Every physical location with paid employees in Durham ZIP codes.
Covered market #70
Businesses for sale in Durham, NC
7,950 business establishments operate in Durham, and 3,620 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 1,296 firms.
Local market
What the Durham 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 Durham
- Professional & technical services1,296
- Healthcare & social assistance993
- Retail876
- Restaurants & accommodation816
- Personal & repair services773
These five account for 60% of establishments in Durham. 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 Durham, 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
No single industry carries Durham.
The five largest categories split 4,754 businesses between them fairly evenly, with professional and technical services only 1.3× the size of healthcare and social assistance. Demand is spread rather than concentrated.
Buy in Durham
3,620 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 healthcare and social assistance in particular.
Search this marketSell in Durham
With no dominant industry in Durham, buyers arrive with broader criteria and fewer direct comparisons. A clearly presented business stands out sooner than it would in a concentrated market.
Start an owner listingCombine several into one
Acquirers looking for scale in Durham often cannot buy it in one piece. 1,296 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.