Self-employment method
Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations
185,682 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 185,682 people who filed under this code in 2022, 54.17% 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 = 185,682 · 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 | 65,448 | 35.2% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 35,145 | 18.9% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 45,243 | 24.4% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 25,214 | 13.6% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 10,906 | 5.9% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 2,995 | 1.6% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 516 | 0.3% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 214 | 0.1% |
Who this suits
The median filer grossed $8,897 for the year — about $741 a month in revenue before expenses. That is pocket money at the midpoint, and the midpoint is by definition where half the field is or below.
185,682 people filed under this code. A field that large has a settled price, a settled set of expectations, and no shortage of people willing to meet both.
2.0% of filers grossed $100,000 or more: 3,713 people out of the whole field. There is an upper tier, it is real, and it is small enough that reaching it should be treated as an outcome rather than a plan.
Filings under this code are mostly individuals contracting to membership and grantmaking organisations rather than running a business in the ordinary sense.
Nothing stops anyone filing under this code, and 185,682 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
Bottom quarter under $3,546, top quarter over $22,820: 6.4x, or $1,606 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 Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations earns under $3,546 — $46,474 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 read this code as a business model; the filings under it are mostly contract work for organisations.
54.2% of 185,682 filers — 100,583 people — grossed under $10,000 in 2022. More than half of everyone who tried Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations took in less than $10,000 before any expense came out.
That share is a floor, not an estimate: $10,000 is revenue, not earnings. Everyone counted inside it kept less than $10,000, and an unknown number of the filers above it also finished the year with nothing after costs.
What the spread tells you
At 6.4x, the gap between $3,546 and $22,820 is the shape of a field with a small, well-paid top. $8,897 is real and it is not a forecast — the people quoting the upper end at you are describing a minority.
The middle half of this field earns between $3,546 and $22,820. That is $19,274 of range, with $8,897 sitting inside it as the point half the field is above and half below.
Between $3,546 and $22,820 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $8,897. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $13,923; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $19,274.
The top quarter of Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations begins $13,923 above the $8,897 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $5,351 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.
Spread across a 2,080-hour year those receipts come to $4.27 an hour at the midpoint, $1.70 at the 25th percentile and $10.97 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.
The raw counts, before anyone interprets them: under $5,000, 65,448 filers. $5,000 to $9,999, 35,145. $10,000 to $24,999, 45,243. Over $100,000, 3,725 — and 730 over $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 $8,897 midpoint for Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations is not take-home pay and is not comparable to a $8,897 salary.
The hourly number on this page is $8,897 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations, so it is arithmetic rather than an effective rate.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else