# Business Worth Calculator

> A business valuation calculator on real US transaction multiples, not public company ones. See the same earnings priced private against listed.

## Key facts

- US listed companies traded at 16.95x EBITDA excluding financials in January 2026, while US private deals of $5M to $50M sold at a median of 5.5x in Q2 2025.
- That is roughly three times the multiple for the same dollar of earnings, before any adjustment for sector, growth or owner dependence.
- US businesses selling under $500,000 had a median multiple of 2.3x, about seven times below the listed market figure.
- Even inside the listed market the spread by sector is wide, from 6.43x in auto parts to 34.75x in semiconductors.
- The private survey covers business sales up to $50M and drew on 272 completed transactions reported by 326 advisors in the quarter.

## Key pages

- [Business valuation calculator: what is your business worth?](https://bizworthcalculator.com/): the main tool, answer above the fold.
- [How much is my business worth? A US answer, sourced](https://bizworthcalculator.com/how-much-is-my-business-worth/): What US businesses actually sold for, from a survey of completed transactions, set against what listed companies trade at. Both figures, both dated.
- [Business valuation methods: which one a US buyer uses](https://bizworthcalculator.com/business-valuation-methods/): The income, market and asset approaches named by the SBA, what each is for, and why almost every private US sale is settled on a multiple of earnings.
- [Adjusted EBITDA and SDE: which one your buyer will use](https://bizworthcalculator.com/adjusted-ebitda-and-sde/): US deals under about $2M are quoted on SDE and larger ones on EBITDA. The difference, the add-backs buyers accept, and the ones they reject.
- [What US businesses actually sell for, against what listed companies trade at, 2026](https://bizworthcalculator.com/#data): original data table, updated 2026-08-15.
- [Full site content as markdown](https://bizworthcalculator.com/llms-full.txt)

## Data

- What US businesses actually sell for, against what listed companies trade at, 2026. Methodology: Two published sources, read on 15 August 2026 and cited in full below. Private transaction multiples come from the IBBA and M&A Source Market Pulse survey, a quarterly survey of business brokers and M&A advisors covering business sales up to $50M: the Q2 2025 edition, its 53rd, was completed by 326 advisors reporting 272 transactions, and reported a median of 2.3x for deals under $500K and 5.5x for the $5M to $50M band. Its Q1 2026 edition, the 56th, was completed by 300 advisors reporting 203 transactions and reported multiples broadly consistent with prior periods, with slight increases in the $500K to $1M and $1M to $2M ranges and larger deals holding steady; it did not publish the band figures themselves, so the Q2 2025 numbers are the most recent published bands and are labelled with their date rather than presented as current. Public company multiples come from NYU Stern's Enterprise Value Multiples by Sector (US) dataset compiled by Aswath Damodaran, data as of January 2026 across 5,994 US firms, using the positive-EBITDA column. Band-to-band comparisons are not like for like and the table says so: sub-$2M deals are conventionally quoted on SDE rather than EBITDA. Nothing here is derived, averaged or estimated.
- Last updated: 2026-08-15. Every figure cites its source inline.
- Source: IBBA and M&A Source, Market Pulse Q2 2025 survey: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-ibba-and-ma-source-release-the-market-pulse-q2-2025-survey-302523561.html
- Source: IBBA and M&A Source, Market Pulse Q1 2026 survey: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-market-pulse-survey-q1-2026-reports-the-latest-trends-in-business-sales-up-to-50m-302813653.html
- Source: IBBA and M&A Source, Market Pulse Q4 2025 survey: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-ibba-and-ma-source-announce-the-market-pulse-q4-2025-survey-results-302691992.html
- Source: NYU Stern (Aswath Damodaran), Enterprise Value Multiples by Sector (US), data as of January 2026: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/vebitda.html
- Source: NYU Stern (Aswath Damodaran), current data page: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datacurrent.html
- Source: SBA, Close or sell your business: https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/manage-your-business/close-or-sell-your-business
- Source: IRS, Sale of a Business: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/sale-of-a-business

## Citation

Cite as: "What US businesses actually sell for, against what listed companies trade at, 2026", Business Worth Calculator, https://bizworthcalculator.com/ (updated 2026-08-15).

## About

- Bizworth Calculator is a site operated by Ellul Solutions Ltd. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the IBBA, M&A Source, NYU Stern or any adviser named here, and nothing on it is valuation, tax or investment advice. It produces an indication from published market multiples and your own inputs; it is not a valuation, and it applies no adjustment for sector, growth, margin, customer concentration or owner dependence, which is most of what a real valuation consists of. Multiples move: every figure carries the date and the survey or dataset it came from.
- Operated by Ellul Solutions Ltd. Contact: enquiries@bizworthcalculator.com