Succession planning for small business: Exit Route Map
The median published figure in the Exit Route Map is 12.90 percent across 2 sources' own pages (range 12 to 13.80 percent), read 12 October 2026.
2 of the 29 named sources read in full publish a figure; 27 publish none, read 12 October 2026.
The median is unchanged since 26 September 2026 (was 12.90 percent across 2).
Every figure, with its source
One row per published figure: the figure as the source's own page publishes it, the page, and the day it was read. A figure that is not on a page we read is not on this one.
| Source | Figure | Read |
|---|---|---|
| ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses including Entries and Exits (latest release) | 13.8% | 2026-10-12 |
| Statistics Canada, the long-run evolution of business entry and exit rates in Canada | 12% | 2026-10-12 |
The sentence each figure was read from (2)
- ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses including Entries and Exits (latest release), read 2026-10-12:
13.8% exit rate, with 375,331 exits
- Statistics Canada, the long-run evolution of business entry and exit rates in Canada, read 2026-10-12:
Similarly, from 2001 to 2012, the exit rate stays around 12%, with a very subtle decline over the subsequent years.
Read in full, publishes no figure
27 named sources were read in full on the dates shown and print no usable figure. They are counted, never filled in.
- US Census Bureau, Annual Business Survey characteristics of business owners (2024 tables), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- US Census Bureau, business owner characteristics release, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- US Census Bureau, Annual Business Survey API, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- NCEO, Employee Ownership by the Numbers, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- NCEO, National ESOP Database, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- NCEO, closely held ESOP participants, most recent data, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- ONS, Business demography, UK (latest), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- ONS, Business demography quarterly, UK, read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, July 2021 - June 2025, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- Statistics Canada, Business Dynamics measures by firm size and province (table 33-10-0088-01), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- Statistics Canada, Business Dynamics measures by industry (table 33-10-0164-01), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics news release, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics release contents, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics by state, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- BizBuySell Insight Report, read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- Exit Planning Institute, State of Owner Readiness, read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- Exit Planning Institute, Generational State of Owner Readiness 2025 national report (PDF), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- Exit Planning Institute, Generational State of Owner Readiness, read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- Gallup, small-business owners and succession plans, read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- GOV.UK, qualitative evaluation of Employee Ownership Trusts, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- SBA Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business 2026, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- SBA Office of Advocacy, FAQs About Small Business 2026 (PDF), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025 Small Business Profiles for the States, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- The ESOP Association, a statistical snapshot of ESOPs, read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- Employee Ownership Association, UK EO Growth Strategy, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- PwC US Family Business Survey, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- Project Equity, business owner statistics on exits and succession, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
Methodology
Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2).
2 of the 29 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 27 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 1 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere.
The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in % (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 284 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded.
The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): one row per jurisdiction per year per route - third-party sale, family succession, management buyout, employee ownership (ESOP in the US, EOT in the UK) and closure - as a count and a share of all exits, computed by joining each route's own counting authority to the statistical agency's total of business deaths; beside it the share of owners with a written plan and the median time a sale takes.
Nobody publishes the routes side by side: the ESOP registry counts ESOPs, the statistical agency counts closures, the broker index counts listings, and the readiness survey counts intentions, so the derivation is the RECONCILIATION - what fraction of the year's exits each counted route can account for, and how large the unaccounted remainder is.
Changed-since on every release.
284 candidate sentences on these pages were refused by a reviewer; each refusal and its reason is recorded in the review ledger.
Sources (30)
- US Census Bureau, Annual Business Survey characteristics of business owners (2024 tables)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- US Census Bureau, business owner characteristics release(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- US Census Bureau, Annual Business Survey API(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- NCEO, Employee Ownership by the Numbers(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- NCEO, National ESOP Database(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- NCEO, closely held ESOP participants, most recent data(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ONS, Business demography, UK (latest)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ONS, Business demography quarterly, UK(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses including Entries and Exits (latest release)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, July 2021 - June 2025(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Statistics Canada, Business Dynamics measures by firm size and province (table 33-10-0088-01)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Statistics Canada, Business Dynamics measures by industry (table 33-10-0164-01)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Statistics Canada, the long-run evolution of business entry and exit rates in Canada(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics news release(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics release contents(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics by state(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BizBuySell Insight Report(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Exit Planning Institute, State of Owner Readiness(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Exit Planning Institute, Generational State of Owner Readiness 2025 national report (PDF)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Exit Planning Institute, Generational State of Owner Readiness(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Gallup, small-business owners and succession plans(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- GOV.UK, qualitative evaluation of Employee Ownership Trusts(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- House of Commons Library, Budget 2025: Employee Ownership Trusts (CBP-10437)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- SBA Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business 2026(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- SBA Office of Advocacy, FAQs About Small Business 2026 (PDF)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025 Small Business Profiles for the States(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- The ESOP Association, a statistical snapshot of ESOPs(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Employee Ownership Association, UK EO Growth Strategy(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- PwC US Family Business Survey(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Project Equity, business owner statistics on exits and succession(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
Cite or embed this figure
Cite or embed this figure
The median published figure in the Exit Route Map is 12.90 percent across 2 sources' own pages (range 12 to 13.80 percent), read 12 October 2026.
2 of the 29 named sources read in full publish a figure; 27 publish none, read 12 October 2026.
The median is unchanged since 26 September 2026 (was 12.90 percent across 2).
Cite as: "Sell My Business Quotes Exit Route Map", updated 2026-10-21, https://sellmybusinessquotes.com/datasets/exit-route-map/.
Download the CSV (2 rows, computed 2026-10-21)