# Where to Buy a Business in Pennsylvania

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/pennsylvania
Last checked: 2026-09-23

## The Opportunity

- Buyable businesses: 44,963 of 87,269 establishments in the covered trades
- Buyable per 100,000 residents: 343.8
- Share of the national buyable market: 3.9%
- Rank among the guided states: 5
- SBA change-of-ownership loans: 1,270 since FY2020, 278 of them in FY2025
- Median loan: $519,300
- Population: 13,078,751

## The Deepest Counties in Pennsylvania

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.

- Allegheny: 5,108 buyable (11.4% of the state's)
- Philadelphia: 4,064 buyable (9% of the state's)
- Montgomery: 3,691 buyable (8.2% of the state's)
- Bucks: 2,809 buyable (6.2% of the state's)
- Delaware: 2,058 buyable (4.6% of the state's)
- Chester: 2,008 buyable (4.5% of the state's)
- Lancaster: 1,957 buyable (4.4% of the state's)
- York: 1,394 buyable (3.1% of the state's)
- Westmoreland: 1,311 buyable (2.9% of the state's)
- Berks: 1,296 buyable (2.9% of the state's)

## What Trades Run Deepest in Pennsylvania

- Full-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722511): 6,626 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Limited-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722513): 6,171 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Offices of Dentists (NAICS 621210): 2,903 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-dental-practice
- Child Care Services (NAICS 624410): 2,571 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-childcare-center
- Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores (NAICS 447110): 2,121 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-convenience-store
- Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (NAICS 722515): 1,934 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant

## Before You Close in Pennsylvania

The purchaser secures a bulk sale clearance certificate from the seller, which is what stops the seller's Pennsylvania tax liabilities from following the assets, and the labor department wants ten days' notice of its own.

Cited as Pennsylvania bulk sale clearance.

## Next Door to Pennsylvania

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

- Delaware: 3,870 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/delaware)
- Maryland: 20,716 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/maryland)
- New Jersey: 31,865 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/new-jersey)
- New York: 64,697 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/new-york)
- Ohio: 41,505 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/ohio)
- West Virginia: 5,827 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/west-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

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