Self-employment method
Automotive Equipment Rental and Leasing
37,891 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 37,891 people who filed under this code in 2022, 43.27% 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 = 37,891 · 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 | 8,524 | 22.5% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 7,870 | 20.8% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 9,444 | 24.9% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 4,631 | 12.2% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 3,187 | 8.4% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 2,549 | 6.7% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 969 | 2.6% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 533 | 1.4% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 184 | 0.5% |
Who this suits
At the midpoint this work grossed $14,053 for the year — $1,171 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.
37,891 filings sit behind this code — a workforce the size of a mid-sized occupation that no payroll survey counts, because none of it runs through a payroll.
11.2% 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 qualification, licence or minimum to appear in this data — you file and you are counted. Read the receipts distribution as the price of that: no barrier at the door means no filter before the numbers.
Who should not do this
Bottom quarter under $5,603, top quarter over $38,929: 6.9x, or $2,777 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 Automotive Equipment Rental and Leasing earns under $5,603 — $44,417 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.
Of the 37,891 people who filed as Automotive Equipment Rental and Leasing in 2022, 43.3% grossed under $10,000 for the year — 16,395 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
At 6.9x, the gap between $5,603 and $38,929 is the shape of a field with a small, well-paid top. $14,053 is real and it is not a forecast — the people quoting the upper end at you are describing a minority.
In cash terms the middle half of Automotive Equipment Rental and Leasing runs $5,603 to $38,929 — $33,326 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $14,053.
Between $5,603 and $38,929 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $14,053. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $24,876; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $33,326.
The top quarter of Automotive Equipment Rental and Leasing begins $24,876 above the $14,053 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $8,450 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.
Per hour of a full-time year, the middle of Automotive Equipment Rental and Leasing takes $6.75 in revenue — $2.69 at the bottom quarter and $18.71 at the top. Costs have not been deducted from any of those figures, so none of them is an hourly wage.
The raw counts, before anyone interprets them: under $5,000, 8,524 filers. $5,000 to $9,999, 7,870. $10,000 to $24,999, 9,444. Over $100,000, 4,235 — and 1,686 over $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 $14,053 midpoint before anyone eats, so it is not comparable with a $14,053 wage and should never be read as one.
The hourly number on this page is $14,053 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Automotive Equipment Rental and Leasing, so it is arithmetic rather than an effective rate.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else