Self-employment method
Forestry and Logging
43,066 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 43,066 people who filed under this code in 2022, 26.88% 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 = 43,066 · 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 | 6,636 | 15.4% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 4,941 | 11.5% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 8,800 | 20.4% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 7,289 | 16.9% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 6,196 | 14.4% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 5,836 | 13.6% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 2,285 | 5.3% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 1,045 | 2.4% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 38 | 0.1% |
Who this suits
The median filer grossed $28,965, or $2,413 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.
With 43,066 filers, this is a populated field. The market sets the price rather than you, and the useful question is what would let you charge above it.
21.4% of filers grossed $100,000 or more. At that share the upper band is not an exception, it is a large minority of the field — though gross receipts at this level usually carry proportionate costs.
Independent forestry and logging suits people with equipment already paid for and a working relationship with the mills, because the gap between felling and payment is yours to finance.
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 $9,180, top quarter over $87,391: 9.5x, or $6,517 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 Forestry and Logging earns under $9,180 — $40,840 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 the equipment owned outright; financing a harvester against next season is how this goes wrong.
26.9% of the 43,066 Forestry and Logging filings in 2022 reported under $10,000 in gross receipts for the year — 11,576 people who took in less 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 9.5x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $28,965 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Forestry and Logging should plan around it.
The middle half of this field earns between $9,180 and $87,391. That is $78,211 of range, with $28,965 sitting inside it as the point half the field is above and half below.
Between $9,180 and $87,391 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $28,965. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $58,426; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $78,211.
The top quarter of Forestry and Logging begins $58,426 above the $28,965 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $19,785 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 Forestry and Logging takes $13.92 in revenue — $4.41 at the bottom quarter and $42.01 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: 6,636 filers grossed under $5,000, 4,941 took $5,000 to $9,999, 8,800 took $10,000 to $24,999, 9,204 cleared $100,000 and 3,368 cleared $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
These are GROSS RECEIPTS: everything that came in, before expenses. Rent, stock, fuel, insurance and self-employment tax all come out of the $28,965 midpoint before anyone eats, so it is not comparable with a $28,965 wage and should never be read as one.
The hourly number on this page is $28,965 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Forestry and Logging, 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