Self-employment method
Home Furnishings Retailers
45,360 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 45,360 people who filed under this code in 2022, 49.09% 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 = 45,360 · 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 | 15,247 | 33.7% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 7,020 | 15.5% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 8,678 | 19.2% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 4,921 | 10.9% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 3,797 | 8.4% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 3,213 | 7.1% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 1,414 | 3.1% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 712 | 1.6% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 285 | 0.6% |
Who this suits
Median gross receipts of $10,651 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.
45,360 people filed under this code. That is enough that Home Furnishings Retailers has a going local rate in most places, and enough that you will be quoted against someone else.
12.4% 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 furniture, electronics and home retail suits people who can sell considered purchases, where a customer visits twice and buys once.
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 $3,713, top quarter over $40,344: 10.9x, or $3,052 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 Home Furnishings Retailers earns under $3,713 — $46,307 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 holding showroom stock on credit — the purchase cycle in this category is long and the interest is not.
Of the 45,360 people who filed as Home Furnishings Retailers in 2022, 49.1% grossed under $10,000 for the year — 22,267 people who did not clear a part-time wage in revenue, let alone in profit.
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
From $3,713 to $40,344 is 10.9x — the shape of a field where a minority captures most of the money. The midpoint of $10,651 is arithmetic, not a forecast, and treating it as one is the standard mistake here.
Put in money rather than ratios: $3,713 at the 25th percentile, $10,651 at the midpoint, $40,344 at the 75th. $36,631 separates the quarter of Home Furnishings Retailers at the bottom from the quarter at the top.
Between $3,713 and $40,344 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $10,651. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $29,693; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $36,631.
The top quarter of Home Furnishings Retailers begins $29,693 above the $10,651 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $6,938 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 $1.78 an hour at the 25th percentile, $5.12 at the midpoint and $19.39 at the 75th. Read them as revenue per hour worked; the equivalent wage is lower by whatever this work costs to do.
The raw counts, before anyone interprets them: under $5,000, 15,247 filers. $5,000 to $9,999, 7,020. $10,000 to $24,999, 8,678. Over $100,000, 5,624 — and 2,411 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 $10,651 midpoint for Home Furnishings Retailers is not take-home pay and is not comparable to a $10,651 salary.
The hourly number on this page is $10,651 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Home Furnishings Retailers, 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