Self-employment method
Toy and hobby goods and supplies merchant wholesalers
12,284 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 12,284 people who filed under this code in 2022, 40.79% 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 = 12,284 · 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 | 3,146 | 25.6% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 1,865 | 15.2% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 2,566 | 20.9% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 1,718 | 14.0% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 1,241 | 10.1% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 1,043 | 8.5% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 398 | 3.2% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 207 | 1.7% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 100 | 0.8% |
Who this suits
Median gross receipts of $16,611 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.
12,284 people filed under this code — enough that the work exists everywhere and not enough that it supports a visible trade. Most people doing Toy and hobby goods and supplies merchant wholesalers are doing it alongside something else.
A 14.2% share — 1,744 filers — grossed $100,000 or more. That is well above what most codes here manage, and it says the middle of Toy and hobby goods and supplies merchant wholesalers is closer to a business than to a sideline.
This kind of wholesaling suits people with a supply relationship others cannot easily get, because without one you are competing on terms alone.
Nothing stops anyone filing under this code, and 12,284 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
10.0x between the quarters — $4,881 against $48,807, or $3,660 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 Toy and hobby goods and supplies merchant wholesalers earns under $4,881 — $45,139 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.
5,010 filers out of 12,284 — 40.8% — reported under $10,000 in gross receipts in 2022. At that share the bottom band is not a warning about beginners; it is a description of a large part of the field.
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 10.0x between the quarters is the signature of a winner-take-most distribution. $16,611 is a real number about a real population, but nobody entering Toy and hobby goods and supplies merchant wholesalers should plan around it.
Put in money rather than ratios: $4,881 at the 25th percentile, $16,611 at the midpoint, $48,807 at the 75th. $43,926 separates the quarter of Toy and hobby goods and supplies merchant wholesalers at the bottom from the quarter at the top.
Between $4,881 and $48,807 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $16,611. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $32,196; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $43,926.
The top quarter of Toy and hobby goods and supplies merchant wholesalers begins $32,196 above the $16,611 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $11,730 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 $7.98 an hour at the midpoint, $2.34 at the 25th percentile and $23.46 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.
Counted straight off the return: 3,146 filers grossed under $5,000, 1,865 took $5,000 to $9,999, 2,566 took $10,000 to $24,999, 1,748 cleared $100,000 and 705 cleared $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
Read every figure here as GROSS RECEIPTS rather than income. $16,611 is turnover — the money that passed through Toy and hobby goods and supplies merchant wholesalers before expenses. What is left after costs is a different and much smaller number that this dataset does not publish.
Treat the per-hour figure as a conversion. It assumes a flat full-time year against $16,611 because we have no verified record of unpaid hours or out-of-pocket costs for this work, and we would rather convert honestly than adjust invented ones.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else