# Where to Buy a Business in North Dakota

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-dakota
Last checked: 2026-09-23

## The Opportunity

- Buyable businesses: 3,278 of 6,405 establishments in the covered trades
- Buyable per 100,000 residents: 411.5
- Share of the national buyable market: 0.3%
- Rank among the guided states: 47
- SBA change-of-ownership loans: 87 since FY2020, 24 of them in FY2025
- Median loan: $686,500
- Population: 796,568

## The Deepest Counties in North Dakota

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.

- Cass: 884 buyable (27% of the state's)
- Burleigh: 395 buyable (12.1% of the state's)
- Ward: 238 buyable (7.3% of the state's)
- Grand Forks: 231 buyable (7% of the state's)
- Williams: 128 buyable (3.9% of the state's)
- Stark: 120 buyable (3.7% of the state's)
- Morton: 61 buyable (1.9% of the state's)
- Stutsman: 43 buyable (1.3% of the state's)
- Richland: 33 buyable (1% of the state's)
- Barnes: 26 buyable (0.8% of the state's)

## What Trades Run Deepest in North Dakota

- Limited-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722513): 422 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Full-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722511): 420 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores (NAICS 447110): 271 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-convenience-store
- Offices of Dentists (NAICS 621210): 208 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-dental-practice
- Child Care Services (NAICS 624410): 201 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-childcare-center
- Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors (NAICS 238210): 154 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-electrical-contracting-business

## Before You Close in North Dakota

The seller's sales tax falls due immediately before a sale of the business and is a lien on the seller's property from that instant. A purchaser takes free of the lien unless a notice of it was indexed in the Secretary of State's central indexing system before the purchase.

Cited as N.D.C.C. sections 57-39.2-12 and 57-39.2-13.

## Next Door to North Dakota

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

- Minnesota: 20,943 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/minnesota)
- Montana: 4,973 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/montana)
- South Dakota: 3,651 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/south-dakota)

## 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

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