Self-employment method
Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation
13,463 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 13,463 people who filed under this code in 2022, 22.46% 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 = 13,463 · US Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2022 · view
Every filer, by what they grossed
The full receipts distribution as Census publishes it. The median above is interpolated inside whichever band contains the 50th percentile, so this table is what that figure is derived from.
| Gross receipts for the year | Filers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $5,000 | 1,845 | 13.8% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 1,179 | 8.8% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 1,859 | 13.9% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 1,602 | 12.0% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 1,759 | 13.2% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 2,414 | 18.1% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 1,400 | 10.5% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 846 | 6.3% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 445 | 3.3% |
Who this suits
A median of $55,387 in gross receipts is high for a nonemployer business. Enough revenue passes through the middle of this field that a full-time living is plausible for the people running it well.
13,463 filers is small enough that Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation is a niche rather than a market — the work exists, but there is no depth of demand to fall back on.
38.2% 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 finance and insurance work is licensed, commission-weighted and slow to ramp; it suits people who can survive a long unpaid start.
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 Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation earns 16.8x the bottom quarter — under $12,528 against over $209,844, a spread of $197,316. Distributions this stretched are usually two different jobs sharing one label, and any average across them means little.
The bottom quarter of Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation earns under $12,528 — $37,492 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 a year of expenses banked. The licensing period alone outlasts most people’s savings.
22.5% of the 13,463 Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation filings in 2022 reported under $10,000 in gross receipts for the year — 3,023 people who took in less than a part-time wage before costs.
Read that as a floor, not an estimate. Census publishes gross receipts, not net income, so everyone inside that share earned less than $10,000 suggests once costs came out — and filers who grossed well above $10,000 may still have netted nothing.
What the spread tells you
A ratio of 16.8x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $55,387 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation should plan around it.
In cash terms the middle half of Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation runs $12,528 to $209,844 — $197,316 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $55,387.
Getting to $209,844, the 75th percentile, is worth $154,457 a year more than the $55,387 midpoint and $197,316 more than the $12,528 a quarter of Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation settle for.
Per hour at a standard full-time year that is $26.62 at the midpoint for Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation, $6.02 at the 25th percentile and $100.88 at the 75th, against $24.04 for the typical American job.
Counted straight off the return: 1,845 filers grossed under $5,000, 1,179 took $5,000 to $9,999, 1,859 took $10,000 to $24,999, 5,105 cleared $100,000 and 2,691 cleared $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 $55,387 midpoint for Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation is not take-home pay and is not comparable to a $55,387 salary.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation, the hourly figure is $55,387 over a 2,080-hour year — a unit conversion, not an adjustment.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · Look up something else