Self-employment method
Drafting services
19,124 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 19,124 people who filed under this code in 2022, 36.94% 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 = 19,124 · 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 | 4,127 | 21.6% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 2,938 | 15.4% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 4,365 | 22.8% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 3,298 | 17.2% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 2,621 | 13.7% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 1,449 | 7.6% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 253 | 1.3% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 61 | 0.3% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 12 | 0.1% |
Who this suits
Median gross receipts of $18,581 put the typical filer somewhere between a serious side income and a failing attempt at a full-time one, and the receipts figure alone cannot tell you which.
At 19,124 filers this is a real but thin national population. There is no established price for Drafting services at this scale, which cuts both ways: nothing anchors you low and nothing anchors you high.
9.3% 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.
This is expertise sold by the hour or the project, and it suits people who can price their own time honestly and defend the price without discounting the moment it is questioned.
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
The top quarter of Drafting services earns 7.7x the bottom quarter — under $6,113 against over $47,082, a spread of $40,969. Distributions this stretched are usually two different jobs sharing one label, and any average across them means little.
The bottom quarter of Drafting services earns under $6,113 — $43,907 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 first client already. Capability does not generate demand in this subsector, and the gap between the two is where most of these businesses end.
36.9% of the 19,124 people who filed in 2022 grossed under $10,000 for the year — 7,064 people. Approaching half of everyone who tried Drafting services took in less revenue 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
A ratio of 7.7x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $18,581 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Drafting services should plan around it.
The middle half of this field earns between $6,113 and $47,082. That is $40,969 of range, with $18,581 sitting inside it as the point half the field is above and half below.
The 75th percentile is $47,082. Reaching it from the $18,581 midpoint is $28,501 a year; reaching it from the $6,113 that the bottom quarter of Drafting services earn is $40,969.
From $18,581 the drop to $6,113 is $12,468 and the climb to $47,082 is $28,501. 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 $8.93 an hour at the midpoint, $2.93 at the 25th percentile and $22.63 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.
The raw counts, before anyone interprets them: under $5,000, 4,127 filers. $5,000 to $9,999, 2,938. $10,000 to $24,999, 4,365. Over $100,000, 1,775 — and 326 over $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 $18,581 midpoint for Drafting services is not take-home pay and is not comparable to a $18,581 salary.
Treat the per-hour figure as a conversion. It assumes a flat full-time year against $18,581 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