Self-employment method
Support Activities for Transportation
142,828 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 142,828 people who filed under this code in 2022, 30.02% 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 = 142,828 · 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 | 24,525 | 17.2% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 18,349 | 12.8% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 33,408 | 23.4% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 23,739 | 16.6% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 19,470 | 13.6% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 14,708 | 10.3% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 4,793 | 3.4% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 2,302 | 1.6% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 1,533 | 1.1% |
Who this suits
The median filer grossed $22,814, or $1,901 a month before expenses. That is an operating business at part-time scale: enough revenue to be worth running properly, not enough to be the only thing in the household.
142,828 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.
A 16.3% share — 23,280 filers — grossed $100,000 or more. That is well above what most codes here manage, and it says the middle of Support Activities for Transportation is closer to a business than to a sideline.
Independent transportation support work suits people who can win a recurring role in somebody else’s logistics chain rather than one-off movements.
Nothing stops anyone filing under this code, and 142,828 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
8.5x between the quarters — $8,047 against $68,231, or $5,015 a month. This is the shape of a field where a minority does very well and the summary statistics quietly borrow their success.
The bottom quarter of Support Activities for Transportation earns under $8,047 — $41,973 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 a contracted anchor customer; spot work alone does not cover the fixed costs.
30.0% — 42,876 of the 142,828 filers in 2022 — grossed under $10,000 for the year. That is not the tail of the distribution, it is a third of it, and it is measured 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 8.5x, the gap between $8,047 and $68,231 is the shape of a field with a small, well-paid top. $22,814 is real and it is not a forecast — the people quoting the upper end at you are describing a minority.
Put in money rather than ratios: $8,047 at the 25th percentile, $22,814 at the midpoint, $68,231 at the 75th. $60,184 separates the quarter of Support Activities for Transportation at the bottom from the quarter at the top.
The 75th percentile is $68,231. Reaching it from the $22,814 midpoint is $45,417 a year; reaching it from the $8,047 that the bottom quarter of Support Activities for Transportation earn is $60,184.
The top quarter of Support Activities for Transportation begins $45,417 above the $22,814 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $14,767 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 $10.96 an hour at the midpoint, $3.86 at the 25th percentile and $32.80 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.
Straight from the Census bands for Support Activities for Transportation: 24,525 filers under $5,000, 18,349 between $5,000 and $9,999, 33,408 between $10,000 and $24,999, 23,336 above $100,000 and 8,628 above $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 $22,814 midpoint for Support Activities for Transportation is not take-home pay and is not comparable to a $22,814 salary.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Support Activities for Transportation, the hourly figure is $22,814 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