Other Consumer Goods Rental
15,828 people filed as a nonemployer business under this industry code in 2022 — no payroll, no employees, just them. These are gross receipts reported to the IRS, before any expense is taken out.
Median GROSS RECEIPTS for the year — money in, before rent, materials, fuel, insurance or tax. This is not take-home pay.
Share who grossed under $10,000 for the whole year — before expenses.
The middle half, in gross receipts. A quarter of filers took less than the lower figure.
Source: US Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2022 · view
How often it does not work out
Of the 15,828 people who filed under this code in 2022, 41.50% grossed under $10,000 for the entire year — before a single expense was deducted.
That is a floor, not an estimate. Census publishes GROSS RECEIPTS, not net income. Everyone inside that share earned less than the figure suggests once rent, materials, mileage, insurance and self-employment tax came out — and filers who grossed well above the threshold may still have netted nothing. The true share of people who earn nothing meaningful from this is higher than the number above, never lower.
Denominator: establishments_total = 15,828 · US Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2022 · view
Every filer, by what they grossed
The full distribution Census publishes. The median above is interpolated inside the band that holds the 50th percentile.
| Gross receipts for the year | Filers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $5,000 | 3,811 | 24.1% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 2,758 | 17.4% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 3,620 | 22.9% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 2,151 | 13.6% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 1,611 | 10.2% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 1,219 | 7.7% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 475 | 3.0% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 127 | 0.8% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 56 | 0.4% |
Who this suits
At the midpoint this work grossed $15,573 for the year — $1,297 a month in revenue. That is a real second income and a long way short of a first one, and Census cannot tell you which of those the typical filer intended.
15,828 people filed under this code — enough that the work exists everywhere and not enough that it supports a visible trade. Most people doing All Other Consumer Goods Rental are doing it alongside something else.
11.9% of filers grossed $100,000 or more. That is a substantial upper tier by the standards of this dataset — the difference between a full operation and an occasional one is visible in the distribution rather than only in the anecdotes.
Independent rental and leasing suits people who can finance an asset and keep it utilised, because idle equipment costs exactly as much as working equipment.
There is no training requirement to file under this code — which is precisely why so many people appear in the bottom bands. Entry being free is not the same as the work being viable.
Who should not do this
Bottom quarter under $5,265, top quarter over $44,549: 8.5x, or $3,273 a month. At this stretch the label has stopped describing one occupation, and every summary statistic about it — including the midpoint — should be treated with suspicion.
The bottom quarter of All Other Consumer Goods Rental earns under $5,265 — $44,755 below the $50,020 a typical American job pays. Entering at the bottom and waiting is a live risk here, not a theoretical one, and some people never leave that quarter.
Do not start this with financed assets and no utilisation plan; idle equipment still makes its payment.
41.5% of the 15,828 people who filed in 2022 grossed under $10,000 for the year — 6,568 people. Approaching half of everyone who tried All Other Consumer Goods Rental took in less revenue than a part-time wage, before costs.
That share is a floor, not an estimate: $10,000 is revenue, not earnings. Everyone counted inside it kept less than $10,000, and an unknown number of the filers above it also finished the year with nothing after costs.
What the spread tells you
From $5,265 to $44,549 is 8.5x — the shape of a field where a minority captures most of the money. The midpoint of $15,573 is arithmetic, not a forecast, and treating it as one is the standard mistake here.
Put in money rather than ratios: $5,265 at the 25th percentile, $15,573 at the midpoint, $44,549 at the 75th. $39,284 separates the quarter of All Other Consumer Goods Rental at the bottom from the quarter at the top.
Between $5,265 and $44,549 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $15,573. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $28,976; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $39,284.
The top quarter of All Other Consumer Goods Rental begins $28,976 above the $15,573 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $10,308 below it. A range stretched that far in one direction is the signature of a field where a small group earns a great deal more than the middle does.
Spread across a 2,080-hour year those receipts come to $7.48 an hour at the midpoint, $2.53 at the 25th percentile and $21.41 at the 75th. That is turnover per hour, not pay per hour, and it is not comparable with the $24.04 an hour a typical American job pays.
Counted straight off the return: 3,811 filers grossed under $5,000, 2,758 took $5,000 to $9,999, 3,620 took $10,000 to $24,999, 1,877 cleared $100,000 and 658 cleared $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
Read every figure here as GROSS RECEIPTS rather than income. $15,573 is turnover — the money that passed through All Other Consumer Goods Rental before expenses. What is left after costs is a different and much smaller number that this dataset does not publish.
Treat the per-hour figure as a conversion. It assumes a flat full-time year against $15,573 because we have no verified record of unpaid hours or out-of-pocket costs for this work, and we would rather convert honestly than adjust invented ones.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else