Most small businesses are valued the same way: a multiple of what the business earns for its owner. But the multiple is not one number. It moves with the industry, and within every industry it moves again with how the business is built. This page lays out the seller's discretionary earnings (SDE) multiple ranges for 15 small-business industries, what moves each one, and, because the range is only half the answer, how to find where your own business sits inside it.

At a glance: Owner-operated small businesses generally sell for 1.5 to 4.7 times SDE, depending on the industry. Professional practices (accounting, dental, veterinary, law, insurance) run highest, the trades (HVAC, plumbing, electrical) cluster in the middle, and restaurants and laundromats sit lower. Across every industry, the two biggest levers on where a business lands are how much of its revenue recurs and how much it depends on the owner.

What the data shows

Reading the multiple ranges across all 15 industries together, four patterns hold no matter the trade:

Buyers pay the most for revenue that recurs, in every industry.In each one, the top of the range goes to the businesses whose revenue comes back on its own: client-accounting-services retainers in accounting, maintenance agreements in the trades, monthly retainers in agencies, renewal books in insurance, recall visits in dental and veterinary. A buyer is paying for earnings that are likely to still be there next year, so recurring revenue re-rates the whole business, everywhere.
The market rewards businesses that run without the owner, often more than it rewards the industry itself.Buyers discount earnings that would walk out the door with the owner. A systematized business the owner has stepped out of sits near the top of its range; a business where the owner is the product sits near the bottom, at the same revenue. This is why a well-built trades business can be worth more than a poorly-built professional practice.
Professional practices trade highest, trades in the middle, hospitality lowest.Accounting, dental, veterinary, law, and insurance run from the mid-2s to high-4s on recurring, licensed, sticky-client revenue. HVAC, plumbing, and electrical cluster from 1.5 to 3.8 times. Restaurants and laundromats sit lower still, on how durable the earnings are likely to be in three years.
The high "times EBITDA" figures online describe a different market.Headlines about 8x or 18x EBITDA come from mid-market M&A and private-equity roll-ups on companies with millions in EBITDA. Main Street businesses trade on SDE, at the ranges below. Mixing the two is the most common way owners misjudge what their business is worth.

Valuation multiples by industry

Each range below is expressed on an SDE basis for owner-operated businesses, drawn from Honest Assessment's model and reconciled with publicly available transaction data. They are size-spanned ranges, not observed sale prices. Follow any industry for the full breakdown of what moves its number.

SDE valuation multiple ranges by industry, owner-operated businesses, 2026.
IndustrySDE multiple rangeTypicalWhat moves it most
Veterinary practices2.6–4.7x3.6xRepeat-client base and owner-independence
Law firms2.6–4.7x3.6xPractice area and recurring vs. contingency work
Accounting practices2.5–4.5x3.5xShift to recurring advisory (CAS) revenue
Dental practices2.5–4.5x3.3xRecurring patient base and hygiene recall
Insurance agencies2.4–4.4x3.3xHow well the renewal book transfers without the owner
Daycare & childcare2.2–4.1x3.2xEnrollment stability, licensing, owner-independence
Landscaping businesses2.0–4.0x3.0xRecurring maintenance contracts and route density
Laundromats2.1–3.9x3.0xHow absentee-run it is, plus lease terms
HVAC businesses1.5–3.8x2.9xService and maintenance (recurring) vs. install mix
Plumbing businesses1.5–3.8x2.9xRecurring service work vs. one-off jobs
Electrical contractors1.5–3.8x2.9xService mix and owner-independence
Bookkeeping businesses2.5–4.0x3.0xRecurring revenue vs. exposure to automation
Marketing agencies1.9–3.5x2.7xRetainer revenue vs. founder-dependence
Auto repair shopsUnder 2–4.3x~2.9xOwner-dependence: a system vs. the owner-technician
Restaurants1.8–3.4x2.6xEarnings durability and manager-run vs. owner-run

Ranges reflect Honest Assessment's model for owner-operated businesses on an SDE basis, reconciled with publicly available small-business transaction data; benchmark context draws on IRS Statistics of Income and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. They are directional, size-spanned ranges, not observed sale prices. Where a specific business lands depends on the factors named above.

The range is only half the answer

See where your business sits in its range.

The table shows the industry. The free calculator takes your earnings and your specific industry and shows you your own size-adjusted range in about two minutes.

Find your number (free calculator) → No account required.

Why multiples differ from one industry to the next

The industry sets the range for a few structural reasons, and they are the same reasons that separate businesses within an industry, just measured across industries instead.

How much of the revenue recurs. An industry built on contracts, retainers, memberships, and recall visits earns a higher multiple than one built on one-off transactions, because a buyer is paying for earnings that are likely to still be there next year. This is why professional practices and service businesses with maintenance books sit above transaction-heavy trades and hospitality.

How much the business depends on the owner. Where the license, the relationships, or the skill live in one person, the earnings are harder to transfer, and the multiple reflects it. Industries where a business can run through a team and documented systems trade higher than industries where the owner tends to be the product.

Margin, capital intensity, and durability. Thin-margin, capital-hungry, or highly cyclical industries carry lower multiples because the earnings are riskier to underwrite. Steady, capital-light, recurring industries carry higher ones. None of this is about the label on the door; it is about the quality of the earnings underneath it.

SDE multiples vs. EBITDA multiples

Every range on this page is an SDE multiple, and that matters when you compare it to figures you see elsewhere. SDE, seller's discretionary earnings, is profit with the owner's salary, benefits, and personal expenses added back, the figure that shows what the business generates for one working owner. It is the right earnings base for owner-operated businesses.

EBITDA leaves the owner's pay out, so it is used for larger, manager-run companies. Because the two earnings bases are different, the multiples are not comparable: a business quoted on SDE and one quoted on EBITDA can be the very same company at very different-looking multiples. The eye-catching 8x-to-18x EBITDA numbers that circulate online come from mid-market and private-equity transactions on businesses with millions in EBITDA. They are real, and they are not describing a Main Street business.

A quick example. Take a business with $300,000 of SDE, of which $100,000 is the pay the owner takes for running it. To restate that as EBITDA, you hold back a market-rate salary for someone to do the owner's job, roughly that same $100,000, which leaves $200,000 of EBITDA. At a typical 3x SDE, the business is worth $900,000. Quote that identical $900,000 as a multiple of EBITDA and it is 4.5x. The EBITDA multiple looks 50 percent higher, but it is the same value, because the bigger multiple is applied to the smaller earnings base. So an owner who hears "3x" from an SDE source and "4 to 5x" from an EBITDA source is not seeing a contradiction; it is the same price on two different earnings bases, and it is why the 12x-EBITDA headlines describe businesses in a different size universe, not a higher price for yours.

Your industry gives you the range. The assessment gives you your number, and what to do about it.

A full Honest Assessment takes your actual financials and returns what the business is worth, your Owner Return Score (whether it is beating what your time and capital could earn elsewhere), where you stand against businesses like yours, and a ranked plan for the highest-impact moves, with Vera, an AI coach, to walk you through every step.

Get your full assessment → Or start with the free calculator →

Common questions

What multiple do small businesses sell for?
Most owner-operated small businesses sell for roughly 1.5 to 4.7 times seller's discretionary earnings (SDE), depending on the industry. Professional practices such as accounting, dental, veterinary, law, and insurance run highest (mid-2s to high-4s); the trades such as HVAC, plumbing, and electrical cluster around 1.5 to 3.8 times; restaurants and laundromats sit lower on earnings durability. Where a specific business lands inside its industry range depends mostly on recurring revenue and how much the business depends on the owner.
Which industries have the highest valuation multiples?
On an SDE basis, veterinary and law practices reach the highest end (up to about 4.7 times), followed by accounting and dental (up to 4.5 times) and insurance agencies (up to 4.4 times). These are recurring-revenue, licensed, sticky-client businesses. The trades and hospitality run lower. But the industry sets the range; the individual business decides where it lands inside it, so a top-tier trades business can be worth more than a bottom-tier professional practice.
What is the difference between SDE multiples and EBITDA multiples?
SDE (seller's discretionary earnings) adds the owner's salary and benefits back to profit, so it is the right earnings base for owner-operated businesses where the owner works in the business. EBITDA excludes owner pay and is used for larger, manager-run companies. Because the earnings bases differ, the multiples are not comparable: a business valued on SDE and one valued on EBITDA can be the same company at very different-looking multiples. The high EBITDA multiples quoted in headlines come from mid-market M&A and private-equity deals, not from Main Street businesses.
Why do two businesses in the same industry sell for different multiples?
Because the multiple prices earnings quality, not just the industry. Within any industry, the top of the range goes to businesses with recurring revenue and a team that runs without the owner; the bottom goes to businesses where revenue is one-off and the owner is the product. Size, margin, customer concentration, and how well earnings cover debt move it too. That is why two shops at the same revenue can be worth very different amounts, and why the useful question is where your specific business sits in its range.