# Where to Buy a Business in Iowa

Buyable means an establishment with five to ninety-nine employees in the 36 trades this site covers, counted from SBA 7(a) FOIA loan-level dataset (as of June 30, 2026) and the Census establishment file.

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/iowa
Last checked: 2026-09-23

## The Opportunity

- Buyable businesses: 11,982 of 22,513 establishments in the covered trades
- Buyable per 100,000 residents: 369.6
- Share of the national buyable market: 1%
- Rank among the guided states: 30
- SBA change-of-ownership loans: 337 since FY2020, 62 of them in FY2025
- Median loan: $337,500
- Population: 3,241,488

## The Deepest Counties in Iowa

Nobody searches a state; they search a metro they can drive across. These hold the most buyable targets in the covered trades, each with its share of the state's.

- Polk: 2,041 buyable (17% of the state's)
- Linn: 865 buyable (7.2% of the state's)
- Scott: 703 buyable (5.9% of the state's)
- Johnson: 597 buyable (5% of the state's)
- Black Hawk: 446 buyable (3.7% of the state's)
- Woodbury: 359 buyable (3% of the state's)
- Dubuque: 355 buyable (3% of the state's)
- Story: 306 buyable (2.6% of the state's)
- Dallas: 286 buyable (2.4% of the state's)
- Pottawattamie: 233 buyable (1.9% of the state's)

## What Trades Run Deepest in Iowa

- Full-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722511): 1,764 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Limited-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722513): 1,743 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores (NAICS 447110): 1,215 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-convenience-store
- Offices of Dentists (NAICS 621210): 701 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-dental-practice
- Child Care Services (NAICS 624410): 613 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-childcare-center
- Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (NAICS 238220): 517 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-hvac-business

## Before You Close in Iowa

The immediate successor withholds enough of the purchase price to pay the delinquent tax, interest or penalty due and unpaid, and the seller files a final return and pays within the time the law allows.

Cited as Iowa Code section 423.33(2).

## Next Door to Iowa

Nobody buys a state. These are the states Iowa touches, with the buyable businesses each holds in the same 36 trades.

- Illinois: 42,174 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/illinois)
- Minnesota: 20,943 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/minnesota)
- Missouri: 22,224 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/missouri)
- Nebraska: 8,187 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/nebraska)
- South Dakota: 3,651 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/south-dakota)
- Wisconsin: 21,765 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/wisconsin)

## Method and Source

- Establishment counts: 2023, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html
- Population: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest.html
- Lending: SBA 7(a) FOIA loan-level dataset (as of June 30, 2026), FY2020 through FY2025

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt