Ranges & medians · published methodology

Business Benchmarks For Entrepreneurs

Interquartile ranges for revenue, margins, owner salaries, and valuation multiples across 6 food & beverage industries and 45+ data pages

Try “HVAC”, “Dental”, or “Restaurant”

Popular:HVAC Restaurant Dental

6+Industries

350+Benchmarks

45+Data Pages

4 CoreMetrics

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Explore benchmarks by sector — food & beverage, healthcare, and home services.

Food & Beverage

4 industries

Healthcare

4 industries

Home Services

7 industries

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Featured Industry Benchmarks

Interquartile ranges and medians — not single-point estimates. Every figure links to our published methodology.

HVAC Industry Economics
HVAC
n=420+ businessesUnited StatesUpdated 2025–2026
Revenue
$1.2M – $3.8Mmedian $2.4M
Annual gross revenue for owner-operated HVAC companies with 5–25 employees.
Net Margin
8% – 16%median 12%
Net profit after owner salary, before taxes. Excludes pass-through entities with non-standard comp.
Owner Salary
$95k – $185kmedian $145k
W-2 wages, guaranteed payments, or owner draws normalized to annual salary.
Valuation
2.4x – 3.8x SDEmedian 3.1x SDE
Asking-price multiple on Seller's Discretionary Earnings for businesses under $5M revenue.
How we calculate this →View full benchmarks
Restaurant Industry Economics
Restaurant
n=680+ businessesUnited StatesUpdated 2025–2026
Revenue
$650k – $1.8Mmedian $1.1M
Annual gross sales for single-unit, full-service or fast-casual restaurants.
Net Margin
3% – 9%median 6%
Net profit after food, labor, rent, and owner compensation.
Owner Salary
$48k – $98kmedian $72k
Owner-operator take-home pay including reported salary and distributions.
Valuation
1.8x – 3.0x SDEmedian 2.4x SDE
SDE multiple for independent restaurants; franchise and multi-unit deals excluded.
How we calculate this →View full benchmarks
Dental Practice Economics
Dental
n=310+ practicesUnited StatesUpdated 2025–2026
Revenue
$1.2M – $2.6Mmedian $1.8M
Annual collections for general dentistry practices with 1–3 operatories.
Net Margin
14% – 24%median 18%
Net income after clinical staff, supplies, lab fees, and owner compensation.
Owner Salary
$220k – $360kmedian $285k
Combined clinical production pay and owner distributions for practicing owners.
Valuation
3.2x – 4.5x SDEmedian 3.8x SDE
SDE multiple for solo and small-group general practices; specialty practices vary.
How we calculate this →View full benchmarks
Gym Industry Economics
Gym
n=290+ businessesUnited StatesUpdated 2025–2026
Revenue
$520k – $1.3Mmedian $890k
Annual revenue for independent gyms and boutique fitness studios.
Net Margin
10% – 18%median 14%
Net profit after rent, equipment, payroll, and marketing.
Owner Salary
$65k – $130kmedian $95k
Owner-operator compensation including salary and profit distributions.
Valuation
2.2x – 3.6x SDEmedian 2.9x SDE
SDE multiple for membership-based gyms; franchise resale values excluded.
How we calculate this →View full benchmarks

Latest Industry Reports

In-depth economics research — not blog posts.

Our Methodology

Transparent, reproducible benchmarks built for trust. We publish how every number is sourced, calculated, and limited.

Last updated June 2026Quarterly refresh15,000+ data points

Experience

Real-world business data

Benchmarks reflect actual operating businesses — not theoretical models. We aggregate data from business-for-sale listings, owner surveys, and licensed industry datasets covering Main Street companies ($250k–$10M revenue).

Expertise

Defined, consistent metrics

Every metric uses a published definition. Revenue is gross annual sales. Margins are net profit after owner pay. Valuation multiples are based on Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) — the standard for businesses under $5M.

Authoritativeness

Multiple verified sources

Data is cross-referenced across business brokerage platforms, SBA loan performance data, industry association reports, and IRS Statistics of Income by NAICS code. Outliers beyond 2.5× IQR are excluded.

Trustworthiness

Ranges, not false precision

We publish interquartile ranges (25th–75th percentile) and median values — never single-point estimates presented as facts. Sample sizes, geography, and data vintage are disclosed on every benchmark card.

How benchmarks are calculated

1
Collect
Gather raw data from brokerage listings, surveys, and public filings by NAICS industry code.
2
Normalize
Standardize owner compensation, adjust for partial-year data, and map businesses to our industry taxonomy.
3
Filter
Remove outliers beyond 2.5× the interquartile range and exclude businesses with incomplete financials.
4
Calculate
Compute median (50th percentile) and interquartile range (25th–75th percentile) for each metric.
5
Publish
Display ranges with sample size, geography, and last-updated date. Link to full methodology on every page.

Metric definitions

Revenue Range: 25th to 75th percentile of annual gross revenue across sampled businesses in the industry.
Net Margin Range: 25th to 75th percentile of net profit margin (net income ÷ revenue) after owner compensation.
Owner Salary Range: 25th to 75th percentile of total annual owner compensation, including W-2, draws, and distributions.
Valuation Multiple: 25th to 75th percentile of asking price ÷ SDE for businesses listed for sale. SDE = net profit + owner salary + add-backs.
Median: The 50th percentile value — half of businesses fall above, half below. More representative than mean for skewed distributions.

Data sources

Business-for-sale marketplace listings (BizBuySell, BizQuest)
SBA 7(a) loan performance by NAICS code
IRS Statistics of Income — Sole Proprietorship & Partnership returns
Industry association benchmark surveys
Owner-operator survey panel (n=2,400+)

Limitations & disclaimers

Ranges reflect U.S. businesses unless otherwise noted; regional variation can be significant.
Smaller sample industries have wider confidence intervals — check sample size on each card.
Valuation multiples reflect asking prices, not closed transaction prices.
Figures are directional benchmarks for planning — not substitutes for professional valuation or tax advice.

Every industry page includes sample size, data vintage, and metric definitions. Questions about our data? Read the full methodology

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