Self-employment method
Landscape Architectural Services
39,576 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 39,576 people who filed under this code in 2022, 33.92% 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 = 39,576 · 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 | 7,629 | 19.3% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 5,795 | 14.6% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 9,572 | 24.2% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 6,507 | 16.4% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 5,049 | 12.8% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 3,587 | 9.1% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 1,040 | 2.6% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 343 | 0.9% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 54 | 0.1% |
Who this suits
At the midpoint this work grossed $19,973 for the year — $1,664 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.
39,576 people filed under this code, almost none of whom appear in any employment statistic. Landscape Architectural Services is part of the economy salary surveys simply do not see.
A 12.7% share — 5,026 filers — grossed $100,000 or more. That is well above what most codes here manage, and it says the middle of Landscape Architectural Services is closer to a business than to a sideline.
Professional services are the classic solo business: low capital, high skill, and a ceiling set by how many hours you can sell. It suits people who can market as competently as they deliver.
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
The top quarter of Landscape Architectural Services earns 7.4x the bottom quarter — under $6,954 against over $51,773, a spread of $44,819. Distributions this stretched are usually two different jobs sharing one label, and any average across them means little.
The bottom quarter of Landscape Architectural Services earns under $6,954 — $43,066 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 pricing by the hour if you cannot fill the hours; the ceiling is arithmetic and it arrives sooner than you think.
Of 39,576 filers in 2022, 33.9% took under $10,000 across the whole year in gross receipts: 13,424 people. Whatever the working version of Landscape Architectural Services looks like, a third or more never reach 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
A ratio of 7.4x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $19,973 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Landscape Architectural Services should plan around it.
The middle half of this field earns between $6,954 and $51,773. That is $44,819 of range, with $19,973 sitting inside it as the point half the field is above and half below.
Between $6,954 and $51,773 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $19,973. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $31,800; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $44,819.
The upper half of the middle range — $19,973 to $51,773, or $31,800 — is far longer than the lower half at $13,019. In a shape like this an average would flatter Landscape Architectural Services considerably, and would describe nobody.
Per hour of a full-time year, the middle of Landscape Architectural Services takes $9.60 in revenue — $3.34 at the bottom quarter and $24.89 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: 7,629 filers grossed under $5,000, 5,795 took $5,000 to $9,999, 9,572 took $10,000 to $24,999, 5,024 cleared $100,000 and 1,437 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 $19,973 midpoint before anyone eats, so it is not comparable with a $19,973 wage and should never be read as one.
Treat the per-hour figure as a conversion. It assumes a flat full-time year against $19,973 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