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Allentown and the surrounding region

What your Allentown business is worth, and who would buy it

If you own a business in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metro and wonder what it would sell for, this page walks through what buyers look at here. Start with one detail from Lehigh County's employer list: two separate health systems, each with a hospital and a physician group, sit in its top four. A truck maker and a chemicals company are on it too.

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Market snapshot

Allentown metro snapshot

873,603 People in the metro area U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates · 2024
18,701 Employer business locations U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns · 2023
43,299 Manufacturing — employees U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns · 2023
77,758 Health care and social assistance — employees U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns · 2023
19.3% Residents 65 and older U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (share computed from table B01001) · 2024
What it adds up to

A mid-size metro where factories and hospitals carry far more of the payroll than their share of business locations suggests. Add an older population, and many owners of supplier and service companies are weighing a sale in the same years.

Local economy

Two health systems, big plants and online retail

Lehigh Valley Hospital Center and Lehigh Valley Physician Group make up one health system on Lehigh County's employer list. Saint Luke's Hospital and Saint Luke's Physician Group Inc make up the other. Below them come Amazon.com Services LLC, Mack Trucks Inc, Air Products and Chemicals Inc, Lehigh County itself, and the Allentown and Parkland school districts.

By count of locations, retail trade is the largest sector in the metro, with health care a close second. Payrolls tell a different story. Health care and social assistance employs 77,758 people, and manufacturing employs 43,299 without making the top five by location count. That gap means fewer, larger plants, each one buying a steady stream of outside work.

That's where many owner-operated companies here earn their living: machine shops, industrial maintenance and electrical contractors, trucking and warehousing services, packaging and parts suppliers. On the health care side, it's medical practices, home health agencies, labs, cleaning and facilities firms. A company that sells to both hospital systems spreads its risk. One that sells to a single plant or a single system carries all of that customer's decisions on its own books.

Largest sectors in the Allentown metro area, by employer business locations
  1. Retail trade 2,521
  2. Health care and social assistance 2,451
  3. Other services (except public administration) 2,256
  4. Accommodation and food services 1,899
  5. Construction 1,708

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

Buyers drawn to an industrial and medical economy

Industrial strategics are the obvious buyers for a supplier with a place on a large manufacturer's vendor list. They want the qualification, the part numbers and the engineering relationship, and they'll pay for them if the contracts carry over.

Private-equity firms that own industrial services platforms, such as maintenance, specialty fabrication, logistics or environmental work, look for add-ons near big plants. This metro has several of those plants close together, which is what makes a bolt-on attractive.

On the health care side, buyers range from larger practice groups to platforms consolidating home health, therapy and lab services. With two competing systems in the market, an independent provider that refers to and serves both is worth more to them than one tied to a single system.

Individual buyers and search funds look at the many small retail, repair and food businesses. They borrow against cash flow, so steady, documented earnings matter more to them than growth stories.

With 19.3% of residents at retirement age or older, family and employee successions come up often. They work best when someone inside has already been running the place.

Value

What moves the price for an Allentown-area business

One plant, one customer

A supplier with most of its sales going to one manufacturer is exposed to that plant's volume, sourcing and model changes. Buyers price that in. Long-term supply agreements, multiple plants or a spread of smaller customers narrow the discount.

Which health system you serve

With two systems competing, a medical or service business that works with both has a hedge most buyers notice. One tied to a single system depends on that system's contracting choices and its own growth plans.

Skilled hands near retirement

Machinists, electricians and technicians are hard to replace in an older workforce. A buyer will ask for ages, tenure and certifications on the key people. A shop with trained successors keeps more of its value through the handover.

Equipment and facility

Industrial buyers look at the age of the machinery, the maintenance records and whether the building is owned or leased. Capital spending put off for years shows up as a lower price, because the buyer will have to make it.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania rules for a sale in this metro

Part of the metro sits in New Jersey. For a company on the Pennsylvania side, three state rules most affect how a sale is put together and closed.

Clearances

Pennsylvania's bulk sale law applies when a business transfers more than 51% of its assets, real estate or equipment included. The buyer is required to get a bulk sale clearance certificate from the seller. Without one, the buyer can become liable for the seller's unpaid Pennsylvania taxes. Sellers apply with form REV-181.

Pennsylvania Department of Revenue

What it changes in a sale

An industrial sale usually moves equipment, inventory and sometimes the building, so the transfer often crosses this threshold. Buyers and their lenders treat the certificate as a closing item and plan their timelines around it.

Clearances

A separate bulk sale clearance for unemployment compensation taxes comes from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry's Office of Unemployment Compensation Tax Services.

PA Department of Labor & Industry

What it changes in a sale

A company with a large hourly payroll has a sizable unemployment compensation account. This clearance confirms it's settled, and it's requested separately from the revenue certificate.

Corporate tax

Pennsylvania's corporate net income tax rate is 7.49% for tax year 2026. It is scheduled to drop half a point each year until it reaches 4.99% in 2031.

Pennsylvania Department of Revenue

What it changes in a sale

Some manufacturers are organized as C corporations. In an asset sale, the corporate rate hits the gain inside the company, and the step-down schedule makes the closing year part of the math.

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

Where to start

Where Allentown-area owners tend to begin

Range of value opinion

$1,000

A fixed-price opinion of what the business is worth, with the reasoning written out. For a supplier with one big customer, it shows how much that concentration is costing before any buyer says so.

Value creation plan

$5,000

For owners a few years from a sale. It turns the issues industrial and health care buyers here discount for, like single-customer dependence or deferred equipment spending, into a plan with dates.

Confidential information memorandum

$4,000

Industrial and private-equity buyers expect a written profile before a first meeting. This module produces one that explains the plants, contracts and people in a buyer's terms.

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Questions

What Allentown owners ask

How do buyers value a manufacturing supplier in Allentown?

Mostly on steady earnings, then on risk. The big questions are how much of the revenue comes from one plant, whether supply agreements transfer to a new owner, the condition of the equipment, and who on the floor would stay. Saltaire's range of value opinion lays out a defensible range and the reasoning behind it for a fixed $1,000.

Is there a Pennsylvania clearance for unemployment taxes when I sell?

Yes. Besides the bulk sale clearance certificate from the Department of Revenue, Pennsylvania's Office of Unemployment Compensation Tax Services issues its own bulk sale clearance. They are two separate requests to two agencies. This is general information, not tax or legal advice, so check the details with your attorney or accountant.

Does Saltaire have an Allentown office?

No. Saltaire works with owners in the Allentown area from the New York metropolitan area. Most of the work, from valuation to reviewing a letter of intent, runs on documents and calls. Each module carries a fixed fee agreed in writing, half up front, with no exclusive and no success fee.

Can I sell my Allentown business to my employees?

It's possible, and it's a common question where so many owners are near retirement. The usual hurdle is financing: employees rarely have the cash, so the deal leans on bank debt, seller notes or both. It works best when a manager has already been running daily operations for a while.

Nearby

Business valuation near Allentown

The first step

Not sure what you need?

That's what the call is for.

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Saltaire Partners works with owners in Allentown and across Pennsylvania 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

    Which module fits, if any. Sometimes the answer is none yet.

  3. You leave with a number

    If a module fits, you'll know its fixed fee before you decide anything.