Self-employment method
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
18,452 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 18,452 people who filed under this code in 2022, 40.19% 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 = 18,452 · 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 | 4,535 | 24.6% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 2,880 | 15.6% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 4,288 | 23.2% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 2,374 | 12.9% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 2,016 | 10.9% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 1,741 | 9.4% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 544 | 2.9% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 74 | 0.4% |
Who this suits
Median gross receipts of $16,335 put the typical filer somewhere between a serious side income and a failing attempt at a full-time one, and the receipts figure alone cannot tell you which.
18,452 filers is small enough that Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars is a niche rather than a market — the work exists, but there is no depth of demand to fall back on.
12.8% 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 food and accommodation work suits people who can run a licensed, inspected operation on thin margins and who count their own labour as a cost rather than as profit.
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 Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars earns 9.2x the bottom quarter — under $5,135 against over $47,494, a spread of $42,359. Distributions this stretched are usually two different jobs sharing one label, and any average across them means little.
The bottom quarter of Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars earns under $5,135 — $44,885 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 working in someone else’s operation first. Food margins punish inexperience faster than any other sector here.
Of the 18,452 people who filed as Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars in 2022, 40.2% grossed under $10,000 for the year — 7,415 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
A ratio of 9.2x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $16,335 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars should plan around it.
In cash terms the middle half of Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars runs $5,135 to $47,494 — $42,359 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $16,335.
Getting to $47,494, the 75th percentile, is worth $31,159 a year more than the $16,335 midpoint and $42,359 more than the $5,135 a quarter of Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars settle for.
Per hour at a standard full-time year that is $7.85 at the midpoint for Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars, $2.46 at the 25th percentile and $22.83 at the 75th, against $24.04 for the typical American job.
Counted straight off the return: 4,535 filers grossed under $5,000, 2,880 took $5,000 to $9,999, 4,288 took $10,000 to $24,999, 2,359 cleared $100,000 and 618 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 $16,335 midpoint for Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars is not take-home pay and is not comparable to a $16,335 salary.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars, the hourly figure is $16,335 over a 2,080-hour year — a unit conversion, not an adjustment.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · Look up something else