Self-employment method
All Other Miscellaneous Retailers
309,342 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 309,342 people who filed under this code in 2022, 48.68% 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 = 309,342 · 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 | 102,606 | 33.2% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 47,988 | 15.5% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 58,342 | 18.9% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 36,142 | 11.7% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 26,473 | 8.6% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 21,622 | 7.0% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 8,855 | 2.9% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 4,465 | 1.4% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 2,267 | 0.7% |
Who this suits
At the midpoint this work grossed $10,973 for the year — $914 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.
At 309,342 filers, All Other Miscellaneous Retailers is crowded. Crowding is survivable — most of those filers are not serious competitors — but it does mean the floor on price is set by people who are not costing their own time.
A 12.1% share — 37,430 filers — grossed $100,000 or more. That is well above what most codes here manage, and it says the middle of All Other Miscellaneous Retailers is closer to a business than to a sideline.
Independent hobby, book, sporting and miscellaneous retail suits people selling into an enthusiasm they genuinely share, because knowledge is most of the differentiation left.
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 $3,761, top quarter over $40,656: 10.8x, or $3,074 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 Miscellaneous Retailers earns under $3,761 — $46,259 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 without a plan for online competition, because your customers are pricing against it whether you are or not.
Of the 309,342 people who filed as All Other Miscellaneous Retailers in 2022, 48.7% grossed under $10,000 for the year — 150,587 people who did not clear a part-time wage in revenue, let alone in profit.
Read that as a floor, not an estimate. Census publishes gross receipts, not net income, so everyone inside that share earned less than $10,000 suggests once costs came out — and filers who grossed well above $10,000 may still have netted nothing.
What the spread tells you
A ratio of 10.8x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $10,973 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering All Other Miscellaneous Retailers should plan around it.
Put in money rather than ratios: $3,761 at the 25th percentile, $10,973 at the midpoint, $40,656 at the 75th. $36,895 separates the quarter of All Other Miscellaneous Retailers at the bottom from the quarter at the top.
Between $3,761 and $40,656 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $10,973. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $29,683; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $36,895.
The top quarter of All Other Miscellaneous Retailers begins $29,683 above the $10,973 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $7,212 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.
Converted to a 2,080-hour year, the receipts run $1.80 an hour at the 25th percentile, $5.27 at the midpoint and $19.54 at the 75th. Read them as revenue per hour worked; the equivalent wage is lower by whatever this work costs to do.
Straight from the Census bands for All Other Miscellaneous Retailers: 102,606 filers under $5,000, 47,988 between $5,000 and $9,999, 58,342 between $10,000 and $24,999, 37,209 above $100,000 and 15,587 above $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
These are GROSS RECEIPTS: everything that came in, before expenses. Rent, stock, fuel, insurance and self-employment tax all come out of the $10,973 midpoint before anyone eats, so it is not comparable with a $10,973 wage and should never be read as one.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for All Other Miscellaneous Retailers, the hourly figure is $10,973 over a 2,080-hour year — a unit conversion, not an adjustment.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else