Every physical location with paid employees in Boston ZIP codes.
Covered market #25
Businesses for sale in Boston, MA
11,793 business establishments operate in Boston, and 5,992 of them employ between 5 and 99 people — the range most often bought and sold by individual owners. Professional and technical services leads the local mix with 2,646 firms.
Local market
What the Boston business base looks like
Large enough to run without the owner on site, small enough for an individual buyer. This is where most transactions happen.
The rest are mostly owner-only businesses, which rarely change hands as going concerns.
Largest industries in Boston
- Professional & technical services2,646
- Restaurants & accommodation1,513
- Finance & insurance1,427
- Personal & repair services1,202
- Retail937
These five account for 66% of establishments in Boston. A buyer's odds are best where the local base is deepest, and a seller competes with everyone else in the same column.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ZIP Business Patterns 2023. Figures cover the ZIP codes the Postal Service assigns to Boston, which approximates but does not exactly match the city limits. Establishment counts are locations with paid employees; sole proprietors without employees are not included. Latest available year: 2023.
Buying, selling, combining
Boston is a professional and technical services market first.
2,646 of the 7,725 businesses in the five largest categories are professional and technical services — 34% of them. That shapes who buys here and what they pay for.
Buy in Boston
5,992 businesses here employ 5 to 99 people. That is enough to be selective without waiting months between candidates — worth watching professional and technical services and restaurants and accommodation in particular.
Search this marketSell in Boston
Buyers compare inside a category. With 2,646 professional and technical services businesses in Boston, that comparison is crowded — clean records and a documented handover are what separate one from the next.
Start an owner listingCombine several into one
Acquirers looking for scale in Boston often cannot buy it in one piece. 2,646 professional and technical services firms is the kind of depth that lets several be combined into one company big enough for a buyer that would not look at any of them alone.
How combinations workNothing here is a listing or an offer. Confidential details stay behind NDA acceptance and the seller's own consent.