# Where to Buy a Business in South 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/south-carolina
Last checked: 2026-09-23

## The Opportunity

- Buyable businesses: 18,930 of 33,819 establishments in the covered trades
- Buyable per 100,000 residents: 345.5
- Share of the national buyable market: 1.6%
- Rank among the guided states: 23
- SBA change-of-ownership loans: 508 since FY2020, 111 of them in FY2025
- Median loan: $750,000
- Population: 5,478,831

## The Deepest Counties in South 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.

- Greenville: 2,265 buyable (12% of the state's)
- Charleston: 2,172 buyable (11.5% of the state's)
- Horry: 1,659 buyable (8.8% of the state's)
- Richland: 1,414 buyable (7.5% of the state's)
- Lexington: 1,223 buyable (6.5% of the state's)
- Spartanburg: 1,042 buyable (5.5% of the state's)
- York: 960 buyable (5.1% of the state's)
- Beaufort: 869 buyable (4.6% of the state's)
- Anderson: 654 buyable (3.5% of the state's)
- Berkeley: 575 buyable (3% of the state's)

## What Trades Run Deepest in South Carolina

- Full-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722511): 3,411 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Limited-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722513): 3,354 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores (NAICS 447110): 1,443 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-convenience-store
- Offices of Dentists (NAICS 621210): 1,240 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-dental-practice
- Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (NAICS 238220): 752 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-hvac-business
- Child Care Services (NAICS 624410): 751 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-childcare-center

## Before You Close in South Carolina

On a transfer of most of a business's assets, tax due on or before the transfer is a lien against those assets in the buyer's hands, and the state may refuse the buyer a license to carry on the business until it is settled.

Cited as S.C. Code Ann. section 12-54-124.

## Next Door to South Carolina

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

- Georgia: 36,421 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/georgia)
- North Carolina: 39,632 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/north-carolina)

## 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