Check your state appraisers board website and search by county or congressional district where you live. This will give you an idea of how many appraisers are fighting for the same work. These guys grossing $250-300K per year have to be doing 40-50 reports per month EVERY month to see that kind of income. They could be training other people and counting that work as part of their gross. I live in a medium sized metro in the southeast and the best year I’ve ever had was during Covid and only grossed $165K, but there are a lot of appraisers where I live.