Sale multiples by size band
The dataset sorts each sale into one of 7 size bands by its earnings: 3 SDE bands for businesses with under $2M of earnings and 4 EBITDA bands above that. For each band the table shows how many sales it holds, the lowest and highest median among sectors with enough sales to publish, and the share of the band's sales that sit in a published sector cell.
We don't average sector medians into one "overall" multiple, because a median of medians is not a statistic of the sales. Compare SDE bands with SDE bands and EBITDA bands with EBITDA bands; SDE vs EBITDA explains why the two measures aren't on the same footing.
| Size band | Basis | Sales | Lowest sector median | Highest sector median | Share of sales in published cells |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $500K SDE | SDE | 1,340 | 2.3x (Construction) | 7.4x (Technology) | 98.8% |
| $500K-$1M SDE | SDE | 406 | 2.7x (Construction) | 8.4x (Technology) | 95.1% |
| $1M-$2M SDE | SDE | 293 | 2.5x (Construction) | 9.4x (Financial Services) | 94.9% |
| $2M-$3M EBITDA | EBITDA | 140 | 2.1x (Construction) | 11.6x (Technology) | 83.6% |
| $3M-$5M EBITDA | EBITDA | 147 | 5.7x (Mining & Energy) | 11.3x (Technology) | 84.4% |
| $5M-$10M EBITDA | EBITDA | 183 | 6.1x (Mining & Energy) | 9.8x (Technology) | 88.5% |
| $10M+ EBITDA | EBITDA | 364 | 8.5x (Mining & Energy) | 12.9x (Healthcare) | 94.0% |
Sale multiples by industry
13 sectors have at least one published size-band cell. Each cell shows the median multiple and its number of sales. A cell needs at least 10 sales to be published; below that it reads "not published (fewer than 10 sales)". Cells with 10 to 14 sales are flagged "small sample", because one or two sales can move their median.
51 of 93 sector and size-band cells are published. The full multiples table adds the 25th and 75th percentiles for every published cell, and each sector links to the industry guides that draw on it.
| Sector | Under $500K SDE | $500K-$1M SDE | $1M-$2M SDE | $2M-$3M EBITDA | $3M-$5M EBITDA | $5M-$10M EBITDA | $10M+ EBITDA | Industry guides |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | 3.5x n=12 small sample | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | Agriculture & Agribusiness |
| Business Services | 3.2x n=52 | 4.5x n=10 small sample | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | Home Services, Healthcare Services, Professional Services, Business & Facility Services, Government Contracting & Defense Services |
| Construction | 2.3x n=37 | 2.7x n=13 small sample | 2.5x n=12 small sample | 2.1x n=11 small sample | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | Home Services, Construction & Specialty Contracting, Energy & Infrastructure Services, Engineering & Environmental Services |
| Entertainment | 3.7x n=10 small sample | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | All industry guides |
| Financial Services | 3.7x n=70 | 6.0x n=27 | 9.4x n=46 | 11.0x n=29 | 9.1x n=33 | 9.8x n=51 | 9.0x n=96 | Financial Services |
| Healthcare | 3.4x n=182 | 3.4x n=42 | 3.3x n=22 | 5.1x n=13 small sample | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | 8.8x n=14 small sample | 12.9x n=17 | Healthcare Services, Education & Child Services |
| Hospitality | 4.0x n=12 small sample | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | Consumer & Retail |
| Mining & Energy | 5.5x n=20 | 5.4x n=14 small sample | 4.5x n=19 | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | 5.7x n=15 | 6.1x n=18 | 8.5x n=76 | All industry guides |
| Other Services | 3.3x n=350 | 3.1x n=41 | 3.8x n=25 | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | All industry guides |
| Professional Services | 4.4x n=198 | 7.2x n=94 | 6.6x n=67 | 9.2x n=26 | 9.7x n=35 | 7.6x n=27 | 11.0x n=36 | Healthcare Services, Professional Services, Technology & IT Services, Engineering & Environmental Services, Government Contracting & Defense Services, Real Estate & Property Services |
| Retail | 3.3x n=162 | 2.8x n=26 | 2.6x n=12 small sample | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | Healthcare Services, Consumer & Retail, Automotive & Equipment Services, Energy & Infrastructure Services |
| Technology | 7.4x n=196 | 8.4x n=108 | 7.8x n=64 | 11.6x n=38 | 11.3x n=41 | 9.8x n=52 | 12.0x n=117 | Healthcare Services, Technology & IT Services |
| Transportation | 3.6x n=23 | 3.9x n=11 small sample | 2.6x n=11 small sample | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | not published (fewer than 10 sales) | Transportation & Logistics, Automotive & Equipment Services |
See the full multiples table with 25th and 75th percentiles · Browse all industry guides
How many small businesses sold at each size
2,873 of the 4,554 sales have a sector and size band assigned, so the shares below are out of 2,873, not 4,554. The other 1,681 sales are in the headline count but could not be placed in a sector and size band, so they are left out of every cell.
The largest group is the Under $500K SDE band, with 1,340 sales (46.6%). These are counts of sales in the dataset, not of every business sold in the country.
| Size band | Sales | Share of 2,873 | Share (bar) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $500K SDE | 1,340 | 46.6% | |
| $500K-$1M SDE | 406 | 14.1% | |
| $1M-$2M SDE | 293 | 10.2% | |
| $2M-$3M EBITDA | 140 | 4.9% | |
| $3M-$5M EBITDA | 147 | 5.1% | |
| $5M-$10M EBITDA | 183 | 6.4% | |
| $10M+ EBITDA | 364 | 12.7% | |
| Total with a sector and size band | 2,873 | 100.0% |
Years covered
Sold dates in the dataset run from 1992-02-29 to 2026-04-05. The sales span several decades: 1,401 of the 4,554 (about 31%) closed in 2018 or later, and the rest are older. Multiples are not adjusted for the year of sale.
This release is version 1.0.0 of the dataset, generated 2026-10-28.
Methodology and data limits
How sales are cleaned, deduplicated and assigned to sectors and size bands is set out in the methodology on the multiples page.
Data limits
Multiples are a reference point, not a valuation or an appraisal.
SDE or EBITDA basis is assigned by business size, not chosen per sale: a sale with under $2M of earnings is counted in an SDE band, $2M and up in an EBITDA band. Compare SDE medians with SDE medians and EBITDA with EBITDA.
A sector and size-band cell needs at least 10 sales to be published; below that it is suppressed rather than shown with a misleadingly solid number. Cells with 10 to 14 sales are published but flagged "small sample", because one or two sales can move their median.
How to cite this data
You're welcome to quote these statistics. Credit Axia Growth and link to this page. The published cells are also available as a CSV file.