Buying a Nail Salon Business and What It Costs to Buy an Existing Salon

An existing US nail salon cost a median $150,000 to buy across 2021 to 2025, based on closed BizBuySell sales, on median revenue of $429,000 and median owner earnings of $101,412. Financed with an SBA 7(a) loan at 10 percent down, the cash you bring to that purchase is about $17,295 for the equity injection and the SBA guaranty fee, plus the lease deposit, inventory and a few weeks of payroll. Nail salons are one of the cheapest ways to buy earnings in the beauty sector: at the median price the loan leaves room for an owner salary of about $74,088 a year, roughly twice the $35,760 median manicurist wage.

Most pages that answer this question price opening a nail salon: a build-out, plumbing for pedicure chairs, ventilation, tables, a sign and months of building a client list. Buying a salon is a different purchase. You pay for technicians already on the schedule, regulars who already rebook and a fitted, plumbed space with a lease attached. The price is set by earnings. Whether it is a good buy is set by whether the team stays and whether the payroll behind those earnings holds up. The full sold-price distribution is on our nail salon valuation page; this article is the buyer's version, with the cash and the salary worked out.

How much does it cost to buy a nail salon?

The median nail salon sold for $150,000, which is 1.48 times its $101,412 of seller discretionary earnings and 0.35 times its revenue. The published median multiple is 1.53x earnings, and half of all sales landed between 1.11x and 2.00x. Those readings sit close together, which makes nail salons easier to price than most small businesses. Sellers asked a median $177,000 and closed at an average 0.87 of their asking price, the deepest discount in the beauty and personal care group.

Which column applies depends mostly on size and on how much of the revenue depends on the owner. BizBuySell states that a nail salon with sales of $600,000 a year may sell for 2 times earnings or more, while one well below $250,000 is more likely to sell near 1.11. Watch the year, too. The 2025 median sale was $152,000, almost level with 2024, but the 2025 median asking price was $210,000. Sellers are asking more than buyers have been paying. If the seller has handed you a profit and loss statement rather than an SDE figure, start with how to calculate SDE.

How much cash do you need to buy a nail salon?

About $17,295 at the median price before working capital, on an SBA loan with 10 percent down. On a $150,000 purchase that is a $15,000 equity injection and a $135,000 loan. Loans of $150,000 or less carry an 85 percent SBA guaranty, so the guaranteed portion is $114,750, and the FY2026 upfront guaranty fee on loans that size is 2 percent of it, or $2,295.

The closing statement rarely stops there. Plan for these on top:

• Lease deposit and assignment costs. Most landlords want a new security deposit or a personal guaranty from the buyer, and some charge a fee to consent to the assignment.
• Inventory. Polish, gel, acrylic powder, disposables and retail product are usually bought at cost on top of the price, counted the day before closing.
• Working capital. Technicians are paid every week or two whether the first month is busy or not. A month of payroll and rent in the bank is a sensible floor.
• Licensing, bonds and legal fees. A new establishment license, a wage bond if you buy in New York and employ the equivalent of two or more full-time nail workers, and legal fees for the purchase agreement and the lease review.

Can you get an SBA loan to buy a nail salon?

Yes, and the median salon carries the loan comfortably. On a 10 year SBA loan at 10.5 percent, debt service on $135,000 is about $21,859 a year. The median $101,412 of earnings covers that 4.64 times. After the lender's usual 1.25x coverage cushion, the most a buyer can draw at $150,000 is about $74,088 a year. If the loan prices at the SBA cap of prime plus 6 points, 12.75 percent, that falls to about $71,474.

The binding constraint is not the price; it is what the lender can verify. A lender underwrites tax returns and bank deposits. Revenue the seller says was paid in cash but never reached the books is not in the earnings the bank will use, and you should not pay a multiple on it. Because almost every nail salon sells for under $350,000, the lender may value the business in house when buyer and seller are not closely related, so the numbers you bring matter. Our guide to the SBA loan to buy a business covers the down payment rules, seller notes and what the lender will ask for.

Is buying a nail salon a good investment?

On the sold record, yes for most buyers, including some who will not work in it. The median manicurist and pedicurist on payroll earns $35,760 a year (BLS, May 2025). A technician who buys the median salon and keeps working a station can draw up to about $74,088 while the loan is repaid, and owns the equity at the end. That is a far better trade than a hair salon offers at its median price, where the most a buyer can draw is about $49,185.

The numbers also hold when the owner steps back. Replace the owner's station with a hired technician at the BLS median plus payroll tax, $38,496, and $62,916 of earnings is left: the $150,000 price becomes 2.38 times earnings and still finances with about $35,592 a year for the owner. Hire a salon manager at $52,307 instead and $49,105 is left, a 3.05x price that still supports $269,570 of financing at no owner draw, with about $21,781 left over at the median price. That is rare for a small beauty business. The risk is not the multiple; it is whether the technicians stay and whether the payroll you inherit is clean.

What should I look for when buying a nail salon?

Start with the team, then the payroll, then the books and the lease. A nail salon's value is the people on the floor and the regulars who book with them. These checks take a week of document requests and screen out most of the bad deals.

• Technician roster. Tenure, pay model, weekly hours and share of revenue for each technician, and how many left in the last two years. If two people produce half the revenue, your price depends on them staying.
• Payroll and time records. Two years of payroll registers, time records and how tips are handled. Flat day rates, unpaid overtime and technicians paid as contractors while working a set schedule are the classic liabilities in this trade.
• Deposits against the point of sale. Twelve months of bank statements against the point of sale reports, month by month. Software can reconcile the seller's bank statements against the sales reports in an afternoon instead of a week, and any gap is revenue the lender will not count.
• Repeat clients. The booking export: active clients, visits per client and how many book fills or pedicures on a regular cycle. Booked repeat work is revenue already on the calendar on closing day.
• Gift cards and packages. Every unredeemed gift card and prepaid package is service you will deliver for no new cash. Get the outstanding balance and agree a credit at closing.
• The lease and the fit-out. Remaining term, renewal options, rent as a share of revenue and the assignment clause, plus the condition of pedicure chairs, plumbing and ventilation. Moving a nail salon means rebuilding the plumbing.

Should you buy the company or just its assets?

For most nail salons, an asset purchase is the safer structure. In an asset purchase you buy the equipment, the lease, the name and the goodwill, and the seller's company keeps its own history, including wage claims for work done before closing. In a stock or membership interest purchase, you buy the company and everything it owes, known or not. SBA lenders finance both, and an asset purchase can cost more in lease and license paperwork, but in a trade where state agencies have run wage enforcement sweeps, leaving the past liabilities with the seller is usually worth it.

Whichever structure you use, put an indemnity for pre-closing wage and tax claims in the purchase agreement, and hold part of the price back in a seller note or escrow so the indemnity has money behind it. A seller who carries part of the price also has a reason to help the team through the handover.

Does the nail salon license transfer when you buy a salon?

Usually not; the new owner applies for a new establishment license. In Texas, the Department of Licensing and Regulation says a cosmetology establishment license cannot be transferred to a new owner, and the buyer must file a new application (Texas Occupations Code 1603.2204). Most state boards treat a sale the same way. Build the license into the purchase agreement: who files, when, and what happens if the board has not issued it by closing. A gap where the salon cannot legally open costs more than the license fee, because regulars who cannot book go somewhere else.

How do you know if the asking price is fair?

Compare the asking price with three numbers: the multiple of owner earnings it implies, the sold range for salons of that size, and what an SBA loan will cover at the salary you need. A salon asking 2.5 times earnings on $100,000 of SDE is above the upper quartile of what sold. Current listings ask a median 2.08 times earnings against 1.53 times paid, and they report lower earnings than the salons that sold, so most asking prices have room to come down.

Before you sign a letter of intent, run the salon's revenue and owner earnings through the estimator on our nail salon valuation page. It returns a value range against what nail salons actually sold for and shows how much of it an SBA loan will cover at the salary you need, so you go into the negotiation with a number you can defend. If you are weighing a nail salon against a hair salon, the hair salon valuation page runs the same numbers for that trade.