Self-employment method
Employment Services
42,957 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 42,957 people who filed under this code in 2022, 43.88% 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 = 42,957 · 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 | 11,820 | 27.5% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 7,031 | 16.4% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 10,099 | 23.5% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 5,378 | 12.5% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 3,753 | 8.7% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 3,045 | 7.1% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 1,141 | 2.7% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 500 | 1.2% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 190 | 0.4% |
Who this suits
At the midpoint this work grossed $13,903 for the year — $1,158 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.
42,957 people filed under this code. That is enough that Employment Services has a going local rate in most places, and enough that you will be quoted against someone else.
4,897 filers cleared $100,000, which is 11.4% of everyone under this code. A share that size means Employment Services supports a genuine professional tier, and the question becomes what puts someone in it.
Independent support services suit people who can sell a contract rather than a job, and who are organised enough to deliver one consistently.
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 Employment Services earns 8.8x the bottom quarter — under $4,543 against over $40,190, a spread of $35,647. Distributions this stretched are usually two different jobs sharing one label, and any average across them means little.
The bottom quarter of Employment Services earns under $4,543 — $45,477 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 on one-off jobs. Without recurring contracts the acquisition cost eats the margin every time.
43.9% of 42,957 filers in 2022 took under $10,000 across the entire year: 18,849 people. Close to half of everyone in Employment Services is in that band, and gross receipts is the generous way of counting it.
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
At 8.8x, the gap between $4,543 and $40,190 is the shape of a field with a small, well-paid top. $13,903 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 Employment Services runs $4,543 to $40,190 — $35,647 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $13,903.
The 75th percentile is $40,190. Reaching it from the $13,903 midpoint is $26,287 a year; reaching it from the $4,543 that the bottom quarter of Employment Services earn is $35,647.
The top quarter of Employment Services begins $26,287 above the $13,903 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $9,360 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 $2.18 an hour at the 25th percentile, $6.68 at the midpoint and $19.32 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 Employment Services: 11,820 filers under $5,000, 7,031 between $5,000 and $9,999, 10,099 between $10,000 and $24,999, 4,876 above $100,000 and 1,831 above $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
Read every figure here as GROSS RECEIPTS rather than income. $13,903 is turnover — the money that passed through Employment Services before expenses. What is left after costs is a different and much smaller number that this dataset does not publish.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Employment Services, the hourly figure is $13,903 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