While the majority are making USD $1000 or less (those selecting "1"), about a third of merchants are making between $1000 and $5000 a month (options 2-5). But the results on the other end of the spectrum are even more surprising:

Here's another notable result from that survey of SL merchants we discussed on Tuesday : How much real life money they're making from Second Life content. While 42% of those surveyed say SL is "a full time job and main income source", this question above indicates just how much of that income they're typically earning.

On the high side, 10% of those surveyed chose option 9-10 -- indicating they're making $9000 to $10,000+ month. In other words: 1 in 10 Second Life merchants surveyed are making well over $100,000 a year from selling virtual content in the SL economy.

Which, you know, is pretty incredible. (Assuming this survey is representative of the economy as a whole, but from what we know, it probably is.) In recent years, Linden Lab has reported less and less information about the SL economy, making much analysis of it a matter of speculation. (Beyond one-off examples, such as CEO Ebbe Altberg's reference to "a woman in New Zealand who makes hundreds of thousands of dollars making hands and feets for avatars".) But this survey suggests a substantial number of merchants are making an extremely good living from Second Life -- making any signs of a recession a real threat to the livelihood of thousands of people around the globe.

By the way, the anonymous creator of the survey, a successful Japan-based SL merchant, recently created a Discord server for discussing topics just like this: Second Life Merchant Resources.

Again, I hope to run a virtual economy survey of my own soon. If there's any question you think I should include, please post suggestions in Comments!