A reference dataset on New Jersey small-business transactions: deal volume, multiples by industry and size band, buyer profiles, SBA financing, time-to-sell, and the Silver Tsunami transition driving the next decade of NJ deal flow. Updated quarterly. Free to cite.
NJ has more than 963,000 small businesses — 99.6% of all NJ employer firms — employing 1.8 million New Jerseyans.
Source: SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025 NJ State ProfileApproximately 41% of all privately-owned U.S. small businesses are owned by Baby Boomers — a cohort transitioning out at 350,000 sales per year nationally.
Source: Project Equity58% of small business owners have no transition or succession plan in place — the single largest driver of forced, discounted sales when health, divorce, or partnership disputes hit.
Source: Teamshares Silver Tsunami researchIndustry projections estimate 70%+ of Boomer-owned U.S. businesses (~8.4 million) will change hands within the next 10–15 years. NJ — older-than-average and family-business-heavy — is at the front of that wave.
Source: NJBIZ — Silver TsunamiThe U.S. small-business-for-sale market in 2025 was the most active since the post-COVID rebound. Q3 2025 closed-deal volume was up 8% year-over-year. Q4 median sale prices hit $375,000 — a meaningful step up from earlier-year medians.
+8% YoY, +11% QoQ. Total enterprise value $2.13B.
Source: BizBuySell Q3 2025 Insight ReportUp meaningfully from Q3's $300K service-business median, driven by larger-deal activity in restaurants and trades.
Source: BizBuySell Insight ReportThe blended SDE / earnings multiple across all reported sectors. Range: 2.0×–3.3× by sector.
Source: BizBuySell Industry MultiplesAcross all reported sectors. Service businesses tend to clear higher revenue multiples (typically 0.5×–0.9×) than retail (0.4×–0.6×).
Source: BizBuySell Industry Multiples| Sector | Median Sale Price | YoY Change | YoY Cash Flow Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service businesses | $300,000 | −8% | −15% |
| Retail | $237,000 | −5% | −4% |
| Restaurants | $220,000 | −1% | +4% |
Source: BizBuySell Q3 2025 Insight Report. Cash flow = Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE).
The IBBA & M&A Source Market Pulse Report — the industry's authoritative quarterly survey — segments multiples by deal size band. The pattern is consistent across 2025: smaller deals clear in the 2.0×–2.5× SDE range; mid-market deals ($2M–$5M) sit in the 4× range; lower-middle-market ($5M–$50M) is solidly in PE territory at 5×–6× EBITDA.
| Deal Size | Multiple Type | Median Multiple | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $500K | SDE | ~2.3× | Above 2× — rare in this band |
| $500K – $1M | SDE | ~3.0× | Stable |
| $1M – $2M | SDE | ~3.3× | +0.3× in Q3 2025 |
| $2M – $5M | SDE / EBITDA | ~4.2× | +0.1× in Q3 2025 |
| $5M – $50M | EBITDA | ~5.5× | Recovered from Q1 dip; +0.8× YTD |
Source: IBBA & M&A Source Market Pulse Q1–Q3 2025
For New Jersey verticals specifically, our 2026 NJ multiples database tracks ranges that diverge meaningfully from the national average — driven by NJ-specific lease costs, regulatory factors (full-service-required gas stations, the Corporate Practice of Medicine), and the depth of NJ's owner-operator buyer pool:
| NJ Vertical | SDE Multiple Range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurant (NJ independent) | 2.0×–3.5× | Lease term, liquor license transferability, real estate |
| Auto repair shop | 2.0×–3.5× | Owner-operator dependency, equipment age |
| Auto body shop | 2.5×–4.0× | DRP agreements, owner-operator dependency |
| Cleaning / janitorial | 2.5×–4.0× | Recurring contract base, customer concentration |
| Convenience store | 2.0×–3.5× | Lottery, tobacco, real estate |
| Gas station (no RE) | 2.5×–3.5× | UST condition, fuel supply contract |
| Gas station + c-store + RE | 3.0×–5.0× | Real estate ownership = swing factor |
| HVAC business | 2.5×–5.0× | Recurring contract base, owner-tech dependency |
| Plumbing business | 2.5×–4.0× | Service contracts, technician retention |
| Roofing business | 2.0×–3.5× | Commercial vs. residential mix |
| Electrical contracting | 2.5×–4.0× | License transfer, contract backlog |
| Landscaping | 2.0×–3.0× | Recurring contracts, equipment |
| Laundromat | 2.5×–4.0× | Lease length, machine age, card vs. coin |
| Hair salon / barbershop | 1.5×–3.0× | Booth rental vs. employee model |
| Gym / fitness | 2.0×–3.5× | EFT membership base, equipment lease |
| Daycare / childcare | 2.5×–4.0× | Licensing, payer mix, capacity utilization |
| Dental practice | 60%–90% of revenue | Provider transition plan, payer mix |
| Medical practice (specialty) | 4×–7× EBITDA | Payer mix, CPOM compliance, transition |
| Pharmacy | 0.20×–0.30× annual Rx revenue | Payer contracts, third-party reimbursement |
| Insurance agency | 1.5×–3× annual revenue | Carrier mix, retention rate, book composition |
| Accounting firm / CPA practice | 1.0×–1.5× annual gross revenue | Client retention, partner transition |
| Trucking company | 3.0×–5.0× SDE | MC authority, customer mix, fleet |
| Staffing agency | 4×–8× SDE or 0.5× revenue | Recurring placements, gross margin |
| Printing / sign shop | 2.0×–3.0× | Equipment, customer concentration |
| Distribution route (DSD) | 1.5×–2.5× annual gross | Brand contract, territory protection |
Source: Nexus Bridge Business Brokers — 2026 NJ vertical multiples database, derived from active NJ deal data and IBBA Market Pulse benchmarks. See full 2026 NJ Sale Report →
The buyer pool has shifted meaningfully in 2025. Baby Boomers still dominate the sell side; Millennials and Gen Z are now the dominant buyers via the search-fund model and serial entrepreneurship.
Baby Boomers represent ~60% of current business sellers — the cohort driving today's deal flow.
Source: IBBA Market Pulse Q3 202545% of buyers using the search-fund model are Millennials or Gen Z. The "buy a small business instead of starting one" strategy has gone mainstream.
Source: IBBA Market Pulse Q3 2025Private equity buyers account for 59% of all transactions in the $5M–$50M segment. 64% of those PE deals are horizontal add-ons to existing platforms.
Source: IBBA Market Pulse Q3 2025For deals in the $5M–$50M segment, 55% of buyers are located more than 100 miles from the seller. Lower-middle-market NJ deals attract national capital.
Source: IBBA Market Pulse Q3 2025| Deal Size | Dominant Buyer Type | Geography | Financing Path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $500K | Owner-operator, first-time buyer | Local (within 50 miles) | SBA 7(a), seller note |
| $500K – $1.5M | Owner-operator, search funder | NJ + tri-state | SBA 7(a), seller note |
| $1.5M – $5M | Independent sponsor, search fund, family office | Tri-state + NYC capital | SBA 7(a), conventional + seller note |
| $5M – $50M | PE add-on, strategic acquirer | National (55% >100 miles) | Conventional, mezzanine, rollover equity |
| $50M+ | PE platform, strategic, public company | National / global | Conventional, sponsor equity, debt fund |
SBA 7(a) is the dominant financing instrument for NJ small-business acquisitions under $5M. FY2025 set a new record for both total program volume and acquisition lending specifically.
77,600 loans guaranteed in FY2025, up from $31.1B / 70,242 loans in FY2024.
Source: SBA Loan Program Performance+34.58% YoY. 7,003 acquisition deals funded, supporting nearly 98,000 jobs.
Source: EBIT Community SBA Q4 2025+6.57% YoY. The typical NJ acquisition deal sits squarely in the SBA 7(a) sweet spot.
Source: EBIT Community SBA Q4 2025Average SBA 7(a) acquisition loan interest rate. Median: 9.50%. Most deals fall in the lowest cap tier (Base + 3.0% max for loans >$350K).
Source: Bankrate / SBA published rates| Component | Typical % | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer equity | 10–25% | 10% common with SBA 7(a) + seller note; 25% for conventional |
| SBA 7(a) loan | 65–80% | 10-year amortization, prime + 2.75–3.0% |
| Seller financing (subordinated note) | 5–15% | Aligns seller with successful transition; counts toward equity for SBA |
| Earnout (if applicable) | 0–15% | Common in healthcare, professional services, recurring-revenue businesses |
Most NJ small business sales close in 6–9 months from listing engagement to wire transfer. The variance is large — and predictable: lease issues, financial cleanliness, and owner-dependency drive most of the spread.
| Stage | Typical Duration | What can extend it |
|---|---|---|
| Listing prep (CIM, financials, marketing) | 30–60 days | P&L cleanup, liquor license review, equipment appraisal |
| Active marketing | 60–120 days | Industry, deal size, asking price relative to multiples |
| LOI to signed APA | 30–60 days | Negotiation, deal structure complexity |
| Due diligence | 45–90 days | SBA underwriting, environmental (gas stations), CPOM (medical) |
| Lease assignment / license transfer | 30–120 days | NJ liquor license: 60–120 days; CDS/DEA: 30–90 days |
| Closing | 2–4 weeks | Title, escrow, lender funding |
Industry projections agree: 70%+ of Boomer-owned U.S. businesses (~8.4 million) will change hands in the next 10–15 years. New Jersey is at the front of this wave because it skews older than the national average and over-indexes on family-owned trades, distribution, professional services, and small manufacturing.
For deeper coverage, see our 2026 NJ Business Sale Report and Exit Planning for NJ Business Owners.
This dataset aggregates and contextualizes published data from the following primary sources, augmented with proprietary NJ vertical insights from active Nexus Bridge deal flow:
This page is updated quarterly. Last update: May 2026.
This data is free to cite, quote, embed, and reference under CC BY 4.0. We only ask that you credit Nexus Bridge Business Brokers and link to this page.
Steven Reese, Founder & Principal Broker of Nexus Bridge, is available as an expert source on NJ small-business sale trends, multiples by industry, the Silver Tsunami transition, and SBA-financed acquisitions. Press Kit & expert source profile →
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