Self-employment method
Florists
26,365 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 26,365 people who filed under this code in 2022, 40.83% 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 = 26,365 · 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 | 6,720 | 25.5% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 4,045 | 15.3% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 5,668 | 21.5% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 3,245 | 12.3% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 2,795 | 10.6% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 2,862 | 10.9% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 782 | 3.0% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 195 | 0.7% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 48 | 0.2% |
Who this suits
At the midpoint this work grossed $16,391 for the year — $1,365 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.
26,365 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.
14.7% 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 hobby, book, sporting and miscellaneous retail suits people selling into an enthusiasm they genuinely share, because knowledge is most of the differentiation left.
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 $4,903, top quarter over $51,646: 10.5x, or $3,895 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 Florists earns under $4,903 — $45,117 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 enthusiasm alone; a shared interest with your customers is not by itself a margin.
40.8% of the 26,365 people who filed in 2022 grossed under $10,000 for the year — 10,764 people. Approaching half of everyone who tried Florists took in less revenue than a part-time wage, before costs.
That share is a floor, not an estimate: $10,000 is revenue, not earnings. Everyone counted inside it kept less than $10,000, and an unknown number of the filers above it also finished the year with nothing after costs.
What the spread tells you
A ratio of 10.5x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $16,391 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Florists should plan around it.
The middle half of this field earns between $4,903 and $51,646. That is $46,743 of range, with $16,391 sitting inside it as the point half the field is above and half below.
Getting to $51,646, the 75th percentile, is worth $35,255 a year more than the $16,391 midpoint and $46,743 more than the $4,903 a quarter of Florists settle for.
$11,488 below the midpoint, $35,255 above it. That asymmetry is extreme even for this data, and it means every summary of Florists that is not a median — including any average you see quoted elsewhere — is describing the top of the range rather than the middle.
Spread across a 2,080-hour year those receipts come to $7.88 an hour at the midpoint, $2.35 at the 25th percentile and $24.82 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, 6,720 filers. $5,000 to $9,999, 4,045. $10,000 to $24,999, 5,668. Over $100,000, 3,887 — and 1,025 over $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
Read every figure here as GROSS RECEIPTS rather than income. $16,391 is turnover — the money that passed through Florists 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 $16,391 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