Self-employment method
Support Activities for Crop Production
67,605 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 67,605 people who filed under this code in 2022, 43.64% 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 = 67,605 · 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 | 18,006 | 26.6% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 11,500 | 17.0% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 16,372 | 24.2% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 8,684 | 12.8% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 5,290 | 7.8% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 4,533 | 6.7% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 2,023 | 3.0% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 1,080 | 1.6% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 117 | 0.2% |
Who this suits
At the midpoint this work grossed $13,936 for the year — $1,161 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.
67,605 people filed under this code. That is enough that Support Activities for Crop Production has a going local rate in most places, and enough that you will be quoted against someone else.
7,774 filers cleared $100,000, which is 11.5% of everyone under this code. A share that size means Support Activities for Crop Production supports a genuine professional tier, and the question becomes what puts someone in it.
Support work for agriculture and forestry suits people who own a machine and a skill somebody else needs for two weeks a year, and who can stitch a calendar out of those windows.
Nothing stops anyone filing under this code, and 67,605 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
The top quarter of Support Activities for Crop Production earns 8.3x the bottom quarter — under $4,693 against over $38,893, a spread of $34,200. Distributions this stretched are usually two different jobs sharing one label, and any average across them means little.
The bottom quarter of Support Activities for Crop Production earns under $4,693 — $45,327 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 survive the months between the windows when this work actually exists.
Of the 67,605 people who filed as Support Activities for Crop Production in 2022, 43.6% grossed under $10,000 for the year — 29,502 people who did not clear a part-time wage in revenue, let alone in profit.
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
A ratio of 8.3x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $13,936 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Support Activities for Crop Production should plan around it.
Put in money rather than ratios: $4,693 at the 25th percentile, $13,936 at the midpoint, $38,893 at the 75th. $34,200 separates the quarter of Support Activities for Crop Production at the bottom from the quarter at the top.
Getting to $38,893, the 75th percentile, is worth $24,957 a year more than the $13,936 midpoint and $34,200 more than the $4,693 a quarter of Support Activities for Crop Production settle for.
$9,243 below the midpoint, $24,957 above it. That asymmetry is extreme even for this data, and it means every summary of Support Activities for Crop Production that is not a median — including any average you see quoted elsewhere — is describing the top of the range rather than the middle.
Converted to a 2,080-hour year, the receipts run $2.25 an hour at the 25th percentile, $6.70 at the midpoint and $18.69 at the 75th. Read them as revenue per hour worked; the equivalent wage is lower by whatever this work costs to do.
Counted straight off the return: 18,006 filers grossed under $5,000, 11,500 took $5,000 to $9,999, 16,372 took $10,000 to $24,999, 7,753 cleared $100,000 and 3,220 cleared $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
These are GROSS RECEIPTS: everything that came in, before expenses. Rent, stock, fuel, insurance and self-employment tax all come out of the $13,936 midpoint before anyone eats, so it is not comparable with a $13,936 wage and should never be read as one.
The hourly number on this page is $13,936 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Support Activities for Crop Production, 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