Manager Wages
Why It Matters
Almost every main-street business is priced on SDE, which adds the owner's pay back into earnings. That arithmetic holds only if the buyer intends to do the owner's job. Plan to hire someone to run the place instead and the market wage for that role comes straight back out of the earnings, and at a typical multiple it takes several times its own size out of what the business is worth to you. These are the wages that subtraction uses, for 2025.
General Manager
$105,770
Median annual pay, the default owner-replacement role.
Highest Paid Role
$123,860
Medical and health services managers, median.
Lowest Paid Role
$44,080
First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, median.
By Role
Sorted by median pay. The median is the middle of the range and the safer number to budget with; the mean sits higher because the top of each occupation pulls it up. Employment shows how common the role is, which is a rough read on how easily you will fill it.
| The administrator of a clinic or care facilityMedical and health services managers (11-9111) | $123,860 | $140,970 | 597K |
|---|---|---|---|
| The manager who runs projects and crewsConstruction managers (11-9021) | $114,990 | $124,360 | 380K |
| The manager who runs a fleet or a facilityTransportation, storage, and distribution managers (11-3071) | $107,230 | $121,600 | 221K |
| The general manager who runs the whole businessGeneral and operations managers (11-1021) | $105,770 | $134,940 | 3.50M |
| The director of a care or community programSocial and community service managers (11-9151) | $80,390 | $88,880 | 209K |
| The lead who runs the trade crewsFirst-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (47-1011) | $79,920 | $86,450 | 812K |
| The shop foreman over techniciansFirst-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers (49-1011) | $79,860 | $85,220 | 618K |
| The office manager who runs the back officeFirst-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers (43-1011) | $69,500 | $73,490 | 1.44M |
| The dispatcher-supervisor over drivers and routesFirst-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers (53-1047) | $62,890 | $66,860 | 624K |
| The crew leader over grounds and exterior workFirst-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers (37-1012) | $58,430 | $60,960 | 131K |
| The supervisor over guards and postsFirst-line supervisors of security workers (33-1091) | $55,940 | $59,900 | 81K |
| The manager of a personal-service floorFirst-line supervisors of personal service workers (39-1022) | $48,590 | $52,360 | 114K |
| The store managerFirst-line supervisors of retail sales workers (41-1011) | $48,520 | $53,380 | 1.12M |
| The restaurant or kitchen managerFirst-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers (35-1012) | $44,080 | $46,180 | 1.22M |
What It Does to a Valuation
The subtraction is worth doing before an offer, not after. A business showing $300,000 of SDE, priced at 3x, is a $900,000 asking price. Hire a general manager at the median $105,770 and the earnings a buyer actually keeps fall to $194,230, which at the same multiple supports $582,690. The wage costs $105,770 a year and about $317,310 of price.
This is also the honest version of a passive-income pitch. A listing that calls itself owner-absent while the seller works in it every day is quoting earnings that include the seller's unpaid labor, and the gap between the two numbers above is what that costs. Lenders make the same adjustment: an underwriter reads debt service against earnings net of a market wage for whoever will actually run the business. Run it against your own deal in the Business Valuation Calculator and the Underwrite a Deal tool.
Guides for These Roles
Each role prices a specific set of trades. These guides carry the rest: what the business is worth, what to verify, and how to finance it.
- Buying a Physical Therapy Practice
- Buying an Urgent Care Center
- Buying an Assisted Living Facility
- Buying a Home Care Agency
- Buying a Dental Practice
- Buying a Paving Business
- Buying a Roofing Company
- Buying a Fire Protection Business
- Buying a Moving Company
- Buying a Self-Storage Facility
- Buying a Towing Business
- Buying a Childcare Center
- Buying an HVAC Business
- Buying a Plumbing Business
- Buying an Electrical Contracting Business
- Buying a Painting Business
- Buying an Auto Repair Shop
- Buying an Auto Body Shop
- Buying a Garage Door Business
- Buying a Tire Shop
- Buying an Accounting or Bookkeeping Practice
- Buying an Insurance Agency
- Buying a Property Management Company
- Buying a Junk Removal Business
- Buying a Septic Service Business
- Buying a Vending Machine Business
- Buying a Landscaping Business
- Buying a Tree Service Business
- Buying a Window Cleaning Business
- Buying a Pool Service Business
- Buying a Security Guard Business
- Buying a Pet Boarding & Daycare Business
- Buying a Dog Grooming Business
- Buying a Gym or Fitness Studio
- Buying a Convenience Store or Gas Station
- Buying a Liquor Store
- Buying a Franchise Resale
- Buying a Restaurant
How to Read It
These are national figures across all industries, which is the honest limit of them. The same job pays differently in a metro than in a rural county, and differently in a machine shop than in a salon, so treat a row as the baseline a lender will recognize and then adjust to your local market rather than reading it as a quote. Note also that a wage is not the full cost of a hire: payroll taxes, insurance, and benefits sit on top, and a working owner often covers more than one of these roles at once, so replacing yourself can mean two salaries rather than one. For the other angle on labor cost, the Industry Economics page carries payroll per employee from Census, which is a wage bill divided by headcount rather than a salary for any one role, and Industry Jobs & Pay carries average weekly earnings across every role in a trade.
Method & Source
Annual median and mean wages and employment come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics national estimates for 2025, all industries combined. Each row is one Standard Occupational Classification code, chosen because it is the role a buyer would hire to replace an owner in the trades this site covers. OEWS publishes once a year, so these move annually rather than monthly.