# 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.

Sell My Business Quotes · https://sellmybusinessquotes.com/datasets/exit-route-map/ · computed 2026-10-21

**Median published figure:** 12.9 % (range 12 to 13.8 %; 2 published figures; 2 of 29 sources read publish one).

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 source: the figure the source's own page publishes, the page, and the day it was read.

| Source | Figure | Read |
|---|---|---|
| [ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses including Entries and Exits (latest release)](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-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](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2025009/article/00001-eng.htm) | 12 % | 2026-10-12 |

## The sentence each figure was read from (2)

- [ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses including Entries and Exits (latest release)](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-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](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2025009/article/00001-eng.htm), 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

- [US Census Bureau, Annual Business Survey characteristics of business owners (2024 tables)](https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2024/econ/abs/2024-abs-characteristics-of-owners.html), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [US Census Bureau, business owner characteristics release](https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025/business-owner-characteristics.html), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [US Census Bureau, Annual Business Survey API](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/data/api.html), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [NCEO, Employee Ownership by the Numbers](https://www.nceo.org/research/employee-ownership-by-the-numbers), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [NCEO, National ESOP Database](https://www.nceo.org/research/data/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](https://www.nceo.org/employee-ownership-blog/22-increase-closely-held-company-esop-participants-most-recent-data), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [ONS, Business demography, UK (latest)](https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemography/latest), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [ONS, Business demography quarterly, UK](https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemographyquarterlyexperimentalstatisticsuk/julytoseptember2025), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, July 2021 - June 2025](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-australian-businesses-including-entries-and-exits/jul2021-jun2025), 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)](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3310008801), 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)](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3310016401), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics news release](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cewbd.htm), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics release contents](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cewbd.toc.htm), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics by state](https://www.bls.gov/bdm/bdmstate.htm), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [BizBuySell Insight Report](https://www.bizbuysell.com/insight-report/), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [Exit Planning Institute, State of Owner Readiness](https://exit-planning-institute.org/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)](https://exit-planning-institute.org/hubfs/25SOOR-Generational.pdf), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [Exit Planning Institute, Generational State of Owner Readiness](https://exit-planning-institute.org/generational-state-of-owner-readiness), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [Gallup, small-business owners and succession plans](https://news.gallup.com/poll/657362/small-business-owners-lack-succession-plan.aspx), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [GOV.UK, qualitative evaluation of Employee Ownership Trusts](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/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](https://advocacy.sba.gov/2026/02/03/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)](https://advocacy.sba.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/FINAL_FAQsAboutSmallBusiness_2026_012826.pdf), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025 Small Business Profiles for the States](https://advocacy.sba.gov/2025/06/30/2025-small-business-profiles-for-the-states-territories-and-nation/), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [The ESOP Association, a statistical snapshot of ESOPs](https://www.esop.org/infographics/statistical-snapshot-esops.php), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [Employee Ownership Association, UK EO Growth Strategy](https://employeeownership.co.uk/Site/Site/content/News-and-Insights/Growth-Strategy/uk-eo-growth-strategy.aspx), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [PwC US Family Business Survey](https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/audit-assurance/private-company-services/library/family-business-survey.html), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [Project Equity, business owner statistics on exits and succession](https://project-equity.org/news/employee-ownership-insider/business-owner-statistics-exit-planning/), 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.

## Sources

- [US Census Bureau, Annual Business Survey characteristics of business owners (2024 tables)](https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2024/econ/abs/2024-abs-characteristics-of-owners.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US Census Bureau, business owner characteristics release](https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025/business-owner-characteristics.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US Census Bureau, Annual Business Survey API](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/abs/data/api.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [NCEO, Employee Ownership by the Numbers](https://www.nceo.org/research/employee-ownership-by-the-numbers) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [NCEO, National ESOP Database](https://www.nceo.org/research/data/national-esop-database) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [NCEO, closely held ESOP participants, most recent data](https://www.nceo.org/employee-ownership-blog/22-increase-closely-held-company-esop-participants-most-recent-data) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ONS, Business demography, UK (latest)](https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemography/latest) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ONS, Business demography quarterly, UK](https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/businessdemographyquarterlyexperimentalstatisticsuk/julytoseptember2025) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses including Entries and Exits (latest release)](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-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](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-australian-businesses-including-entries-and-exits/jul2021-jun2025) (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)](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3310008801) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Statistics Canada, Business Dynamics measures by industry (table 33-10-0164-01)](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3310016401) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Statistics Canada, the long-run evolution of business entry and exit rates in Canada](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2025009/article/00001-eng.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics news release](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cewbd.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics release contents](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cewbd.toc.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US BLS, Business Employment Dynamics by state](https://www.bls.gov/bdm/bdmstate.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BizBuySell Insight Report](https://www.bizbuysell.com/insight-report/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Exit Planning Institute, State of Owner Readiness](https://exit-planning-institute.org/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)](https://exit-planning-institute.org/hubfs/25SOOR-Generational.pdf) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Exit Planning Institute, Generational State of Owner Readiness](https://exit-planning-institute.org/generational-state-of-owner-readiness) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Gallup, small-business owners and succession plans](https://news.gallup.com/poll/657362/small-business-owners-lack-succession-plan.aspx) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [GOV.UK, qualitative evaluation of Employee Ownership Trusts](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/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)](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10437/CBP-10437.pdf) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [SBA Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business 2026](https://advocacy.sba.gov/2026/02/03/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)](https://advocacy.sba.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/FINAL_FAQsAboutSmallBusiness_2026_012826.pdf) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025 Small Business Profiles for the States](https://advocacy.sba.gov/2025/06/30/2025-small-business-profiles-for-the-states-territories-and-nation/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [The ESOP Association, a statistical snapshot of ESOPs](https://www.esop.org/infographics/statistical-snapshot-esops.php) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Employee Ownership Association, UK EO Growth Strategy](https://employeeownership.co.uk/Site/Site/content/News-and-Insights/Growth-Strategy/uk-eo-growth-strategy.aspx) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [PwC US Family Business Survey](https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/audit-assurance/private-company-services/library/family-business-survey.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Project Equity, business owner statistics on exits and succession](https://project-equity.org/news/employee-ownership-insider/business-owner-statistics-exit-planning/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)

## Cite or embed

- 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/.

CSV: https://sellmybusinessquotes.com/datasets/exit-route-map.csv
JSON: https://sellmybusinessquotes.com/datasets/exit-route-map.json
Embed (plain HTML, static link back): see https://sellmybusinessquotes.com/datasets/exit-route-map/#median