Where we work across Florida
We are based in Fort Myers and represent business owners across the state. Every market page below is built on recorded local sale data rather than description—because what a business is worth in Naples is genuinely different from what the same business is worth in Orlando, and the reasons are worth understanding before you go to market.
Florida regions we cover
Southwest Florida
Naples to Bradenton, plus our home market in Lee County — the one region we cover in person throughout.
Tampa Bay
Where institutional capital concentrates, and where the gap between small and large businesses is widest.
Central Florida
Five economies with little in common — theme parks, aerospace, logistics, motorsport, and horses.
Southeast Florida
The strongest multiples in the state, and where buyers pay most for scale.
Northeast Florida
A port and defence economy that produces the highest median sale price in Florida among businesses above $2M in revenue.
The Panhandle
Markets too thin to benchmark, where reaching buyers outside the county is most of the work.
Statewide comparison
Size moves the number more than the map does
We analysed over 8,000 recorded business sales across twenty Florida counties. The clearest finding is that size moves value more than location does—the same business earns a higher multiple as its owner earnings grow, in every region deep enough to measure.
| Region | Sales analysed | SDE $300k–$500k | SDE $500k–$1M | SDE $1M+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southeast Florida | 3,000+ | 2.23× | 2.59× | 3.12× |
| Tampa Bay* | 1,200+ | 2.15× | 2.66× | 2.89× |
| Northeast Florida* | 350+ | 2.24× | 2.60× | 2.80× |
| Central Florida | 1,600+ | 2.40× | 2.32× | 2.67× |
| Southwest Florida | 1,500+ | 2.42× | 2.50× | 2.45× |
| The Panhandle | under 50 | — | — | — |
| Florida overall | 8,000+ | 2.29× | 2.55× | 2.89× |
*The $1M+ figure for Tampa Bay and Northeast Florida rests on fewer than twenty recorded sales and is indicative. The Panhandle has fewer than fifty recorded sales in total—too few to benchmark at any size, which is why those market pages are written from research rather than local transaction data.
Read the columns left to right. Statewide the median rises from 2.29× to 2.89× as owner earnings grow—and that increase sits on top of the earnings growth itself. A business at $400,000 of SDE and 2.29× is worth roughly $920,000; the same business at $1,000,000 of SDE and 2.89× is worth roughly $2.9 million. Close to a third of that gain comes from the multiple rather than the earnings.
Southwest Florida leads the state in the $300k–$500k band at 2.42×, and Southeast Florida leads above $1M at 3.12×. The two regions are strongest at opposite ends of the range, which is worth knowing before you assume the big metros pay more for everything.
The explanation is buyer composition. Below roughly $1M of revenue the buyer is usually an individual using SBA financing, and pricing looks similar across the state. Above $2M, institutional and strategic acquirers enter—and they concentrate where there is scale, which lifts the metros sharply and leaves the smaller counties behind.
The practical consequence for a seller is simple. If someone quotes you an average multiple for your city without asking your revenue, the number is close to meaningless. Our valuation calculator works from your figures rather than a county average.
Our home region
Southwest Florida
This is where we are based and where we work in person throughout. It is also the most varied stretch of the Gulf Coast: Collier County recorded the strongest all-size median of any Florida county we analyse at 2.09×, while Charlotte County sits near the bottom at 1.77×—two markets an hour apart.
The reason is customer spending power and margin rather than geography. A Naples contractor working estates and golf communities operates at margins a volume builder cannot match, and buyers pay for margin. Across the region as a whole, Southwest Florida records the strongest median in Florida for businesses earning $300,000 to $500,000, at 2.42×—the size range we most often represent.
Two themes run through the whole region. The first is storm normalisation: Ian in 2022 and Milton in 2024 left trades businesses across Lee and Charlotte with revenue years that do not repeat, and separating catastrophe work from base work is now the single biggest factor in a valuation here. The second is recurring revenue—route-based businesses in Lee recorded 2.86× and marine 2.67×, both well clear of general construction, though each rests on around a dozen recorded sales.
Markets we cover
Where institutional capital concentrates
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is where a great deal of Florida’s private equity actually sits rather than merely visits. For owners at scale that produces genuine competition; below the institutional threshold it produces the opposite, because more sellers compete for the same individual buyers.
The numbers show both sides. Hillsborough’s all-size median is 1.79×, in the lower third of the counties we analyse. But the same county reaches 2.66× once owner earnings pass $500,000, and Tampa Bay as a region climbs from 2.15× to 2.89× across the bands—among the widest spreads between small and large of any region we track. Pinellas follows the same shape, starting at 1.57× among its smallest businesses.
Pinellas has one structural feature worth knowing: at roughly 280 square miles it is almost fully built out. An acquirer who wants a presence there frequently cannot build one, which strengthens the hand of an established local operator.
Markets we cover
Growth, and the questions it raises
Central Florida
Central Florida contains the widest range of economies of any region here—a tourism capital, an aerospace corridor, a logistics county, a motorsports and manufacturing coast, and the Horse Capital of the World.
Orange County demonstrates why a county-wide average misleads. It recorded the lowest all-size median in Florida at 1.74×, because a tourism economy generates an enormous number of very small operators. At $2M of revenue and above it jumps to 2.61×, ahead of Lee and Collier. Volusia does the same thing more dramatically, moving from 1.80× overall to 2.84× at $2M+.
Each market has its own valuation question. In Orlando it is growth attribution—did you gain share, or did the region carry you. In Melbourne it is customer concentration against the aerospace primes, and whether certifications and clearances transfer. In Ocala it is separating land value from business value. In Lakeland it is dependence on a small number of very large local employers.
Markets we cover
The highest multiples and the hardest bargaining
Southeast Florida
The Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach corridor now markets itself as a single economy, and for acquisition purposes it behaves like one. A business in any of the three counties is visible to buyers evaluating all three.
It is also where established businesses achieve the most. Above $1M of owner earnings the region records 3.12×, the highest of any region in Florida. At $2M of revenue and above, Miami-Dade reaches 2.88× and Broward 2.85×, while Palm Beach produced the strongest single band we can measure reliably, 3.27× above $5M in revenue.
The counterweight is the buyer. Deep, experienced capital lifts multiples and negotiates hard on everything else—diligence runs longer here, and terms are tested more thoroughly. The region also has the state’s clearest evidence on recurring revenue: Broward insurance agencies recorded 3.36× across more than twenty recorded sales, comfortably ahead of the county’s overall median.
Port St. Lucie sits at the northern edge and behaves differently—a younger, fast-growing market that records the lowest median in the state among businesses above $2M in revenue, at 2.06×. Many businesses here are owner-founded and have never been through a formal valuation, which is precisely why preparation moves the number most in this market.
Markets we cover
Where scale is rewarded most
Northeast Florida
Duval County produced one of the strongest results in our analysis for established businesses: a median of 2.75× at $2M of revenue and above, on the highest median sale price of any Florida county in that segment at $1.90 million. It also has the highest median revenue per recorded sale, which tells you this is structurally a market of larger businesses.
The category rankings explain it. The industrial categories lead—manufacturing at 2.83× and distribution at 2.68×—which is exactly what a port and rail economy produces, though each figure rests on fewer than fifteen recorded sales. JAXPORT handles over a million TEUs a year and CSX is headquartered in the city.
The regional valuation issue is government and defence revenue. Northeast Florida holds one of the largest military concentrations in the country, and contract concentration, recompete risk, novation timelines and clearance requirements all shape how those businesses are underwritten—usually through deal structure rather than headline price.
Alachua County is a different case entirely: a university and health-system economy that produces comparatively few transactable businesses, and fewer than fifty recorded sales in a decade.
Markets we cover
Thin markets, deliberate processes
The Panhandle
We publish no local benchmarks for these two markets, and the reason is worth stating plainly: there are not enough recorded transactions to calculate anything from. Leon County has produced around thirty usable sales in a decade; Escambia County has recorded fewer than a dozen, against more than 1,200 in Broward.
That scarcity is itself the most useful thing to know. A capital-and-university economy and a Navy town both generate comparatively few independently owned businesses of transactable size, and those that exist change hands infrequently and often privately—to a competitor, a supplier, or an employee.
For a seller the implication is practical. Waiting for the local market to produce a buyer is not a strategy in either city. The realistic acquirers are regional strategics and, for institutional or defence-adjacent businesses, specialist buyers who never look at Florida listings. Reaching them deliberately is most of the work.
Markets we cover
How we work
Honest about where we are
We are based in Fort Myers. In Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties we work with owners in person throughout—we come to you, walk the operation, and take buyer meetings at your premises or somewhere neutral if discretion matters.
Southwest Florida
In person throughout. Site visits, buyer meetings, and closings handled face to face, with local knowledge of what specific buyer groups have actually paid here.
Sarasota to Tampa Bay
Regular in-market travel. Site visits and management meetings in person, with the analytical and negotiation work handled the way it is at this deal size everywhere.
The rest of Florida
Primarily remote, with travel for the parts that genuinely require presence. For a lower middle market business the likely acquirer is frequently out of state, so buyer reach matters more than proximity.
We would rather say that plainly than imply a footprint we do not have. Confidentiality works identically everywhere: every buyer is screened and signs a non-disclosure agreement before learning the name of your business.
FAQ
Questions about markets and coverage
Which Florida market pays the most for a business?
It depends entirely on size, and the ranking inverts depending on which size you ask about. Measured across all recorded sales, Collier County (Naples) and Miami-Dade lead. Measured by owner earnings—the way buyers actually price—Southwest Florida leads at $300,000 to $500,000 of SDE, while Southeast Florida leads above $1M. Orange County has the lowest all-size median in Florida and one of the stronger results once you filter to established businesses. Any ranking that does not specify a size band is close to meaningless.
Do you actually work outside Southwest Florida?
Yes. We are based in Fort Myers and cover Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties in person throughout. Elsewhere in Florida the process runs primarily remotely with travel for site visits and management meetings—which is standard practice at this deal size for every advisor, wherever they are based.
Why does the ranking change so much between size bands?
Because different buyers operate at different sizes. Below roughly $1M of revenue the buyer is usually an individual using SBA financing, and pricing is similar across the state. Above $2M institutional and strategic acquirers enter, and they concentrate where there is scale—which is why the big metros move up the table sharply.
Is a local broker better than one from another part of Florida?
For a Main Street business sold to a local buyer, proximity has some value. For a lower middle market business, the likely acquirer is frequently not in your county or even your state, so buyer reach matters considerably more than an office address. We are honest about where we are and how we work in each market.
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