Self-employment method
Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
11,647 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 11,647 people who filed under this code in 2022, 22.73% 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 = 11,647 · 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 | 1,495 | 12.8% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 1,152 | 9.9% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 1,983 | 17.0% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 1,578 | 13.5% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 1,690 | 14.5% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 1,897 | 16.3% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 999 | 8.6% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 648 | 5.6% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 205 | 1.8% |
Who this suits
A median of $43,908 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.
11,647 filers is small enough that Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers is a niche rather than a market — the work exists, but there is no depth of demand to fall back on.
32.2% 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 wholesaling is a relationships-and-terms business. It suits people comfortable carrying inventory or credit risk between two parties who both know the price.
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 Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers earns 13.8x the bottom quarter — under $12,003 against over $166,203, a spread of $154,200. Distributions this stretched are usually two different jobs sharing one label, and any average across them means little.
The bottom quarter of Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers earns under $12,003 — $38,017 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 you cannot fund inventory or extend credit terms — both are the actual product.
22.7% of the 11,647 Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers filings in 2022 reported under $10,000 in gross receipts for the year — 2,647 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 13.8x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $43,908 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers should plan around it.
In cash terms the middle half of Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers runs $12,003 to $166,203 — $154,200 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $43,908.
Getting to $166,203, the 75th percentile, is worth $122,295 a year more than the $43,908 midpoint and $154,200 more than the $12,003 a quarter of Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers settle for.
Per hour at a standard full-time year that is $21.10 at the midpoint for Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers, $5.77 at the 25th percentile and $79.90 at the 75th, against $24.04 for the typical American job.
Counted straight off the return: 1,495 filers grossed under $5,000, 1,152 took $5,000 to $9,999, 1,983 took $10,000 to $24,999, 3,749 cleared $100,000 and 1,852 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 $43,908 midpoint for Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers is not take-home pay and is not comparable to a $43,908 salary.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers, the hourly figure is $43,908 over a 2,080-hour year — a unit conversion, not an adjustment.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · Look up something else