Business Buyer School Research · Full study · Version 2026.1
America's Small Business Succession Opportunity
Owner Age by Industry
Business Buyer School 2026 Owner Age Study, full study · Version 2026.1 · Published October 6, 2026 · Prepared October 6, 2026. These are shares of working people, not counts of businesses, and they include owners with no employees. Age does not show that an owner intends to sell: an owner aged 65 or older might sell, hand the business on or close it.
Short version · Full study · Methodology · Data · About the school
Key Finding
Business Buyer School analysis of U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data found that 13.2% of workers who are self-employed in their own incorporated business were aged 65 or older in 2019 to 2023, against 6.3% of all employed workers, and 37.5% were aged 55 or older, against 23.2%. Among 76 acquisition-relevant industry groups scored at High or Medium confidence, the share aged 65 or older ranged from 4.8% (Nail salons and other personal care services) to 29.2% (Death care services). These are shares of workers, not counts of businesses for sale, and age does not show an owner intends to sell.
Key Statistics
- Business Buyer School calculated from ACS 2019 to 2023 microdata that about 6.2 million employed people were self-employed in their own incorporated business, and 37.5% of them were aged 55 or older, roughly 2.3 million people. These are people, not firms: the group includes solo corporations with no employees.
- Business Buyer School calculated that 13.2% of incorporated self-employed workers were 65 or older, against 6.3% of all employed workers.
- Business Buyer School calculated that the median ranked industry group had 13.6% of its incorporated self-employed workers aged 65 or older and 39.7% aged 55 or older.
- Business Buyer School calculated that 11 of 76 ranked groups had at least one in five incorporated self-employed workers aged 65 or older, and 11 had at least half aged 55 or older.
- Business Buyer School calculated the oldest groups by share aged 65 or older: Death care services (29.2%), Wholesale trade agents and brokers (25.2%), Machinery, equipment, and supplies merchant wholesalers (24.5%), Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services (23.1%), Machine shops; turned product; screw, nut, and bolt manufacturing (22.7%).
- Business Buyer School calculated the youngest groups: Nail salons and other personal care services (4.8%), Landscaping services (5.8%), Beverage manufacturing (5.9%), Motion pictures and video industries (6.1%), Beauty salons (6.4%).
- Business Buyer School calculated a Spearman rank correlation of 0.61 between an industry's owner age and its all-worker age: owners are older than all workers in 74 of 76 ranked groups, and part of an industry's owner age reflects an older workforce overall.
- Business Buyer School calculated that the Succession Pressure Index ranking is only partly stable: 8 groups stayed in the top quartile and 7 in the bottom quartile under all six scoring methods, while 38 of 76 changed rank by more than a quarter of the list. The owner-age measurements are much more stable than the index.
- Business Buyer School calculated that ranking by incorporated and by unincorporated self-employed age agree at Spearman 0.80.
- Business Buyer School calculated that the median standard error of the 65-or-older share is 1.1 percentage points; the largest is 2.5.
Each statistic is a Business Buyer School calculation from official Census Bureau microdata and tables; the Census Bureau is not responsible for the calculations.
What Is and Is Not Measured
- Measured: the age mix of workers who told the ACS they are self-employed in their own incorporated business, by industry, pooled 2019 to 2023, with standard errors from the ACS replicate weights. Industry is the one the worker reports.
- Why this source: the Census Annual Business Survey publishes owner sex, race, ethnicity and veteran status for employer firms but not owner age, and no current public ABS table gives owner age by industry (older Survey of Business Owners releases are not used here). The ACS is the closest current public source. It counts people, not firms, and includes incorporated owners with no employees.
- Not measured: how many businesses are for sale, how many owners plan to retire, how many owners have a successor, or how many firms are owned by someone over 65. Do not read any share here as that.
- Mature-firm share: the brief for this study planned a firm-age component. Public data carry firm age only at the broad sector level, so it was left out and the remaining index weights renormalized.
- Firm counts and sizes come from Census SUSB 2022, for the 204 of 265 industry groups whose codes are identical in both sources (the other 61 groups are the 27 age only groups, whose codes differ between vintages, and 34 excluded groups with no firm measures; see Methodology).
Owner Age by Industry
Share of incorporated self-employed workers aged 65 or older, with a 95% interval (1.96 standard errors), for the 76 ranked groups with the oldest owners:
| Industry group (ACS code) | Confidence | Owners 65+ (95% interval) | Owners 55+ | All workers 65+ (comparison) | ACS sample records |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Death care services (8122) | Medium | 29.2% (±4.2) | 60.3% | 21.8% | 660 |
| Wholesale trade agents and brokers (4251) | Medium | 25.2% (±3.8) | 60.8% | 16.9% | 662 |
| Machinery, equipment, and supplies merchant wholesalers (4238) | High | 24.5% (±3.1) | 58.8% | 8.5% | 1,103 |
| Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services (5412) | High | 23.1% (±1.4) | 52.1% | 11.9% | 5,851 |
| Machine shops; turned product; screw, nut, and bolt manufacturing (3327) | Medium | 22.7% (±3.3) | 62.6% | 8.2% | 965 |
| Activities related to real estate (5313) | High | 22.6% (±1.8) | 51.6% | 11.8% | 2,309 |
| Miscellaneous durable goods, except recyclable material, merchant wholesalers (4239Z) | Medium | 22.1% (±4.8) | 54.6% | 9.7% | 533 |
| Legal services (5411) | High | 21.2% (±1.1) | 47.0% | 12.9% | 9,955 |
| Lawn and garden equipment and supplies retailers (4442) | Medium | 21.1% (±3.7) | 49.2% | 10.7% | 912 |
| Miscellaneous nondurable goods merchant, except farm supplies, wholesalers (4249Z) | Medium | 20.6% (±3.8) | 49.4% | 8.5% | 812 |
| Architectural, engineering, and related services (5413) | High | 20.5% (±1.2) | 50.8% | 8.1% | 5,622 |
| Other motor vehicle dealers (4412) | Medium | 19.9% (±4.4) | 51.9% | 7.6% | 588 |
| Offices of physicians (6211) | High | 19.8% (±1.3) | 48.5% | 7.8% | 7,075 |
| Professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers (4234) | Medium | 19.5% (±4.2) | 44.4% | 5.5% | 661 |
| Drycleaning and laundry services (8123) | Medium | 19.4% (±4.0) | 53.1% | 9.6% | 697 |
| Miscellaneous fabricated metal product manufacturing (332MZ) | Medium | 19.1% (±4.2) | 46.1% | 6.2% | 545 |
| Specialty food retailers (4452) | Medium | 18.9% (±3.9) | 44.4% | 8.3% | 754 |
| Household appliances and electrical and electronic goods merchant wholesalers (4236) | Medium | 18.8% (±4.0) | 48.7% | 6.6% | 487 |
| Printing and related support activities (3231) | High | 18.7% (±3.3) | 52.5% | 7.8% | 1,269 |
| Management, scientific, and technical consulting services (5416) | High | 18.7% (±0.8) | 46.0% | 9.1% | 13,179 |
Youngest 10:
| Industry group (ACS code) | Confidence | Owners 65+ (95% interval) | Owners 55+ | All workers 65+ (comparison) | ACS sample records |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nail salons and other personal care services (8121M) | High | 4.8% (±1.0) | 17.8% | 4.3% | 2,286 |
| Landscaping services (56173) | High | 5.8% (±0.8) | 27.6% | 4.8% | 4,813 |
| Beverage manufacturing (3121) | Medium | 5.9% (±2.6) | 22.7% | 3.0% | 467 |
| Motion pictures and video industries (5121) | High | 6.1% (±1.5) | 22.2% | 3.5% | 2,038 |
| Beauty salons (812112) | High | 6.4% (±0.8) | 23.1% | 6.8% | 4,428 |
| Truck transportation (484) | High | 7.3% (±0.7) | 29.8% | 6.7% | 8,024 |
| Computer systems design and related services (5415) | High | 7.5% (±0.9) | 30.3% | 2.8% | 6,699 |
| Food services and drinking places, except alcoholic beverages (722Z) | High | 7.6% (±0.5) | 26.3% | 2.3% | 12,875 |
| Other amusement, gambling, and recreation industries (713Z) | High | 8.1% (±1.2) | 24.7% | 7.0% | 3,299 |
| Other personal services (8129) | High | 8.2% (±1.5) | 26.7% | 6.2% | 1,912 |
Succession Pressure Index
The Business Buyer School Succession Pressure Index (0 to 100, higher means older owners and more small firms) combines four percentile components across the 76 ranked groups. Model A weights: owners 65 or older 35, owners 55 to 64 20, share of firms under 20 employees 20, count of firms under 20 employees 10, renormalized to 100 after dropping the mature-firm component. Because the index moves with the weights (38 of 76 groups are method-sensitive), read the owner-age columns first.
Highest 20
| Rank | Industry group (ACS code) | Confidence | Index (Model A) | Owners 65+ | Owners 55 to 64 | Firms under 20 employees | Count of firms under 20 | Stability across models |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wholesale trade agents and brokers (4251) | Medium | 90.0 | 25.2% | 35.6% | 95.1% | 32,420 | stable highest quartile |
| 2 | Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services (5412) | High | 88.3 | 23.1% | 29.0% | 95.2% | 114,312 | stable highest quartile |
| 3 | Activities related to real estate (5313) | High | 81.9 | 22.6% | 28.9% | 93.2% | 83,723 | stable highest quartile |
| 4 | Legal services (5411) | High | 81.1 | 21.2% | 25.8% | 95.1% | 160,064 | stable highest quartile |
| 5 | Drycleaning and laundry services (8123) | Medium | 80.2 | 19.4% | 33.7% | 94.3% | 23,238 | stable highest quartile |
| 6 | Death care services (8122) | Medium | 79.1 | 29.2% | 31.0% | 92.1% | 13,145 | moderate |
| 7 | Management, scientific, and technical consulting services (5416) | High | 77.8 | 18.7% | 27.4% | 95.1% | 194,796 | moderate |
| 8 | Miscellaneous durable goods, except recyclable material, merchant wholesalers (4239Z) | Medium | 77.4 | 22.1% | 32.6% | 90.9% | 20,160 | stable highest quartile |
| 9 | Architectural, engineering, and related services (5413) | High | 76.8 | 20.5% | 30.3% | 89.1% | 84,927 | stable highest quartile |
| 10 | Lessors of real estate, and offices of real estate agents and brokers (531M) | High | 75.7 | 17.5% | 25.3% | 97.6% | 246,046 | method-sensitive |
| 11 | Agencies, brokerages, and other insurance related activities (5242) | High | 75.0 | 17.6% | 26.3% | 96.4% | 124,571 | method-sensitive |
| 12 | Machinery, equipment, and supplies merchant wholesalers (4238) | High | 74.1 | 24.5% | 34.3% | 81.1% | 30,040 | moderate |
| 13 | Offices of physicians (6211) | High | 74.0 | 19.8% | 28.7% | 89.0% | 129,265 | stable highest quartile |
| 14 | Personal and household goods repair and maintenance (8114) | High | 73.3 | 16.1% | 30.9% | 97.8% | 21,043 | method-sensitive |
| 15 | Machine shops; turned product; screw, nut, and bolt manufacturing (3327) | Medium | 69.4 | 22.7% | 39.8% | 79.8% | 17,078 | method-sensitive |
| 16 | Miscellaneous nondurable goods merchant, except farm supplies, wholesalers (4249Z) | Medium | 68.2 | 20.6% | 28.8% | 88.4% | 14,613 | moderate |
| 17 | Printing and related support activities (3231) | High | 66.7 | 18.7% | 33.7% | 85.2% | 18,181 | moderate |
| 18 | Lawn and garden equipment and supplies retailers (4442) | Medium | 65.6 | 21.1% | 28.2% | 87.1% | 11,495 | method-sensitive |
| 19 | Automotive repair and maintenance, except car washes (8111Z) | High | 64.1 | 11.2% | 29.1% | 96.8% | 129,158 | method-sensitive |
| 20 | Other motor vehicle dealers (4412) | Medium | 63.5 | 19.9% | 32.0% | 82.5% | 9,613 | method-sensitive |
Lowest 10
| Rank | Industry group (ACS code) | Confidence | Index (Model A) | Owners 65+ | Owners 55 to 64 | Firms under 20 employees | Count of firms under 20 | Stability across models |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76 | Beverage manufacturing (3121) | Medium | 6.7 | 5.9% | 16.8% | 79.7% | 8,988 | stable lowest quartile |
| 75 | Food services and drinking places, except alcoholic beverages (722Z) | High | 19.8 | 7.6% | 18.7% | 76.7% | 366,267 | stable lowest quartile |
| 74 | Other amusement, gambling, and recreation industries (713Z) | High | 20.4 | 8.1% | 16.6% | 82.6% | 59,379 | stable lowest quartile |
| 73 | Car washes (811192) | Medium | 21.6 | 8.2% | 17.2% | 89.0% | 13,947 | stable lowest quartile |
| 72 | Outpatient care centers (6214) | High | 24.8 | 11.7% | 20.2% | 74.0% | 20,958 | moderate |
| 71 | Child care services (6244) | High | 26.3 | 9.5% | 20.4% | 80.1% | 50,451 | stable lowest quartile |
| 70 | Motion pictures and video industries (5121) | High | 26.6 | 6.1% | 16.1% | 94.6% | 21,631 | method-sensitive |
| 69 | Other health care services (621M) | High | 28.4 | 11.3% | 22.6% | 80.3% | 16,330 | method-sensitive |
| 68 | Retail bakeries (311811) | Medium | 28.5 | 11.1% | 22.2% | 86.4% | 7,451 | method-sensitive |
| 67 | Supermarkets and other grocery (except convenience) retailers (44511) | High | 29.6 | 11.8% | 20.9% | 79.2% | 30,494 | moderate |
Common Acquisition Targets
| Industry group (ACS code) | Status | Owners 65+ (95% interval) | Owners 55+ | All workers 65+ | Index rank of 76 | ACS sample records |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construction (23) | ranked | 9.9% (±0.4) | 36.4% | 4.9% | 33 | 42,594 |
| Services to buildings and dwellings, except landscaping services (5617Z) | ranked | 8.3% (±1.0) | 31.9% | 7.1% | 51 | 4,882 |
| Landscaping services (56173) | ranked | 5.8% (±0.8) | 27.6% | 4.8% | 57 | 4,813 |
| Automotive repair and maintenance, except car washes (8111Z) | ranked | 11.2% (±1.1) | 40.3% | 5.8% | 19 | 5,563 |
| Car washes (811192) | ranked | 8.2% (±3.0) | 25.4% | 3.6% | 73 | 429 |
| Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services (5412) | ranked | 23.1% (±1.4) | 52.1% | 11.9% | 2 | 5,851 |
| Agencies, brokerages, and other insurance related activities (5242) | ranked | 17.6% (±1.4) | 43.9% | 8.9% | 11 | 3,720 |
| Veterinary services (54194) | ranked | 13.2% (±2.0) | 38.0% | 4.4% | 46 | 1,487 |
| Offices of dentists (6212) | ranked | 12.2% (±1.1) | 35.0% | 6.4% | 32 | 4,804 |
| Offices of chiropractors (62131) | ranked | 8.9% (±1.9) | 29.1% | 8.4% | 45 | 1,538 |
| Offices of other health practitioners (6213ZM) | ranked | 17.2% (±1.5) | 37.0% | 14.6% | 25 | 3,164 |
| Home health care services (6216) | ranked | 13.3% (±2.1) | 39.7% | 10.3% | 53 | 1,197 |
| Food services and drinking places, except alcoholic beverages (722Z) | ranked | 7.6% (±0.5) | 26.3% | 2.3% | 75 | 12,875 |
| Drinking places (alcoholic beverages) (7224) | ranked | 15.6% (±4.3) | 39.9% | 4.1% | 34 | 515 |
| Barber shops (812111) | ranked | 8.8% (±2.7) | 20.2% | 9.5% | 66 | 480 |
| Drycleaning and laundry services (8123) | ranked | 19.4% (±4.0) | 53.1% | 9.6% | 5 | 697 |
| Death care services (8122) | ranked | 29.2% (±4.2) | 60.3% | 21.8% | 6 | 660 |
| Architectural, engineering, and related services (5413) | ranked | 20.5% (±1.2) | 50.8% | 8.1% | 9 | 5,622 |
| Legal services (5411) | ranked | 21.2% (±1.1) | 47.0% | 12.9% | 4 | 9,955 |
| Management, scientific, and technical consulting services (5416) | ranked | 18.7% (±0.8) | 46.0% | 9.1% | 7 | 13,179 |
| Waste management and remediation services (562) | ranked | 13.3% (±2.6) | 36.2% | 5.8% | 50 | 955 |
Construction is one group in the ACS public file, so HVAC, plumbing and electrical cannot be separated; landscaping, veterinary services, barber shops, car washes and chiropractors are separate groups. Rows marked Medium have smaller ACS samples; read their intervals before using the figure.
What Buyers Should Learn
- Older owners mean more potential supply of transitions, not listings. An owner aged 65 or older may sell, pass the business on, or close it. This study cannot say which.
- Owner age is largely an industry fact. Owners are older than workers everywhere, and industries with older workforces have older owners.
- Look at the interval, not just the rank. Two groups a few points apart may be statistically tied.
- The index is a weak summary. Use the owner-age shares and the firm counts directly.
- These shares include owners with no employees. A group with many solo corporations can show old owners that a buyer of an employer business will never meet.
- Industry results do not tell you about a specific owner.
Methodology
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019 to 2023 5-year Public Use Microdata Sample (15.9 million person records; employed civilians; class of worker 7, self-employed in own incorporated business; age bands under 35, 35 to 44, 45 to 54, 55 to 64, 65 and older; standard errors by successive-difference replication with 80 replicate weights) and Census Bureau SUSB 2022 (firms by enterprise employment size). Unit: ACS industry group (265 groups, composed of NAICS 2022 codes). Vintage note: SUSB 2022 is published on NAICS 2017 codes, while the ACS 2023 industry groups use NAICS 2022 codes, so firm counts and sizes are used only where a group's codes are identical in both vintages. 204 groups match (76 ranked, 37 unranked low confidence, 91 excluded by the structural rules). 27 groups (23 retail and 4 information groups) fail the match and are shown with owner age only and no index; the other 34 excluded groups carry no firm measures. Retail is therefore mostly, not entirely, outside the index: 7 retail groups whose codes are identical in both vintages are ranked. Selection rules, confidence tiers, formulas, sensitivity and the red-team review are in the methodology page.
Data Download
The dataset behind this study is on the data page: all 265 industry rows as CSV and JSON, with a checksum file, field notes and the reuse wording. A data license has not been published; short quotations with attribution and a link are welcome.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey PUMS 2019 to 2023: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/microdata.html (file: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/data/pums/2023/5-Year/)
- U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb.html
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 ACS PUMS Industry Code List: https://www.census.gov/topics/employment/industry-occupation/guidance/code-lists.html
How to cite
Cite as: Business Buyer School, America's Small Business Succession Opportunity: Owner Age by Industry (full study), https://businessbuyerschool.com/research/business-owner-age/full-report/. Version 2026.1. Published October 6, 2026.
Data: Business Buyer School Owner Age and Succession Dataset 2026, version 2026.1.
Please cite the website and the version number. Figures labelled "Business Buyer School calculated" or "Business Buyer School score" are original calculations from the public sources listed above; the Census Bureau is not responsible for them.
A data license has not been published; short quotations with attribution and a link are welcome.
Take this into your own search
Industry research is context, not a verdict on any one business. These free parts of the school show how to use it.
- Write your Buy Box: set the type of business, size and hard exclusions before you search.
- Cleaning, landscaping and HVAC compared: how the same principles show up in three trades.
- See the curriculum or start free with Business Buyer School.