Self-employment method
Natural Gas Extraction
12,176 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 12,176 people who filed under this code in 2022, 42.43% 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 = 12,176 · 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 | 3,450 | 28.3% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 1,716 | 14.1% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 2,162 | 17.8% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 1,450 | 11.9% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 1,213 | 10.0% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 1,255 | 10.3% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 572 | 4.7% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 274 | 2.3% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 84 | 0.7% |
Who this suits
At the midpoint this work grossed $16,397 for the year — $1,366 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.
12,176 people filed under this code — enough that the work exists everywhere and not enough that it supports a visible trade. Most people doing Natural Gas Extraction are doing it alongside something else.
17.9% 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 oil and gas work is contract work attached to someone else’s capital programme, so it follows the drilling cycle rather than any effort you make.
Nothing stops anyone filing under this code, and 12,176 people did. Free entry is why the lower bands are as full as they are: the distribution below counts everyone who tried, not everyone who was ready.
Who should not do this
14.6x between the quarters — $4,412 against $64,592, or $5,015 a month. This is the shape of a field where a minority does very well and the summary statistics quietly borrow their success.
The bottom quarter of Natural Gas Extraction earns under $4,412 — $45,608 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 expecting steady work; the cycle turns off quickly and takes contractors with it.
42.4% of 12,176 filers in 2022 took under $10,000 across the entire year: 5,166 people. Close to half of everyone in Natural Gas Extraction is in that band, and gross receipts is the generous way of counting 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 14.6x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $16,397 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Natural Gas Extraction should plan around it.
Put in money rather than ratios: $4,412 at the 25th percentile, $16,397 at the midpoint, $64,592 at the 75th. $60,180 separates the quarter of Natural Gas Extraction at the bottom from the quarter at the top.
The 75th percentile is $64,592. Reaching it from the $16,397 midpoint is $48,195 a year; reaching it from the $4,412 that the bottom quarter of Natural Gas Extraction earn is $60,180.
The top quarter of Natural Gas Extraction begins $48,195 above the $16,397 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $11,985 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 $2.12 an hour at the 25th percentile, $7.88 at the midpoint and $31.05 at the 75th. Read them as revenue per hour worked; the equivalent wage is lower by whatever this work costs to do.
Counted straight off the return: 3,450 filers grossed under $5,000, 1,716 took $5,000 to $9,999, 2,162 took $10,000 to $24,999, 2,185 cleared $100,000 and 930 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 $16,397 midpoint for Natural Gas Extraction is not take-home pay and is not comparable to a $16,397 salary.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Natural Gas Extraction, the hourly figure is $16,397 over a 2,080-hour year — a unit conversion, not an adjustment.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else