# Where to Buy a Business in North Carolina

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/north-carolina
Last checked: 2026-09-23

## The Opportunity

- Buyable businesses: 39,632 of 71,381 establishments in the covered trades
- Buyable per 100,000 residents: 358.8
- Share of the national buyable market: 3.4%
- Rank among the guided states: 8
- SBA change-of-ownership loans: 1,172 since FY2020, 236 of them in FY2025
- Median loan: $838,500
- Population: 11,046,024

## The Deepest Counties in North Carolina

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.

- Wake: 4,878 buyable (12.3% of the state's)
- Mecklenburg: 4,750 buyable (12% of the state's)
- Guilford: 2,154 buyable (5.4% of the state's)
- Forsyth: 1,468 buyable (3.7% of the state's)
- New Hanover: 1,341 buyable (3.4% of the state's)
- Buncombe: 1,269 buyable (3.2% of the state's)
- Durham: 1,223 buyable (3.1% of the state's)
- Cumberland: 1,137 buyable (2.9% of the state's)
- Cabarrus: 849 buyable (2.1% of the state's)
- Union: 767 buyable (1.9% of the state's)

## What Trades Run Deepest in North Carolina

- Limited-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722513): 6,850 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Full-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722511): 6,384 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Offices of Dentists (NAICS 621210): 2,606 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-dental-practice
- Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores (NAICS 447110): 2,376 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-convenience-store
- Child Care Services (NAICS 624410): 1,927 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-childcare-center
- Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (NAICS 238220): 1,740 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-hvac-business

## Before You Close in North Carolina

A buyer of the major part of the stock or fixtures, outside the ordinary course of business, withholds enough of the purchase money to pay the tax until the seller produces a receipt or a certificate that none is due. A buyer who does not is personally liable once thirty days pass.

Cited as N.C.G.S. section 105-164.38.

## Next Door to North Carolina

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

- Georgia: 36,421 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/georgia)
- South Carolina: 18,930 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/south-carolina)
- Tennessee: 23,855 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/tennessee)
- Virginia: 31,567 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/virginia)

## 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