Self-employment method
Building finishing contractors
679,793 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 679,793 people who filed under this code in 2022, 24.88% 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 = 679,793 · 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 | 98,727 | 14.5% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 70,438 | 10.4% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 157,100 | 23.1% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 135,606 | 19.9% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 105,213 | 15.5% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 76,417 | 11.2% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 25,504 | 3.8% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 10,783 | 1.6% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 5 | 0.0% |
Who this suits
The median filer grossed $27,513, or $2,292 a month before expenses. That is an operating business at part-time scale: enough revenue to be worth running properly, not enough to be the only thing in the household.
At 679,793 filers, Building finishing contractors 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 16.6% share — 112,845 filers — grossed $100,000 or more. That is well above what most codes here manage, and it says the middle of Building finishing contractors is closer to a business than to a sideline.
Going independent in a specialty trade converts a wage into a bid, and suits people who can estimate, schedule and chase payment as well as they can do the work.
Nothing stops anyone filing under this code, and 679,793 people did. Free entry is why the lower bands are as full as they are: the distribution below counts everyone who tried, not everyone who was ready.
Who should not do this
The top quarter of Building finishing contractors earns 7.2x the bottom quarter — under $10,075 against over $72,798, a spread of $62,723. Distributions this stretched are usually two different jobs sharing one label, and any average across them means little.
The bottom quarter of Building finishing contractors earns under $10,075 — $39,945 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 way to get paid on time; the trade is financed by whoever is slowest to invoice.
24.9% of the 679,793 Building finishing contractors filings in 2022 reported under $10,000 in gross receipts for the year — 169,132 people who took in less than a part-time wage before costs.
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
From $10,075 to $72,798 is 7.2x — the shape of a field where a minority captures most of the money. The midpoint of $27,513 is arithmetic, not a forecast, and treating it as one is the standard mistake here.
The middle half of this field earns between $10,075 and $72,798. That is $62,723 of range, with $27,513 sitting inside it as the point half the field is above and half below.
Between $10,075 and $72,798 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $27,513. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $45,285; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $62,723.
From $27,513 the drop to $10,075 is $17,438 and the climb to $72,798 is $45,285. When the upper half of the range is that much longer, the average is pulled well above the median — which is exactly why this site publishes the median.
Spread across a 2,080-hour year those receipts come to $13.22 an hour at the midpoint, $4.84 at the 25th percentile and $34.99 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.
Straight from the Census bands for Building finishing contractors: 98,727 filers under $5,000, 70,438 between $5,000 and $9,999, 157,100 between $10,000 and $24,999, 112,709 above $100,000 and 36,292 above $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
Every figure above is GROSS RECEIPTS, before expenses — money that arrived before rent, materials, fuel, insurance and self-employment tax. The $27,513 midpoint for Building finishing contractors is not take-home pay and is not comparable to a $27,513 salary.
The hourly number on this page is $27,513 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Building finishing contractors, 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