Self-employment method
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
27,786 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 27,786 people who filed under this code in 2022, 44.09% 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 = 27,786 · 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 | 8,125 | 29.2% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 4,127 | 14.9% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 6,087 | 21.9% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 2,665 | 9.6% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 2,459 | 8.8% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 2,869 | 10.3% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 1,011 | 3.6% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 297 | 1.1% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 146 | 0.5% |
Who this suits
At the midpoint this work grossed $14,044 for the year — $1,170 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.
27,786 people filed under this code, almost none of whom appear in any employment statistic. Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) is part of the economy salary surveys simply do not see.
15.6% of filers grossed $100,000 or more, which is high for this dataset. A substantial share of this field is running an actual business rather than an occasional one.
Independent food service suits people who can run a licensed, inspected operation on thin margins and who count their own labour as a cost rather than as profit.
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 $4,275, top quarter over $48,457: 11.3x, or $3,681 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 Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) earns under $4,275 — $45,745 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 working in someone else’s operation first. Food margins punish inexperience faster than any other subsector here.
Of the 27,786 people who filed as Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) in 2022, 44.1% grossed under $10,000 for the year — 12,250 people who did not clear a part-time wage in revenue, let alone in profit.
Take it as a floor, not an estimate. The $10,000 threshold is measured on money received, before materials, rent, fuel, insurance and self-employment tax, so the true share of filers who ended the year with no income is higher than the figure shown — we simply cannot say how much higher.
What the spread tells you
From $4,275 to $48,457 is 11.3x — the shape of a field where a minority captures most of the money. The midpoint of $14,044 is arithmetic, not a forecast, and treating it as one is the standard mistake here.
In cash terms the middle half of Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) runs $4,275 to $48,457 — $44,182 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $14,044.
The 75th percentile is $48,457. Reaching it from the $14,044 midpoint is $34,413 a year; reaching it from the $4,275 that the bottom quarter of Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) earn is $44,182.
The top quarter of Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) begins $34,413 above the $14,044 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $9,769 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 Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) takes $6.75 in revenue — $2.05 at the bottom quarter and $23.29 at the top. Costs have not been deducted from any of those figures, so none of them is an hourly wage.
Counted straight off the return: 8,125 filers grossed under $5,000, 4,127 took $5,000 to $9,999, 6,087 took $10,000 to $24,999, 4,323 cleared $100,000 and 1,454 cleared $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
Read every figure here as GROSS RECEIPTS rather than income. $14,044 is turnover — the money that passed through Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) 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 $14,044 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