Tanning Salon Business Valuation Benchmarks

Business owners, prospective buyers, and industry investors rely on a diverse set of financial benchmarks to assess the value of a business. We have compiled data from current BizBuySell listings and sold businesses to provide insight into the business for sale market and important benchmarks for pricing and evaluating tanning salon businesses relative to industry standards.

See also: Nail Salons and Health and Beauty Spas.

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Highlights of Tanning Salons Sold on BizBuySell

Tanning salons listed and sold on BizBuySell are primarily small shops that offer access to tanning beds and spray tan services, though some may include more broad health and beauty spa services.

Most of the tanning salon businesses listed and sold on BizBuySell are independently owned brands, though occasionally, franchise brands are listed and may be included in this report.

Tanning Salon Business Transaction Trends

Median sale prices of tanning salon businesses peaked in 2023 as larger businesses that survived the Covid-19 social distancing measures sold with higher average financial performance. Prices returned to more typical levels in 2024 and grew modestly in 2025.

Tanning Salon Business Valuation Multiples

Valuation, or pricing, multiples are financial tools that allow for comparisons between businesses that have different levels of revenue and earnings. They represent the sales price of a business relative to its financial performance, and given enough individual business sales data, they represent what the market is willing to pay for a business given its revenue and earnings.

Valuation Trends

Business values and associated multiples fluctuate over time, influenced by a variety of macroeconomic factors such as interest rates, inflation, consumer spending, and overall economic growth.

Valuations of tanning salon businesses have been improving, as the businesses listed have increased profit margins, and demand for these businesses has increased. Average earnings multiples fell in 2024, then immediately came back to a new high in 2025.

Earnings Multiples

Earnings multiples represent the value of a business relative to its owner's discretionary earnings. Arguably the most important valuation metric - as the seller's discretionary earnings will often dictate how much a buyer is able to borrow to finance the business acquisition - most valuations will hinge on the earnings multiple.

Revenue Multiples

Revenue multiples represent the value of a business relative to its overall sales or revenue. In conjunction with an earnings analysis, revenue multiples are commonly used to value a business based on its overall sales.

How to Interpret These Multiples

Recent Listings vs. Sold Businesses

We calculate and provide valuation multiples from two sources: Current and recent listings of tanning salon businesses for sale, and our database of "comparable" businesses sold on BizBuySell. Multiples based on listing data are generally higher due to owners setting asking prices above what their businesses might typically sell for. This occurs either intentionally as a negotiation strategy, or incidentally due to business owners’ common tendency to overvalue their own businesses.

Multiples based on comparable businesses - "comps" in business broker parlance - are much more useful as they represent the prices at which businesses ultimately get sold. Business brokers and valuation professionals will always turn to local comps when pricing businesses for sale or evaluating businesses for acquisition. We provide both sets of data at the national level to offer general context. Local business sale comps by sales class suitable for pricing and negotiations are available in BizBuySell's Business Valuation Report.

Quartiles, Median, and Average

No two businesses are identical, and as such, valuation multiples exist in a range. We have carved out four common values within this range: Lower quartile represents the value under which the lowest 25% of valuation multiples fell. Upper quartile represents the value above which the highest 25% of multiples fell. Median is the middle of the range, and average is the mean of the set. Mean is almost always higher than the median, driven by a minority of high volume, high value businesses sold at multiples above the upper quartile.

Businesses with consistent financial performance, above average revenue and earnings, demonstrable growth potential, low owner involvement, unique competitive advantages, and a seller willing to finance will command a multiple at or above the upper quartile. Lower volume businesses with thin profit margins, full-time owner involvement, and many direct competitors will trade at or below the lower quartile. Most businesses will fall somewhere in the middle.

Based on this data, half of tanning salon businesses are valued between 1.46 and 2.55 times their annual seller discretionary earnings, with 25% of exceptional, high traffic tanning salons trading above this range, and 25% of smaller, less popular shops trading below.

Financial Benchmarks

To determine how a business compares in terms of revenue and earnings relative to industry peers, it’s necessary to have some insight into industry standards. "Benchmarking" describes the practice of comparing a business’s financial performance to typical industry standards to determine where a business falls relative to other businesses in the same industry. These benchmarks can help guide owners and investors towards appropriate valuation multiples from the range above.

To that end, we have aggregated financial ranges useful for comparing an individual tanning salon business to its peers in the market.

Tanning Salon Business Revenue and Earnings Trends

Median revenue of tanning salon businesses listed for sale peaked in 2024, when many larger businesses that survived Covid-19 went up for sale. There has been some pressure on profit margins, but profits remain healthy, closing on 30%.

Earnings Ranges

Discretionary earnings (used interchangeably with the terms "cash flow" and seller's discretionary earnings or SDE) is often the crux of business valuations, so it is important to benchmark it relative to other businesses traded on the market. Below you will find discretionary earnings ranges for tanning salon businesses sold over the past five years and those recently listed for sale.

Revenue Ranges

Sales volume plays a large role in business valuation, as it measures the size of the potential income opportunity for new ownership. It's not uncommon for buyers to select an earnings multiple range based on overall revenue. The table below includes revenue ranges of tanning salons sold over the past five years and those recently listed for sale.

How Revenue and Earnings Level Affects Business Values

Clearly higher levels of earnings lead to higher valuations, even given the same multiple. However, valuation multiples also tend to rise with business sales volume. Popular tanning salons that consistently generate higher revenue (and maintain reasonable profit margins) tend to sell for earnings multiples on the higher end. So, a tanning salon with sales of $350k annually may sell for an earnings multiple of 2.5 or higher, while a less popular salon with sales below $200k would likely sell for an earnings multiple closer to 1.5.

This tendency for higher sales volumes to fetch higher valuation multiples is largely driven by the economics of business acquisition financing. Higher volume businesses give buyers more cushion to cover debt service obligations and still have enough left over to pay the new owner a reasonable income.

Sector Comparisons

For a more complete understanding of the market and valuation standards, consider comparisons within the broader beauty and personal care sector when benchmarking tanning salon businesses. The chart and table below includes key metrics from sales of select beauty and personal care businesses on BizBuySell between 2021 and 2025.

Compared to other businesses in the beauty and personal care sector, tanning salons tend to receive a premium valuation relative to their typical size. These businesses are favored by buyers and investors thanks to a business model that relies on leveraging machines and self-service rather than labor.

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