# Where to Buy a Business in Utah

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/utah
Last checked: 2026-09-23

## The Opportunity

- Buyable businesses: 11,876 of 23,004 establishments in the covered trades
- Buyable per 100,000 residents: 339
- Share of the national buyable market: 1%
- Rank among the guided states: 31
- SBA change-of-ownership loans: 523 since FY2020, 109 of them in FY2025
- Median loan: $650,000
- Population: 3,503,613

## The Deepest Counties in Utah

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.

- Salt Lake: 4,472 buyable (37.7% of the state's)
- Utah: 2,047 buyable (17.2% of the state's)
- Davis: 1,105 buyable (9.3% of the state's)
- Weber: 862 buyable (7.3% of the state's)
- Washington: 857 buyable (7.2% of the state's)
- Cache: 400 buyable (3.4% of the state's)
- Summit: 243 buyable (2% of the state's)
- Iron: 179 buyable (1.5% of the state's)
- Tooele: 137 buyable (1.2% of the state's)
- Box Elder: 127 buyable (1.1% of the state's)

## What Trades Run Deepest in Utah

- Limited-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722513): 2,323 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Full-Service Restaurants (NAICS 722511): 1,302 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Offices of Dentists (NAICS 621210): 1,139 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-dental-practice
- Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (NAICS 722515): 620 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-restaurant
- Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores (NAICS 447110): 603 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-convenience-store
- Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (NAICS 238220): 599 buyable. https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-hvac-business

## Before You Close in Utah

The tax is a lien on the property of a seller who sells the business or stock of goods, and the successor withholds enough of the purchase money until the former owner produces a receipt or a certificate. A purchaser who does not is personally liable once the thirty days pass.

Cited as Utah Code section 59-12-112.

## Next Door to Utah

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

- Arizona: 23,735 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/arizona)
- Colorado: 23,585 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/colorado)
- Idaho: 7,784 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/idaho)
- New Mexico: 7,050 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/new-mexico)
- Nevada: 11,315 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/nevada)
- Wyoming: 2,640 buyable (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/states/wyoming)

## 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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