Self-employment method
Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction
14,172 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 14,172 people who filed under this code in 2022, 26.14% 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 = 14,172 · 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 | 2,308 | 16.3% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 1,396 | 9.9% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 2,393 | 16.9% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 2,266 | 16.0% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 2,066 | 14.6% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 2,233 | 15.8% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 997 | 7.0% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 452 | 3.2% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 61 | 0.4% |
Who this suits
A median of $35,911 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.
At 14,172 filers this is a real but thin national population. There is no established price for Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction at this scale, which cuts both ways: nothing anchors you low and nothing anchors you high.
26.4% of filers grossed $100,000 or more. At that share the upper band is not an exception, it is a large minority of the field — though gross receipts at this level usually carry proportionate costs.
Heavy and civil work is bid to public and institutional clients, so it suits people who can handle bonding, prequalification and a procurement process with its own vocabulary.
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 $9,423, top quarter over $113,435: 12.0x, or $8,667 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 Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction earns under $9,423 — $40,597 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 if bonding and prequalification are out of reach — without them the work is not biddable at all.
3,704 of the 14,172 people filing in 2022 grossed under $10,000 across twelve months — 26.1% of the field. A quarter or more of everyone in Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction took in less revenue than a part-time job would have paid in wages.
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 12.0x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $35,911 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction should plan around it.
In cash terms the middle half of Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction runs $9,423 to $113,435 — $104,012 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $35,911.
Between $9,423 and $113,435 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $35,911. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $77,524; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $104,012.
The top quarter of Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction begins $77,524 above the $35,911 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $26,488 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 $4.53 an hour at the 25th percentile, $17.26 at the midpoint and $54.53 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, 2,308 filers. $5,000 to $9,999, 1,396. $10,000 to $24,999, 2,393. Over $100,000, 3,743 — and 1,510 over $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
Read every figure here as GROSS RECEIPTS rather than income. $35,911 is turnover — the money that passed through Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction before expenses. What is left after costs is a different and much smaller number that this dataset does not publish.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction, the hourly figure is $35,911 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