Self-employment method
Veterinary Services
25,529 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 25,529 people who filed under this code in 2022, 36.33% 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 = 25,529 · 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 | 5,609 | 22.0% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 3,665 | 14.4% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 5,198 | 20.4% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 3,739 | 14.6% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 3,532 | 13.8% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 2,814 | 11.0% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 711 | 2.8% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 204 | 0.8% |
| $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 | 57 | 0.2% |
Who this suits
At a $20,073 median in gross receipts, the typical person under this code is running a real but part-time operation. Full-time equivalence would require roughly triple this before costs.
25,529 people filed under this code, almost none of whom appear in any employment statistic. Veterinary Services is part of the economy salary surveys simply do not see.
A 14.8% share — 3,778 filers — grossed $100,000 or more. That is well above what most codes here manage, and it says the middle of Veterinary Services is closer to a business than to a sideline.
This is expertise sold by the hour or the project, and it suits people who can price their own time honestly and defend the price without discounting the moment it is questioned.
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
10.4x between the quarters — $6,055 against $63,247, or $4,766 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 Veterinary Services earns under $6,055 — $43,965 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 first client already. Capability does not generate demand in this subsector, and the gap between the two is where most of these businesses end.
36.3% of the 25,529 people who filed in 2022 grossed under $10,000 for the year — 9,274 people. Approaching half of everyone who tried Veterinary Services took in less revenue than a part-time wage, before costs.
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
At 10.4x, the gap between $6,055 and $63,247 is the shape of a field with a small, well-paid top. $20,073 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 $6,055 and $63,247. That is $57,192 of range, with $20,073 sitting inside it as the point half the field is above and half below.
Between $6,055 and $63,247 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $20,073. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $43,174; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $57,192.
The top quarter of Veterinary Services begins $43,174 above the $20,073 midpoint, while the bottom quarter starts only $14,018 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.
Per hour of a full-time year, the middle of Veterinary Services takes $9.65 in revenue — $2.91 at the bottom quarter and $30.40 at the top. Costs have not been deducted from any of those figures, so none of them is an hourly wage.
Straight from the Census bands for Veterinary Services: 5,609 filers under $5,000, 3,665 between $5,000 and $9,999, 5,198 between $10,000 and $24,999, 3,786 above $100,000 and 972 above $250,000.
What these figures are, and what they are not
Read every figure here as GROSS RECEIPTS rather than income. $20,073 is turnover — the money that passed through Veterinary Services 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 $20,073 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