Industry multiple lookup
Business Valuation Multiples
What buyers actually paid, by industry: the average SDE multiple, average revenue multiple, and median sale price for 27 Main Street industries and 16 sectors — every figure transcribed from published sold-business transaction data (businesses sold Q3 2021 – Q2 2026), none of them rules of thumb.
Found yours? Use → carries the industry into the valuation calculator so you can run your own numbers against it.
Food & drink
| Industry | SDE multiple | Revenue multiple | Median sale price | Run your numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant | 2.18× | 0.39× | $220,000 | Use → |
| Bar, pub, or tavern | 2.76× | 0.51× | $296,500 | Use → |
| Coffee shop or cafe | 2.27× | 0.47× | $150,000 | Use → |
| Bakery | 2.44× | 0.51× | $200,963 | Use → |
| Food truck | 2.03× | 0.55× | $78,000 | Use → |
| Catering company | 2.07× | 0.45× | $416,000 | Use → |
| Ice cream or frozen yogurt shop | 2.48× | 0.57× | $166,500 | Use → |
Beauty & personal care
Contracting & trades
| Industry | SDE multiple | Revenue multiple | Median sale price | Run your numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC business | 2.83× | 0.60× | $750,000 | Use → |
| Plumbing business | 2.61× | 0.69× | $699,000 | Use → |
| Electrical or mechanical contractor | 2.77× | 0.63× | $1,009,000 | Use → |
| Concrete business | 2.54× | 0.61× | $780,000 | Use → |
| Heavy construction business | 2.78× | 0.62× | $1,000,000 | Use → |
| Landscaping or yard service | 2.49× | 0.72× | $449,950 | Use → |
| Cleaning business | 2.25× | 0.72× | $281,500 | Use → |
Other Main Street businesses
| Industry | SDE multiple | Revenue multiple | Median sale price | Run your numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto repair or service shop | 2.85× | 0.65× | $430,000 | Use → |
| Gym or fitness center | 2.54× | 0.70× | $204,000 | Use → |
| Convenience store | 2.41× | 0.40× | $209,000 | Use → |
| Liquor store | 3.39× | 0.50× | $425,000 | Use → |
| Pet grooming business | 2.30× | 0.63× | $152,500 | Use → |
| Dry cleaner | 2.11× | 0.77× | $253,500 | Use → |
| Laundromat or coin laundry | 3.70× | 1.33× | $250,000 | Use → |
| Day care or child care center | 3.28× | 0.88× | $380,000 | Use → |
By sector — if your business isn't listed
| Industry | SDE multiple | Revenue multiple | Median sale price | Run your numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive and boat | 3.10× | 0.71× | $500,000 | Use → |
| Beauty and personal care | 2.12× | 0.54× | $145,000 | Use → |
| Building and construction | 2.65× | 0.59× | $750,500 | Use → |
| Communication and media | 2.47× | 0.91× | $365,000 | Use → |
| Education and children | 2.89× | 0.84× | $350,000 | Use → |
| Entertainment and recreation | 2.81× | 0.91× | $375,000 | Use → |
| Financial services | 2.46× | 1.21× | $450,000 | Use → |
| Food and restaurants | 2.27× | 0.42× | $200,000 | Use → |
| Health care and fitness | 2.72× | 0.75× | $441,162 | Use → |
| Manufacturing | 3.04× | 0.73× | $726,914 | Use → |
| Online and technology | 3.28× | 1.09× | $850,000 | Use → |
| Pet services | 2.59× | 0.73× | $226,000 | Use → |
| Retail | 2.63× | 0.55× | $286,000 | Use → |
| Service businesses | 2.61× | 0.83× | $350,000 | Use → |
| Transportation and storage | 1.95× | 0.64× | $150,000 | Use → |
| Wholesale and distributors | 2.93× | 0.55× | $604,000 | Use → |
Methodology — where these figures come from
Every figure on this page is transcribed verbatim from BizBuySell, Business Valuation Multiples by Industry, which aggregates real reported sales of small businesses over a trailing five-year window — currently businesses sold Q3 2021 – Q2 2026 — and refreshes the window biannually. 80% of businesses in the source data set sold between $50,000 and $2,000,000 — the “main street” segment. Nothing here is estimated, rounded, or invented; when the source refreshes, this table is updated to match.
What each column means
- SDE multiple — average sale price ÷ SDE (Seller’s Discretionary Earnings) across that industry’s reported sales. SDE is pre-tax profit plus one owner’s compensation and other standard add-backs; work yours out line by line with the SDE calculator.
- Revenue multiple — average sale price ÷ annual gross revenue. A cross-check, not a pricing method: earnings, not revenue, drive small-business value.
- Median sale price — the middle reported sale price in that industry. It describes the typical size of businesses that sold, not what yours is worth; a business with strong SDE can be worth several times its industry’s median.
Limits
- These are national averages of closed transactions. Your local market, your books, and your deal terms can land a specific business well above or below its industry’s average — that’s what the valuation calculator’s named value drivers adjust for.
- Multiples generally price the operating business. Saleable inventory and owned real estate are typically negotiated on top of (or separately from) the business price.
- The data reflects businesses that sold and were reported — businesses that never found a buyer aren’t in the averages, which skews the sample toward sellable businesses.
Source: BizBuySell, Business Valuation Multiples by Industry (businesses sold Q3 2021 – Q2 2026).
Last reviewed: July 2026. This lookup is informational only and is not professional, financial, or valuation advice.
Frequently asked questions
What is an SDE multiple?
It's the ratio of a business's sale price to its SDE (Seller's Discretionary Earnings — pre-tax profit plus one owner's compensation and other add-backs). A restaurant selling for 2.18× SDE means buyers paid, on average, $2.18 for every dollar of annual discretionary earnings. Each multiple in this table is the average across real reported sales in that industry over the source's trailing five-year window — not a rule of thumb.
Should I use the SDE multiple or the revenue multiple?
The SDE multiple. Small businesses are priced on earnings, because two businesses with identical revenue can put wildly different amounts in the owner's pocket. The revenue multiple is useful as a cross-check — if the two methods produce very different numbers, your margins are unusually far from your industry's average, which is itself worth understanding before a sale.
Why do some industries carry much higher multiples than others?
Multiples reward earnings a buyer believes will survive the ownership change. Laundromats (3.70×) and liquor stores (3.39×) run semi-passively — the business, not the owner's hands, produces the income. Restaurants (2.18×) and nail salons (1.74×) depend heavily on the owner's daily labor and are easier to compete with, so a dollar of their earnings sells for less. Within any industry, the same logic moves an individual business above or below the average.
What if my industry isn't listed?
Use the sector averages in the last group of the table — the source publishes 16 sector-level figures covering essentially every Main Street business. Picking the closest sector is the standard fallback; just treat the result as a looser starting point, since a sector average blends businesses with different economics.
Related tools
Estimate what your Main Street business would sell for: IBBA-method SDE from your own P&L, an industry multiple from published sold-business data, and every factor behind the number named and priced.
Open tool →SDE Calculator & Add-Back WorksheetWork out Seller's Discretionary Earnings line by line — owner compensation, financing and non-cash expenses, one-time items, and the normalization adjustments that cut both ways — per the IBBA's standard definition.
Open tool →SBA 7(a) Deal Affordability CalculatorCheck whether a business can afford its own purchase price: SBA 7(a) loan terms, a seller note, and the debt-service coverage ratio the way a lender computes it.
Open tool →