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Baltimore and the surrounding region

Value your business in Baltimore before a buyer does it for you

This page is for owners of companies in Baltimore and the surrounding metro who want a working number for what the business is worth, and a clear view of what selling it involves. A useful place to begin: health care and social assistance employs 218,551 people here, and Johns Hopkins appears twice on the city's list of principal employers. For a lot of local companies, those institutions are a customer, a neighbor or both.

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Market snapshot

Baltimore at a glance for a seller

218,551 Health care and social assistance — employees U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns · 2023
79,188 Construction — employees U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns · 2023
10,516 Professional, scientific, and technical services — business locations (#1 sector) U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns · 2023
16.7% Residents 65 and older U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (share computed from table B01001) · 2024
11,065 Business locations with 20–499 employees U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns · 2023
What it adds up to

Hospitals, research and the trades sit side by side. Contractors and service firms that work for the medical and university systems are a visible part of the mid-size company base, and many of their owners are reaching the age when a sale comes up.

Local economy

Hospitals, research campuses and the contractors around them

By business locations, professional, scientific and technical services leads the metro with 10,516 sites. Health care and social assistance follows with 9,016 sites and 218,551 employees. Retail, other services and construction round out the top five, and construction alone counts 6,799 locations and 79,188 employees.

Baltimore City's principal-employer list is heavy with medicine and research: Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland Medical System, University System of Maryland, MedStar Health, Mercy Health Services, LifeBridge Health - Sinai and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Amazon.com and Exelon / Constellation Energy / BGE are on it too.

That mix creates steady work for smaller firms. Hospital and campus projects keep mechanical, electrical and general contractors busy. Research operations buy lab services, specialty cleaning, equipment repair and IT. A utility needs line, meter and field-service crews, and a big distribution operation needs maintenance, staffing and trucking.

The metro has 68,827 employer locations, and 11,065 of them are mid-size. Those mid-size firms are the usual subject of a $3–100M sale.

Largest sectors in the Baltimore metro area, by employer business locations
  1. Professional, scientific, and technical services 10,516
  2. Health care and social assistance 9,016
  3. Retail trade 8,034
  4. Other services (except public administration) 6,887
  5. Construction 6,799

U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns2023

Share of business locations with 20–499 employees
16.1%

U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (share computed)2023

Buyers

Likely buyers for a Baltimore-area business

The first source of buyers is the customer list. A contractor or service firm with approved status at a hospital system or university appeals to a larger competitor that wants the same access. Those strategic buyers can put the contracts to work on day one, which is why they're often the highest bidder.

Construction and the specialty trades draw private-equity interest through regional platforms in HVAC, electrical, plumbing and fire protection. Those firms buy one company after another and value licensed technicians, service agreements and a backlog they can check.

Research and professional-services firms, the metro's top sector by locations, attract larger firms buying people and know-how. Earn-outs and retention terms are common in those deals.

Individual buyers and search funds look at trades, home services and distribution businesses that run on systems rather than on the owner.

With 16.7% of residents at or past retirement age, a lot of owners are thinking about succession at once. Family and management transfers are part of that picture, though they usually take longer to finance.

Value

What changes the number for a Baltimore company

How much rides on one medical system

A subcontractor that does most of its work for one hospital or university system is valuable and exposed at once. Buyers ask for revenue by customer over several years, and for the contracts behind it. Work spread across several institutions earns a better price.

Licensed people and signed backlog

For a contractor, the license holders and the signed backlog are much of what a buyer is paying for. Buyers check who holds each license, whether those people will stay, and how much of the backlog is under contract rather than expected.

What sits on the asset list

Maryland taxes tangible property and digital products that change hands in a business purchase. Companies with a lot of equipment, vehicles or software see that cost come up when the price is allocated across assets.

Records a buyer can test

Job costing, work-in-progress schedules and reviewed financials let a buyer check margins on its own. Without them, the buyer assumes the worst case and prices to it.

Maryland

Selling a business in Maryland

Maryland adds costs and filings to a sale that sellers elsewhere may not see. The statements below come from the Comptroller, the Department of Assessments and Taxation and the Department of Labor.

Transfer taxes

Maryland's 6% sales and use tax applies to the price of tangible personal property and digital products included in the purchase of a business, unless specific exemptions apply. That covers items such as furniture, fixtures, leasehold improvements, software, business records and customer lists, and the Comptroller audits purchases of businesses.

Comptroller of Maryland

What it changes in a sale

This makes the price allocation matter. How much of the price is assigned to furniture, fixtures, equipment and software changes the tax due, and the two sides negotiate who bears it. The Comptroller's audits of business purchases make it hard to overlook.

Personal income tax

Under 2025 legislation, Maryland adds a 2% tax on net capital gain for individuals with federal adjusted gross income over $350,000, whatever their filing status. It also applies to capital gain passed through to them by a pass-through entity.

Comptroller of Maryland

What it changes in a sale

The year a business sells is often the year an owner's income crosses that threshold. The surtax also reaches capital gain passed through by an S corporation or partnership, so it belongs in any estimate of what the owner keeps.

Personal income tax

S corporations, partnerships and LLCs taxed as partnerships file Maryland Form 510, and each member pays Maryland income tax on their share of the entity's income. For tax year 2025, the entity itself pays 8.75% on nonresident individual members' share of Maryland income (6.50% plus a 2.25% special nonresident tax).

Comptroller of Maryland

What it changes in a sale

For an owner who lives outside Maryland, the entity pays tax on that owner's share of a sale's gain. The cash leaves the company before distribution, which matters when proceeds are split among several owners.

Transfer taxes

When more than 80% of the controlling interest in an entity that owns Maryland real property is transferred, a Report of Transfer of Controlling Interest is filed with the State Department of Assessments and Taxation, and state and county recordation and transfer taxes are paid on the consideration attributable to the Maryland real property. The state transfer tax rate is 0.5%.

Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation

What it changes in a sale

A stock sale doesn't escape transfer taxes when the company owns Maryland real estate. Selling control brings the filing and the taxes on the property's share of the price, which narrows the gap between an asset deal and a stock deal.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Your attorney and CPA should confirm how it applies to your sale.

Where to start

Starting points for Baltimore owners

Range of value opinion

$1,000

Sets out what a strategic buyer, a private-equity platform and an individual would each pay, at a fixed fee. For contractors and service firms tied to the medical systems, those figures can differ a lot.

Value creation plan

$5,000

Fits owners two to five years out whose revenue leans on one hospital or campus, or whose licenses sit with one person. The plan lists the fixes in the order a buyer would care about them.

Buyer identification

Per buyer

For a subcontractor with approved-vendor status, the best buyer is often a competitor already working in the same buildings. This module names those buyers and approaches them, priced per buyer.

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Questions

What Baltimore owners ask

What is my Baltimore business worth?

It depends on earnings, how many customers make up the revenue, who holds the licenses and relationships, and which buyer wants it. A firm with approved status at a hospital or university system may draw a strategic buyer that pays more than a private-equity platform or an individual. Saltaire's range of value opinion gives a defensible range and the reasoning behind it, for a fixed $1,000.

Is sales tax due when a business is sold in Maryland?

Maryland's sales and use tax applies to tangible personal property and digital products included in the purchase of a business, such as furniture, fixtures, software and customer lists, unless an exemption applies. It falls on the purchase, but the allocation of the price is negotiated, so it affects both sides. This is general information, not tax or legal advice; confirm the details with your CPA or attorney.

Does Maryland's capital gains surtax apply when I sell my company?

Under 2025 legislation, Maryland adds a 2% tax on net capital gain for individuals with federal adjusted gross income over $350,000. It also applies to capital gain passed through from an S corporation or partnership. A sale can push an owner over that line in the year it closes. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.

Is there a buyer for a trades business in the Baltimore area?

Construction is one of the metro's top five sectors by locations, with 79,188 employees, and regional platforms in HVAC, electrical, plumbing and fire protection buy companies like these. Individuals and search funds also look at trades businesses with service agreements and a manager in place. Licensing and staff retention usually decide the price.

Nearby

Business valuation near Baltimore

The first step

Not sure what you need?

That's what the call is for.

Request the 30-minute call How it works →

Saltaire Partners works with owners in Baltimore and across Maryland from the New York metropolitan area. Calls are by video or phone.

On the call 30 min · free

  1. Thirty minutes

    By video or phone, at a time you pick.

  2. We work out what you need

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  3. You leave with a number

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