Local transaction data
The widest gap in Florida between small and established
We looked at over 750 closed business sales in Orange County recorded over the past decade—the largest local dataset we hold.
| Annual revenue | Median multiple |
|---|---|
| Under $500,000 | 1.56× SDE |
| $500,000 – $1M | 1.91× SDE |
| $1M – $2M | 2.26× SDE |
| $2M – $5M | 2.60× SDE |
| Above $5M | 2.65× SDE |
The county-wide median across every recorded sale is about 1.74×—among the lowest in Florida. That is not a verdict on Orlando businesses. It is arithmetic: more than half the recorded sales were businesses under $500,000 in revenue, because a tourism economy generates an enormous number of small operators.
Filter to businesses at the size we work with and the picture reverses. At $2M of revenue and above the median rose to 2.61×, on a median sale price near $1.6 million—ahead of Lee County and Collier at the same size. Anyone quoting you an “Orlando average” without asking your revenue is telling you almost nothing.
By category, the firmest recorded medians were distribution at 2.60×, construction and the trades at 2.24×, and medical services and business services both near 2.08×.
The local valuation problem
Is the growth yours, or the market’s?
Orlando is projected to lead Florida in employment growth, with UCF forecasting 1.3% for 2026 against 0.8% statewide—and longer-term forecasts have the region adding more jobs over the next decade than Tampa and Jacksonville combined. That is excellent news for operating a business here. It complicates selling one.
When a market grows this fast, a rising revenue line proves less than it does elsewhere. Every sophisticated buyer will ask whether you gained share or simply floated up with the region, because the two are worth very different multiples. A business whose growth tracks population growth is buying a ticket the acquirer could buy anyway. A business taking share is buying something they cannot.
Answering that convincingly needs customer-level evidence rather than a revenue chart: retention rates, average customer value over time, the mix between new and repeat, and where new business actually originated. Owners who can show they won accounts from named competitors are in a materially stronger position than owners who can only show the top line moving up.
The same logic applies to the tourism layer. Visitor-linked revenue is not a problem in itself—Orlando has absorbed several downturns and kept growing. What buyers discount is concentration: a handful of resort, attraction, or hospitality accounts carrying the business, where losing one changes everything.
Orange County
An economy that outgrew its reputation
Health and life sciences
Lake Nona Medical City clusters several hospital systems within a couple of miles, alongside Nemours Children’s, the Orlando VA Medical Center, and the UCF College of Medicine. AdventHealth and Orlando Health run multi-campus systems across the metro. That generates sustained demand for medical services, equipment, staffing, and specialty trades.
Simulation, tech, and corporate HQs
The modelling, simulation and training cluster around the UCF research corridor is among the region’s most important, and Orlando hosts corporate headquarters including Darden and Marriott Vacations Worldwide, plus EA’s Tiburon studio. Siemens Energy relocated to Lake Nona; AMD has expanded locally.
Logistics and distribution
Industrial vacancy fell to 7.2% in the most recent quarter, its lowest since early 2024, as the market absorbed new space. Distribution posted the strongest category multiple in the local sale record—a reflection of how central inland logistics has become to Central Florida.
Buyers and process
Consolidators arrive here first
Orlando’s population growth makes it a priority market for private equity platforms in home services—HVAC, plumbing, electrical, pest control—which typically build density in Orlando and Tampa before working outward. For an owner at the right scale that means genuine competition rather than a single interested party.
Alongside them: national strategics in distribution and healthcare services, and a deep pool of individual buyers financing through SBA at the smaller end, where Orlando’s crowded market makes preparation and presentation matter more than usual.
We are based in Southwest Florida and travel into Central Florida for site visits and management meetings. The analytical and negotiation work runs remotely, as it does at this deal size everywhere.
What we sell in Orlando
- Distribution and logistics—the strongest local category
- Home services and trades
- Medical practices and healthcare services
- Property management—vacation and residential
- Landscaping and grounds maintenance
- Transportation and specialty logistics
FAQ
Selling a business in Orlando: common questions
How much will buyers discount my tourism-linked revenue?
Less than owners fear, provided you can show it holds up across a full cycle. Buyers are not frightened of visitor-driven demand—Orlando has proved durable through several downturns. What they discount hard is a single exceptional year presented as the new normal, and revenue concentrated in a handful of resort or attraction accounts.
My revenue has doubled in three years. Won’t that help?
It helps if it is yours. In a market growing as fast as Orlando, buyers separate growth you created from growth the market handed you. Rising share of a flat market is worth far more than flat share of a rising one, and the way to prove it is customer-level data—retention, average value, and where new business actually came from.
Is Orlando a good market to sell in?
For an established business, yes. Recorded sales at $2M of revenue and above achieved a median near 2.61×, on a median sale price around $1.6 million. Below that the market is crowded and multiples run lower, which is a reason to prepare properly rather than a reason to avoid selling.
You are based in Southwest Florida. Does that matter for an Orlando sale?
In practice, no. The process runs remotely for the analytical work and in person for site visits and management meetings, which is standard at this deal size. For an Orlando business at scale the likely buyer is frequently out of state, so the buyer network matters more than the advisor’s location.
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