{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dataset",
  "@id": "https://yourexitpath.com/free-ma-data#dataset",
  "name": "Free M&A Data — Vetted Directory of Public Data Sources for U.S. M&A Research",
  "description": "A hand-vetted directory of free public data sources relevant to Main Street and lower-middle-market M&A research. Includes federal statistical programs (SEC EDGAR, Census, BLS, SBA, FRED, BEA, HUD, IRS SOI, Data.gov), academic sources (NYU Stern Damodaran, NBER, OECD.Stat), and industry-practitioner reports (IBBA Market Pulse, BizBuySell Insight). Every entry includes publisher, description, official URL, download formats, license, update frequency, geographic coverage, and a citation string.",
  "url": "https://yourexitpath.com/free-ma-data",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "datePublished": "2026-09-19",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-19",
  "isAccessibleForFree": true,
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "keywords": [
    "free M&A data",
    "M&A datasets",
    "SEC EDGAR M&A",
    "small business acquisition data",
    "SBA loan data",
    "Census SUSB",
    "business valuation multiples",
    "NYU Stern Damodaran",
    "IBBA Market Pulse",
    "BizBuySell Insight Report",
    "public M&A data sources",
    "Main Street M&A"
  ],
  "spatialCoverage": {
    "@type": "Place",
    "name": "United States (with some international sources)"
  },
  "creator": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Your Exit Path (yourexitpath.com)",
    "url": "https://yourexitpath.com/free-ma-data"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Your Exit Path (yourexitpath.com)",
    "url": "https://yourexitpath.com/free-ma-data"
  },
  "citations": {
    "apa": "Your Exit Path. (2026). Free M&A Data: A vetted directory of public data sources for U.S. mergers-and-acquisitions research. Retrieved from https://yourexitpath.com/free-ma-data. Licensed CC BY 4.0.",
    "mla": "Your Exit Path. \"Free M&A Data: A Vetted Directory of Public Data Sources for U.S. Mergers-and-Acquisitions Research.\" Your Exit Path, 2026, yourexitpath.com/free-ma-data.",
    "chicago": "Your Exit Path. \"Free M&A Data: A Vetted Directory of Public Data Sources for U.S. Mergers-and-Acquisitions Research.\" Your Exit Path. 2026. https://yourexitpath.com/free-ma-data."
  },
  "distribution": [
    {
      "@type": "DataDownload",
      "encodingFormat": "text/csv",
      "contentUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/free-ma-data/data.csv"
    },
    {
      "@type": "DataDownload",
      "encodingFormat": "application/json",
      "contentUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/free-ma-data/data.json"
    }
  ],
  "recordCount": 22,
  "categories": [
    {
      "slug": "deal-activity",
      "label": "Deal activity & filings",
      "description": "Primary-source public records of M&A transactions — announcements, terms, structure, and post-close disclosures. The starting point for any transaction-level M&A research."
    },
    {
      "slug": "small-business-stats",
      "label": "Small business statistics",
      "description": "Population-level counts of U.S. businesses by industry × geography, owner demographics, and firm entry/exit rates. Feeds market-sizing, TAM estimation, and exit-market cohort analysis."
    },
    {
      "slug": "employment-wages",
      "label": "Employment & wages",
      "description": "Ground-truth employment, wage, and job-flow data for essentially every private-sector establishment in the U.S. Used to validate industry-density and workforce claims."
    },
    {
      "slug": "financing-capital",
      "label": "Financing & capital markets",
      "description": "SBA loan data (the workhorse of Main Street acquisition financing) plus broader credit-conditions and rates time series. Deal-financing context in one place."
    },
    {
      "slug": "economic-context",
      "label": "Economic context",
      "description": "GDP, personal income, tax return aggregates, and housing-permit series — the macro and regional inputs to any credible market-conditions section of a CIM or valuation report."
    },
    {
      "slug": "valuation-multiples",
      "label": "Valuation multiples",
      "description": "Industry-level valuation benchmarks used in comparable-company and precedent-transaction analysis. Both academic (Damodaran) and practitioner (IBBA, BizBuySell) sources."
    },
    {
      "slug": "academic-research",
      "label": "Academic research",
      "description": "Peer-reviewed and working-paper research on M&A empirics — deal returns, PE roll-up effects, SBA-financing impacts on selling prices, and small-business dynamics."
    },
    {
      "slug": "site-proprietary",
      "label": "Your Exit Path datasets",
      "description": "Datasets published by Your Exit Path under CC BY 4.0 — free to embed, cite, and adapt with attribution. Compiled from the federal and industry sources above."
    }
  ],
  "columns": [
    {
      "name": "slug",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Stable identifier for the source. Kebab-case, unique."
    },
    {
      "name": "category",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "One of eight top-level categories. See `categories` array in the envelope for labels + descriptions."
    },
    {
      "name": "name",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Short display name of the source."
    },
    {
      "name": "publisher",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Full publisher name suitable for citation."
    },
    {
      "name": "publisherType",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "One of: federal | academic | industry-association | international | site"
    },
    {
      "name": "description",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Neutral 2–3 sentence factual summary of what the dataset is."
    },
    {
      "name": "useForMA",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "1–2 sentences on why this source is useful for M&A research specifically."
    },
    {
      "name": "officialUrl",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Canonical top-level URL for the program. Deep links are avoided."
    },
    {
      "name": "downloadUrl",
      "type": "string | null",
      "description": "Direct download URL when the source exposes one. Null when the source requires a click-through selection UI first."
    },
    {
      "name": "formats",
      "type": "string[]",
      "description": "Available download formats. Values from the enum: csv | json | xml | xlsx | html | pdf | svg | api"
    },
    {
      "name": "license",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "License terms in the publisher's own words. 'Public domain' is used for U.S. federal government works."
    },
    {
      "name": "updateFrequency",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "How often the underlying dataset is updated."
    },
    {
      "name": "coverageStart",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Earliest year covered by the dataset."
    },
    {
      "name": "coverageGeography",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Finest geographic granularity available. One of: national | state | metro | county | firm | international"
    },
    {
      "name": "citation",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "APA-style citation string. Copy-paste ready."
    },
    {
      "name": "verifiedAt",
      "type": "string (ISO 8601 date)",
      "description": "Last date this entry was verified accessible and unchanged."
    }
  ],
  "data": [
    {
      "slug": "sec-edgar",
      "category": "deal-activity",
      "name": "SEC EDGAR",
      "publisher": "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "The Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system. Full-text search and download of every filing made with the SEC since 1993 — 8-K M&A announcements (items 1.01 and 2.01), tender offer statements, S-4 registration statements, merger proxies, and post-close 10-K/10-Q disclosures.",
      "useForMA": "The authoritative public record of every SEC-registered M&A transaction. Deal announcements, financial terms, and structure are filed within four business days of execution. Free RESTful API access via EDGAR endpoints.",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.sec.gov/edgar",
      "downloadUrl": "https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch",
      "formats": [
        "html",
        "xml",
        "json",
        "api"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (U.S. federal government work)",
      "updateFrequency": "Real-time (as filings are submitted)",
      "coverageStart": "1993",
      "coverageGeography": "national",
      "citation": "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (n.d.). EDGAR: Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System. Retrieved from https://www.sec.gov/edgar",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "sec-financial-statement-data",
      "category": "deal-activity",
      "name": "SEC Financial Statement Data Sets",
      "publisher": "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "Structured, downloadable quarterly datasets containing every numeric value reported to the SEC via XBRL in company financial statements. Balance sheet, income statement, cash flow, and disclosure fields — extracted from 10-K, 10-Q, 20-F, and 40-F filings.",
      "useForMA": "Machine-readable financial history for every SEC-registered company. Enables direct precedent-transaction analysis, same-industry multiple calibration, and target-company screening without paying a data-vendor fee.",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.sec.gov/dera/data/financial-statement-data-sets",
      "downloadUrl": "https://www.sec.gov/dera/data/financial-statement-data-sets",
      "formats": [
        "csv"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (U.S. federal government work)",
      "updateFrequency": "Quarterly",
      "coverageStart": "2009",
      "coverageGeography": "firm",
      "citation": "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Economic and Risk Analysis. (n.d.). Financial Statement Data Sets. Retrieved from https://www.sec.gov/dera/data/financial-statement-data-sets",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "census-susb",
      "category": "small-business-stats",
      "name": "Census SUSB",
      "publisher": "U.S. Census Bureau",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "Statistics of U.S. Businesses. Annual counts of firms, establishments, employment, and receipts for the U.S. private sector by 2- through 6-digit NAICS industry × geography (national, state, metro, county). Covers essentially every employer business.",
      "useForMA": "The definitive population count of U.S. businesses in any industry × geography combination — the empirical basis for market-sizing, TAM estimation, and buyer-universe scoping. Includes receipt tabulations by firm-size class (a proxy for potential deal sizes).",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb.html",
      "downloadUrl": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb/data/tables.html",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "xlsx",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (U.S. federal government work)",
      "updateFrequency": "Annual (2-year lag)",
      "coverageStart": "1988",
      "coverageGeography": "county",
      "citation": "U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb.html",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "census-abs",
      "category": "small-business-stats",
      "name": "Census ABS (Annual Business Survey)",
      "publisher": "U.S. Census Bureau",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "Annual survey of ~850,000 employer businesses covering owner demographics (age, race, sex, veteran and immigrant status), business characteristics, and R&D activity. Successor to the discontinued Survey of Business Owners (SBO).",
      "useForMA": "Owner-demographics data is the empirical basis for the 'Silver Tsunami' thesis. Counts of business owners in each age bracket × industry × state answer the market-sizing question 'how many boomer-owned businesses are approaching exit age?'",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs.html",
      "downloadUrl": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/data.html",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "xlsx",
        "api",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (U.S. federal government work)",
      "updateFrequency": "Annual",
      "coverageStart": "2017",
      "coverageGeography": "state",
      "citation": "U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Annual Business Survey (ABS). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs.html",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "census-bds",
      "category": "small-business-stats",
      "name": "Census BDS (Business Dynamics Statistics)",
      "publisher": "U.S. Census Bureau",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "Firm-age and firm-size dynamics: entry rates, exit rates, job creation, job destruction, and establishment openings/closings. Covers every U.S. private-sector firm from 1977 forward.",
      "useForMA": "Establishes baseline empirical exit rates by industry × firm-age × firm-size cohort. Answers 'what fraction of comparable firms actually transact each year vs. close or continue?' — a critical calibration input for exit-planning timelines.",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds.html",
      "downloadUrl": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/data.html",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "html",
        "api"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (U.S. federal government work)",
      "updateFrequency": "Annual",
      "coverageStart": "1977",
      "coverageGeography": "state",
      "citation": "U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds.html",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "bls-qcew",
      "category": "employment-wages",
      "name": "BLS QCEW",
      "publisher": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Quarterly counts of employment and wages for essentially every establishment in the U.S. that reports Unemployment Insurance covered wages — approximately 12 million establishments across every 6-digit NAICS industry × county.",
      "useForMA": "Ground-truth employment and wage data at the finest available industry × geography granularity. Used to validate industry-density claims, workforce-scale estimates, and market-share calculations in CIMs and industry reports.",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.bls.gov/cew/",
      "downloadUrl": "https://www.bls.gov/cew/downloadable-data-files.htm",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "xlsx",
        "api",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (U.S. federal government work)",
      "updateFrequency": "Quarterly (5-6 month lag)",
      "coverageStart": "1975",
      "coverageGeography": "county",
      "citation": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (n.d.). Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/cew/",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "bls-bed",
      "category": "employment-wages",
      "name": "BLS BED (Business Employment Dynamics)",
      "publisher": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "Quarterly job-creation and job-destruction statistics by industry × state. Tracks the gross flows behind net employment change — opening, expanding, contracting, and closing establishments — that net job counts mask.",
      "useForMA": "Gross firm-exit rates by industry are a better exit-rate proxy than net counts, which understate underlying churn. Useful for setting realistic expectations on peer-firm turnover in a given category.",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.bls.gov/bdm/",
      "downloadUrl": "https://www.bls.gov/bdm/bdmtabs.htm",
      "formats": [
        "html",
        "xlsx",
        "csv"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (U.S. federal government work)",
      "updateFrequency": "Quarterly",
      "coverageStart": "1992",
      "coverageGeography": "state",
      "citation": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (n.d.). Business Employment Dynamics (BED). Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/bdm/",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "sba-loan-data",
      "category": "financing-capital",
      "name": "SBA 7(a) and 504 Loan Data (FOIA)",
      "publisher": "U.S. Small Business Administration",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "Complete records of every SBA-approved loan under the 7(a) (working capital and acquisition) and 504 (real estate and fixed assets) programs. Each row includes borrower name, lender, gross approval amount, NAICS code, use-of-proceeds category, project state, and approval date.",
      "useForMA": "The single most useful public data set on business-acquisition financing. Because most Main Street acquisitions under $5M are SBA 7(a)-financed, the loan data functions as a near-comprehensive proxy for the sub-$5M M&A market itself. Filterable by 'change of ownership' use-of-proceeds code to isolate acquisitions.",
      "officialUrl": "https://data.sba.gov/dataset/7-a-504-foia",
      "downloadUrl": "https://data.sba.gov/dataset/7-a-504-foia",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "xlsx"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (FOIA-released federal data)",
      "updateFrequency": "Quarterly",
      "coverageStart": "1990",
      "coverageGeography": "state",
      "citation": "U.S. Small Business Administration. (n.d.). 7(a) & 504 FOIA — Approved Loan Data. Retrieved from https://data.sba.gov/dataset/7-a-504-foia",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "federal-reserve-fred",
      "category": "financing-capital",
      "name": "FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)",
      "publisher": "Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "Aggregation of 800,000+ economic time-series from federal, state, private, and international sources. Includes interest rates, GDP, employment, small-business optimism, credit conditions, and prime-rate history.",
      "useForMA": "Context data for financing-cost trends and macro conditions that shape deal appetite. Bank prime rate, SBA 7(a) effective rate, NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, and Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey series all sit here — with charts, API access, and Excel-friendly downloads.",
      "officialUrl": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org",
      "downloadUrl": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/tags/series",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "xlsx",
        "json",
        "api"
      ],
      "license": "Free (subject to underlying-source terms)",
      "updateFrequency": "Continuous (as source series update)",
      "coverageStart": "1960+",
      "coverageGeography": "national",
      "citation": "Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. (n.d.). Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED). Retrieved from https://fred.stlouisfed.org",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "bea-regional",
      "category": "economic-context",
      "name": "BEA Regional Economic Accounts",
      "publisher": "U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "State, metro, and county-level GDP; personal income; industry GDP contributions; and consumer-spending series. Published in both nominal and real (chained-dollar) forms with methodological consistency to national accounts.",
      "useForMA": "State and metro GDP growth trends anchor 'why this region' narratives in region-specific CIMs. Enables replacing adjectives ('fast-growing metro') with numbers ('4.9% real GDP CAGR 2018–2023').",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.bea.gov/data",
      "downloadUrl": "https://apps.bea.gov/regional/downloadzip.cfm",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "xlsx",
        "api",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (U.S. federal government work)",
      "updateFrequency": "Quarterly / annual (depending on series)",
      "coverageStart": "1969",
      "coverageGeography": "county",
      "citation": "U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. (n.d.). Regional Economic Accounts. Retrieved from https://www.bea.gov/data",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "irs-soi-corporation",
      "category": "economic-context",
      "name": "IRS SOI Corporation Source Book",
      "publisher": "Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "Aggregated corporate income tax return data by NAICS industry × asset-size class. Includes total receipts, deductions, net income, tax liability, and balance-sheet items — extracted from Form 1120 filings.",
      "useForMA": "The only public source on aggregate corporate financial performance by industry × size class at the tax-return level. Useful for benchmarking margin, profitability, and asset-turnover claims against IRS aggregates rather than survey-based estimates.",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-corporation-source-book",
      "formats": [
        "xlsx",
        "pdf"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (U.S. federal government work)",
      "updateFrequency": "Annual (2-year lag)",
      "coverageStart": "1926",
      "coverageGeography": "national",
      "citation": "Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division. (n.d.). Corporation Source Book. Retrieved from https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-corporation-source-book",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "hud-building-permits",
      "category": "economic-context",
      "name": "HUD Building Permits Survey",
      "publisher": "U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "Monthly count of residential building permits issued by 20,000+ permit-issuing places in the U.S., aggregated to MSA, county, and state. Sourced from the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey.",
      "useForMA": "Housing permits are one of the strongest leading indicators for home-services M&A (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, roofing) — every new residential unit generates multi-year installation and service demand. The core input to Your Exit Path's Buyer Demand Index.",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/permits.html",
      "downloadUrl": "https://socds.huduser.gov/permits/",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "xlsx",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (U.S. federal government work)",
      "updateFrequency": "Monthly",
      "coverageStart": "1980",
      "coverageGeography": "metro",
      "citation": "U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (n.d.). SOCDS Building Permits Database. Retrieved from https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/permits.html",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "data-gov",
      "category": "economic-context",
      "name": "Data.gov",
      "publisher": "U.S. General Services Administration",
      "publisherType": "federal",
      "description": "The federated open-data catalog for the U.S. federal government. Aggregates 300,000+ datasets across every federal agency — the discovery layer for anything the Census, BLS, Treasury, DOL, or agencies like OSHA and EPA publish.",
      "useForMA": "Discovery layer for federal data relevant to industry-specific M&A diligence questions — trucking DOT filings, OSHA workplace inspections, EPA compliance records, USDA agricultural business data. Search by keyword or agency; filter by format.",
      "officialUrl": "https://data.gov",
      "downloadUrl": "https://catalog.data.gov",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "json",
        "xml",
        "api"
      ],
      "license": "Public domain (federal open data)",
      "updateFrequency": "Continuous",
      "coverageStart": "2009",
      "coverageGeography": "national",
      "citation": "U.S. General Services Administration. (n.d.). Data.gov: The home of the U.S. Government's open data. Retrieved from https://data.gov",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "nyu-stern-damodaran",
      "category": "valuation-multiples",
      "name": "NYU Stern — Damodaran Industry Multiples & Cost of Capital",
      "publisher": "Prof. Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business",
      "publisherType": "academic",
      "description": "Annually updated valuation datasets covering 100+ industries: EV/EBITDA, EV/EBIT, EV/Sales, P/E, beta, cost of equity, cost of debt, and WACC. Compiled from public-company data grouped by industry and refreshed each January for the prior fiscal year.",
      "useForMA": "The most-cited free source for industry-level valuation multiples in lower-middle-market and mid-market M&A. Widely used as the benchmark 'academic multiple' against which practitioner-multiple sources (IBBA, BizBuySell) are triangulated.",
      "officialUrl": "https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/data.html",
      "downloadUrl": "https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/dataarchived.html",
      "formats": [
        "xlsx",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Free for non-commercial use with attribution",
      "updateFrequency": "Annual (January)",
      "coverageStart": "1998",
      "coverageGeography": "international",
      "citation": "Damodaran, A. (n.d.). Data: Historical, Current, and Estimated. NYU Stern School of Business. Retrieved from https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/data.html",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "ibba-market-pulse",
      "category": "valuation-multiples",
      "name": "IBBA Market Pulse Report",
      "publisher": "International Business Brokers Association",
      "publisherType": "industry-association",
      "description": "Quarterly report on Main Street and lower-middle-market business-for-sale multiples, closing rates, financing structure, and buyer/seller dynamics. Based on surveys of ~300 practicing business brokers and M&A advisors across the U.S. and Canada.",
      "useForMA": "The primary practitioner-based benchmark for Main Street multiples by deal-size cohort (<$500K, $500K–$1M, $1M–$2M, $2M–$5M, $5M–$50M). Free to download with a name+email registration; historical reports back to 2013.",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.ibba.org/resource-center/market-pulse-quarterly-report/",
      "formats": [
        "pdf"
      ],
      "license": "Free with email registration",
      "updateFrequency": "Quarterly",
      "coverageStart": "2013",
      "coverageGeography": "national",
      "citation": "International Business Brokers Association. (n.d.). Market Pulse Quarterly Report. Retrieved from https://www.ibba.org/resource-center/market-pulse-quarterly-report/",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "bizbuysell-insight",
      "category": "valuation-multiples",
      "name": "BizBuySell Insight Report",
      "publisher": "BizBuySell",
      "publisherType": "industry-association",
      "description": "Quarterly report on small-business sale activity aggregated across the BizBuySell marketplace: median sale price, revenue and cash flow multiples, days on market, and buyer/seller trends by industry and geography.",
      "useForMA": "The largest publicly-reported sample of small-business transactions in the U.S. — aggregates thousands of closed deals per quarter across 60+ industry categories. Free to view; downloadable PDF per quarter.",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.bizbuysell.com/insight-report/",
      "formats": [
        "html",
        "pdf"
      ],
      "license": "Free with attribution",
      "updateFrequency": "Quarterly",
      "coverageStart": "2007",
      "coverageGeography": "national",
      "citation": "BizBuySell. (n.d.). Insight Report: Quarterly Small Business Market Analysis. Retrieved from https://www.bizbuysell.com/insight-report/",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "nber-working-papers",
      "category": "academic-research",
      "name": "NBER Working Papers",
      "publisher": "National Bureau of Economic Research",
      "publisherType": "academic",
      "description": "Working-paper series covering ~30 papers per year on M&A, private equity, small-business dynamics, and entrepreneurship. Papers frequently include downloadable data appendices and cite their underlying sources in reproducible detail.",
      "useForMA": "Academic literature is the underappreciated source for empirical M&A questions — 'do PE roll-ups increase productivity?', 'does SBA financing affect selling prices?', 'how does firm age affect exit valuation?'. Papers cite their data and often make appendices publicly available.",
      "officialUrl": "https://www.nber.org",
      "downloadUrl": "https://www.nber.org/papers",
      "formats": [
        "pdf"
      ],
      "license": "Free for individuals; institutional access varies",
      "updateFrequency": "Continuous",
      "coverageStart": "1973",
      "coverageGeography": "national",
      "citation": "National Bureau of Economic Research. (n.d.). NBER Working Papers. Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/papers",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "oecd-stat",
      "category": "academic-research",
      "name": "OECD.Stat",
      "publisher": "Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development",
      "publisherType": "international",
      "description": "Cross-country statistics on business demographics, entrepreneurship, productivity, and economic conditions across 38 OECD member countries. Includes Structural and Demographic Business Statistics (SDBS) with directly comparable series.",
      "useForMA": "Cross-country benchmarking for M&A narratives that need global context — 'U.S. small-business exit rates vs. peer economies', 'trade-services M&A intensity by country'. Also useful for setting expectations on foreign-buyer interest.",
      "officialUrl": "https://stats.oecd.org",
      "downloadUrl": "https://data-explorer.oecd.org",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "xlsx",
        "api",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (mostly; series-specific)",
      "updateFrequency": "Continuous",
      "coverageStart": "1960+",
      "coverageGeography": "international",
      "citation": "Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (n.d.). OECD.Stat. Retrieved from https://stats.oecd.org",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "yep-silver-tsunami",
      "category": "site-proprietary",
      "name": "Silver Tsunami Exit Map",
      "publisher": "Your Exit Path",
      "publisherType": "site",
      "description": "50 states + DC dataset of boomer-owned business counts and exit-market density. Compiled from Census SUSB firm counts and ABS owner-age distributions. Each row includes total firms, boomer-owned firms, boomer-owned share, and dominant industries.",
      "useForMA": "State-level exit-market sizing. Answers 'how many businesses in [state] are owned by someone 55+?' with numbers grounded in Census data — the empirical basis for regional exit-planning market forecasts.",
      "officialUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/silver-tsunami",
      "downloadUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/silver-tsunami/data.csv",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "json",
        "svg",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)",
      "updateFrequency": "Annual",
      "coverageStart": "2020",
      "coverageGeography": "state",
      "citation": "Your Exit Path. (2026). Silver Tsunami Exit Map. Retrieved from https://yourexitpath.com/silver-tsunami. Licensed CC BY 4.0.",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "yep-business-sale-multiples",
      "category": "site-proprietary",
      "name": "Business Sale Multiples by Industry",
      "publisher": "Your Exit Path",
      "publisherType": "site",
      "description": "22-industry dataset of P25–P75 SDE and EBITDA multiple ranges, median days-to-close, and primary buyer type for Main Street private-target M&A. Aggregated from IBBA Market Pulse, BizBuySell Insight Report, and ABA M&A Committee data.",
      "useForMA": "Ready-to-cite valuation benchmarks for the 22 highest-frequency Main Street industries. Every row includes primary-source citation keys so downstream analysts can trace back to the underlying practitioner data.",
      "officialUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-multiples",
      "downloadUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-multiples/data.csv",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "json",
        "svg",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)",
      "updateFrequency": "Quarterly",
      "coverageStart": "2025",
      "coverageGeography": "national",
      "citation": "Your Exit Path. (2026). Main Street Business Sale Multiples by Industry. Retrieved from https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-multiples. Licensed CC BY 4.0.",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "yep-business-sale-timeline",
      "category": "site-proprietary",
      "name": "Business Sale Timeline Benchmarks",
      "publisher": "Your Exit Path",
      "publisherType": "site",
      "description": "Duration bands per phase for a Main Street business sale, segmented by preparation quality (excellent, average, poor). Phase-by-phase breakdown of what eats the clock — from engagement letter through purchase-agreement close.",
      "useForMA": "Realistic timeline expectations for exit planning. Distinguishes between the median sale (~9 months) and the well-prepared sale (~6 months) with the underlying phase-level breakdown.",
      "officialUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-timeline",
      "downloadUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-timeline/data.csv",
      "formats": [
        "csv",
        "json",
        "svg",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)",
      "updateFrequency": "Annual",
      "coverageStart": "2025",
      "coverageGeography": "national",
      "citation": "Your Exit Path. (2026). Main Street Business Sale Timeline Benchmarks. Retrieved from https://yourexitpath.com/data/business-sale-timeline. Licensed CC BY 4.0.",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    },
    {
      "slug": "yep-buyer-demand",
      "category": "site-proprietary",
      "name": "Buyer Demand Index",
      "publisher": "Your Exit Path",
      "publisherType": "site",
      "description": "Composite index of buyer demand across 25 U.S. metros × 6 Main Street industries (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, auto repair, restaurant). Inputs: HUD housing permits, Census population growth, and per-industry search-demand normalized to 0-100.",
      "useForMA": "Metro-level buyer-demand signal for prospective sellers deciding when and where to list. Higher BDI corresponds to more competitive buyer pools and shorter time-to-close.",
      "officialUrl": "https://yourexitpath.com/buyer-demand",
      "formats": [
        "json",
        "html"
      ],
      "license": "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)",
      "updateFrequency": "Quarterly",
      "coverageStart": "2025",
      "coverageGeography": "metro",
      "citation": "Your Exit Path. (2026). Buyer Demand Index. Retrieved from https://yourexitpath.com/buyer-demand. Licensed CC BY 4.0.",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-09-19"
    }
  ]
}