Self-employment method
Nursing and Residential Care Facilities
123,654 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 123,654 people who filed under this code in 2022, 42.80% 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 = 123,654 · 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 | 30,881 | 25.0% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 22,044 | 17.8% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 34,039 | 27.5% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 18,483 | 14.9% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 10,597 | 8.6% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 5,717 | 4.6% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 1,477 | 1.2% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 269 | 0.2% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 147 | 0.1% |
Who this suits
At the midpoint this work grossed $13,923 for the year — $1,160 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.
With 123,654 filers, Nursing and Residential Care Facilities is a substantial informal workforce. Enough people do it that local pricing is set by the field rather than by you.
6.2% cleared $100,000 in receipts. That is a meaningful upper tier and it is worth asking what separates them, because it is rarely effort alone.
Independent residential care is a regulated, staffed, round-the-clock operation, and suits people prepared to run a facility rather than to practise.
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 $5,007, top quarter over $32,813: 6.6x, or $2,317 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 Nursing and Residential Care Facilities earns under $5,007 — $45,013 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 staffing model costed at real wages, including cover for the shifts nobody wants.
Of the 123,654 people who filed as Nursing and Residential Care Facilities in 2022, 42.8% grossed under $10,000 for the year — 52,923 people who did not clear a part-time wage in revenue, let alone in profit.
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
At 6.6x, the gap between $5,007 and $32,813 is the shape of a field with a small, well-paid top. $13,923 is real and it is not a forecast — the people quoting the upper end at you are describing a minority.
In cash terms the middle half of Nursing and Residential Care Facilities runs $5,007 to $32,813 — $27,806 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $13,923.
Getting to $32,813, the 75th percentile, is worth $18,890 a year more than the $13,923 midpoint and $27,806 more than the $5,007 a quarter of Nursing and Residential Care Facilities settle for.
From $13,923 the drop to $5,007 is $8,916 and the climb to $32,813 is $18,890. When the upper half of the range is that much longer, the average is pulled well above the median — which is exactly why this site publishes the median.
Spread across a 2,080-hour year those receipts come to $6.69 an hour at the midpoint, $2.40 at the 25th percentile and $15.77 at the 75th. That is turnover per hour, not pay per hour, and it is not comparable with the $24.04 an hour a typical American job pays.
Counted straight off the return: 30,881 filers grossed under $5,000, 22,044 took $5,000 to $9,999, 34,039 took $10,000 to $24,999, 7,610 cleared $100,000 and 1,893 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 $13,923 midpoint for Nursing and Residential Care Facilities is not take-home pay and is not comparable to a $13,923 salary.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Nursing and Residential Care Facilities, the hourly figure is $13,923 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