Business Sale Multiples by Industry (2026)
A million dollars of profit sells for 5.5 to 7 times in a plumbing shop. The same million in an insurance agency fetches 7 to 10 times. At the top of each range that is a $3 million gap.
- Insurance pays the most per dollar of profit. National buyers are bidding against each other for agencies.
- The three trades cluster together. HVAC, plumbing and electrical land within about two turns of each other at every size.
- Size moves your number more than your trade does. Each of the five roughly doubles between the owner-run tier and the platform tier.
What the Same Profit Is Worth in Each Trade
Ordered by what each pays at $1 million in profit. Every figure links through to that trade’s own tier table.
| Trade | Owner-run | $1M to $3M in profit | $5M or more in profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insurance agency | 1.0 to 1.8 times commissions | 7 to 10 times | 10 to 14 times |
| Dental practice | 60% to 80% of collections | 7 to 9 times | 10 to 12 times |
| Electrical | 2.5 to 4.5 times owner earnings | 5.5 to 8 times | 9 to 13 times |
| HVAC | 2 to 3.5 times owner earnings | 5 to 7.5 times | 7 to 10 times |
| Plumbing | 2 to 4 times owner earnings | 5.5 to 7 times | 6 to 11 times |
The electrical bands are the one place the comparison needs a note. That trade publishes its tiers by revenue rather than profit. The columns above use the revenue tier a shop of that profit usually sits in.
Full detail by tier: insurance agencies, dental practices, electrical, HVAC and plumbing.
Why Insurance Sits at the Top
An agency renews itself. The client who bought last year mostly buys again this year, without anyone selling anything.
- The income repeats on its own. A trade shop starts each January at zero and books the year one job at a time.
- The buyers are national and there are many of them. Investor-backed firms took 73% of the 695 agency deals announced in 2025.
- Nothing has to be replaced when you go. No licence to transfer, no van, no crew.
The trades close that gap the same way, by building income that repeats. A shop with real service agreements prices nearer the top of its band, and the effect is worth turns rather than decimal points.
At the Small End, Nobody Uses the Same Yardstick
Look at the first column again. The three building trades multiply what the business pays the owner. Insurance multiplies annual commissions. Dentistry takes a share of a year’s collections.
That is not sloppiness. It is what each set of buyers actually does, and comparing across the column will mislead you.
- Small buyers are buying a job as well as a business. They count everything the place pays you, so the yardstick follows the buyer.
- The switch happens around $500,000 a year. Above that, serious buyers price profit after paying someone to do your job.
- That switch is the biggest single jump available to you. It roughly doubles the multiple in every one of the five.
Where These Numbers Sit Against the Whole Market
Every band on this page runs ahead of the market as a whole. Worth knowing by how much, before you read your own number as normal.
- Across every industry, the IBBA’s Q1 2026 survey of about 300 advisers puts the median at 2.0 times under $500,000 of price. From $5M to $50M it is 4.5 times.
- These five run above that because all five are being bought up by investor-backed groups. That is a real premium, and it is not permanent.
- Repeat income is what earns it. PKF O’Connor Davies puts contractors with steady service income at 10 times profit or better, against 5 to 6 times for one-off project work.
What Changes When You Cross a State Line
Not the multiple. A plumbing shop earning $1 million is worth the same in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.
What changes is what you keep and how long it takes. Pennsylvania taxes the gain at a flat 3.07%, New Jersey at up to 10.75%, and New York at about 6.85% before the city adds more.
Licensing changes too, and it changes who is allowed to buy you. In New York City a licensed plumber has to own most of the company. Nobody licenses HVAC there at all.
Where Every Number Comes From
| Trade | What the bands rest on |
|---|---|
| Insurance agency | The Optis 2025 report on 695 announced deals, plus the Gallagher and Brown & Brown purchase prices |
| Dental practice | McLerran & Associates, a dental sale advisory firm, July 2026 |
| Electrical | A 2026 review of contractor deal data, checked against IBBA and PKF O’Connor Davies |
| HVAC | The BizBuySell Insight Report, plus the Blackstone purchase of Champions Group at about 18.5 times |
| Plumbing | IBBA below the bands and PKF O’Connor Davies above them |
What none of this is
There is no official dataset for what a small private company sells for. No exchange lists them and no agency collects the prices.
So every band here comes from an adviser survey or a firm publishing its own transaction experience, and each one is named above. Where a public deal pins a number, we cite the deal instead.
Anyone quoting a sector multiple to you is doing the same thing, whether or not they say so. Ask them which survey.
Related Guides
- Put your own figure in and get a range: what is my business worth.
- What a broker takes out of the number above: business broker fees.
- Reaching the buyers yourself: selling without a broker.
- Already been approached? What to do with an unsolicited offer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Insurance agencies. At $1 million in profit an agency fetches 7 to 10 times, against 5 to 8 for the building trades. Agency income renews itself. A trade shop starts every year at zero and books the work one job at a time.
Because a small buyer is purchasing a job as well as a business, so they count everything the place pays the owner. Above roughly $500,000 a year, buyers price profit after paying someone to do the owner’s job instead. Crossing that line roughly doubles the multiple.
Yes, and by a wide margin. The IBBA’s Q1 2026 adviser survey puts the median across all industries at 2.0 times under $500,000 of price. From $5M to $50M it is 4.5 times. All five trades here run above that because investor-backed groups are buying them up.
No. A shop earning $1 million is worth the same in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. What changes is the tax on the gain. Pennsylvania takes a flat 3.07% and New Jersey as much as 10.75%. Licensing changes too, and it decides who is allowed to buy you.
Adviser surveys and published transaction experience, named per trade on this page. No official dataset exists for what small private companies sell for, because no exchange lists them and no agency collects the prices. Anyone quoting a sector multiple is using the same kind of source.