More than a third of BC’s self-employed are 55 or older
Four official sources count the owners nearing retirement in BC and across Canada, and each counts a different group. They are set side by side here, followed by a countdown for an owner who plans to sell in five years.
Many BC owners are close to retirement. About 36 percent of BC’s self-employed were 55 or older in 2024, and a 2026 CFIB survey found that 63 percent of Canadian small business owners plan to exit within ten years, while 6 percent have a formal plan in writing. An owner selling within five years should start preparing now.
The 2026 figures on owners who plan to leave
BC business owners retiring in the next ten years will sell alongside many others doing the same. Two surveys published in 2026 put numbers on it. In July, National Bank of Canada reported that 47 percent of mid-market owners in Western Canada expect to retire within ten years. In October, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) found in Passing the Torch that 63 percent of small business owners across Canada plan to exit within the same decade.
The two figures describe different owners. National Bank counted businesses with $3 million to $100 million of annual revenue, while CFIB surveyed small business owners of every size. Both report the West or Canada as a whole, so the BC figures here come from the province’s statistics agency, BC Stats.
Each figure and the owners it covers
| Source | Who was counted | Exit, retirement or age figure | Plans in place |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Bank of Canada, survey by Angus Reid, May 4 to 20, 2026 | 504 mid-market owners in Canada with annual revenue of $3 million to $100 million; results stated for Western Canada | 47 percent expect to retire within 10 years; 68 percent plan to sell or transfer the business | 62 percent of those planning a sale or transfer have sought professional advice |
| CFIB, Passing the Torch, survey May 21 to June 11, 2026 | 1,731 small business owners across Canada, weighted by industry and owner age | 63 percent plan to exit within 10 years, rising to 80 percent of owners aged 65 or older | 6 percent have a formal plan in writing and 44 percent an informal one |
| BC Stats, Small Business Profile, 2025 edition with 2024 data | 540,000 BC businesses with fewer than 50 employees, and 453,900 self-employed people | 36 percent of the self-employed are 55 or older | A count of people and firms, so plans fall outside it |
| Statistics Canada, table 33-10-0632-01, 2021 data | 1,407,060 private enterprises in Canada: privately held corporations and unincorporated employers | 44 percent have a primary owner aged 55 or older, up from 34 percent in 2005 | A count by owner age, so plans fall outside it |
The four sources agree on the direction. A large share of owners is past 55 and expects to leave within ten years, and a small share has the exit in writing. In the CFIB survey, 43 percent expect to leave within five years and a further 20 percent in the five years after that.
Owners tend to write plans late. Among CFIB respondents leaving within 12 months, 23 percent have a formal plan, against 5 percent of those leaving in six to ten years. Of the National Bank owners planning a sale or transfer, 60 percent expect it within the decade, and 44 percent name keeping the business going as their top priority, against 39 percent who name the highest return.
BC’s self-employed skew older than its employees
The 2025 edition of the Small Business Profile, published by BC Stats as data tables, carries figures for 2024. British Columbia had 540,000 small businesses that year, meaning those with fewer than 50 employees, and they made up 98 percent of all businesses. Of those, 332,800 were self-employed people working alone, and the other 207,200 had at least one employee.
Age is where the profile speaks to retirement. Of BC’s 453,900 self-employed people in 2024, 103,000 were aged 55 to 64 and 59,000 were 65 or older, about 36 percent together. Among employees the same two age groups made up about 18 percent. In 2010 the self-employed share aged 55 or over was about 31 percent, by our arithmetic from the same table.
Nearly three quarters of those self-employed people work alone. The owners this page is written for employ staff, and in 2024 BC had 118,300 self-employed people with paid help. Statistics Canada’s table of private enterprises by age of primary owner covers that group for Canada as a whole. In 2021, 44 percent had a primary owner aged 55 or older, and among firms with 20 to 49 employees the share was 47 percent.
More sellers at once, and what buyers pick
These are statements of intent, and owners revise them. When many of them go to market in the same years, a buyer has more businesses to compare. CFIB respondents already name finding a buyer or successor as their most cited barrier, at 47 percent, and 37 percent find it hard to put a value on their own business.
A buyer with choices starts from earnings it can check against the tax returns, with each add back documented. Next comes a manager who runs the week while you are away. In the valuation InvestDeal runs, a business a management team already runs earns 0.4 more on its multiple, and revenue that mostly repeats through contracts or regular customers earns 0.3.
Owner dependence is the weakness most owners can see in their own business: 31 percent of CFIB respondents named reliance on their own involvement as a barrier. A business that depends on you shows how buyers test it, and preparing a business for sale covers the rest of the year of work. In a crowded year, buyers pick the prepared business, a point the timing of a sale makes at length.
Where interest in BC businesses comes from
CFIB asked owners who plan to sell outside the family whether anyone had approached them. In the two years before the 2026 survey, 52 percent had received an offer or an expression of interest. Individuals were the most common source, at 28 percent, and investment groups or private equity firms accounted for 14 percent. For most buyer types, at least 90 percent of that interest came from inside Canada.
Some individual buyers in BC are newcomers whose purchase runs through the BC Provincial Nominee Program, and a buyer coming through the BC PNP explains what that file asks of the seller. Size decides which other buyers look. Private equity starts to screen at about $1 million of adjusted earnings, where InvestDeal’s engine adds 0.3 to the multiple, and the main kinds of buyer describes each group.
Inside the business, 28 percent of CFIB respondents plan to sell to employees. For them, an employee ownership trust carries a capital gains exemption of up to $10 million on a qualifying sale.
A countdown for an owner who wants to close in 2031
Take, as an illustration, an owner who wants the sale to close in 2031, five years from now. A sale runs six to ten months from going to market to closing, as how long a sale takes explains. The preparation that raises the price needs about a year before that to show in the statements, and the tax rules run a clock of their own.
| When | What to do | Why at that point |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Get a valuation of the business as it stands, and name the person who will run the week in your place | Buyers read the last two or three years of statements, so changes made now reach the file a buyer sees |
| 2027 | Put that manager in the role and move regular customers onto written agreements | By 2030 the statements show three full years with the manager in place |
| 2028 | Choose with your accountant between an outside buyer and a family or employee successor | CFIB found that 68 percent of family transitions took more than 12 months |
| Early 2029 | Have the accountant confirm the shares qualify for the lifetime capital gains exemption, $1,275,000 in 2026, and clean surplus assets out of the company | The exemption tests look back 24 months from the sale |
| 2030 | Close a full year of prepared numbers, and decide whether to sell the building or lease it to the buyer | Going to market late in 2030 leaves the six to ten months a sale needs |
| 2031 | Sign a letter of intent and work through due diligence to closing | The buyer’s financing and the consents set the pace from here |
An owner aiming for 2028 has the same steps in two years, so the 24 month exemption tests become the first call to the accountant. The choice about the building is set out in keeping the real estate. Who to hire in BC names the people for each step, and the provincial rules on tax and staff at closing are in selling a business in British Columbia.
To see where your company stands at the start of the countdown, the Quick AI valuation gives an early range in a few minutes, before you give anyone your name.
The provincial tax and regulatory requirements, regions and buyers are set out on selling a business in British Columbia.
Each stage of a sale, from preparation and valuation to buyers, tax and transition, is set out in how to sell a business in Canada.
Questions owners ask
- How many BC business owners are close to retirement?
- BC Stats counted 453,900 self-employed people in BC in 2024, and about 36 percent of them were 55 or older. National Bank of Canada reported in July 2026 that 47 percent of mid-market owners in Western Canada, those with $3 million to $100 million of revenue, expect to retire within ten years.
- How many owners have a succession plan?
- In CFIB’s 2026 survey of 1,731 small business owners across Canada, 6 percent had a formal plan in writing and 44 percent an informal one, and about half had yet to start. Formal plans are more common close to the exit: 23 percent of owners leaving within a year had a formal plan.
- When should a BC owner start planning to sell?
- About five years before the closing date you aim for gives a manager time to settle in and gives the statements time to show it. The tests for the capital gains exemption look back 24 months, and the sale itself runs six to ten months from going to market to closing.
- Will more businesses for sale lower the price of mine?
- The surveys measure what owners intend, and the price of any one business comes down to the business itself. When buyers have more businesses to compare, they pay for earnings they can check and for a manager who runs the business in the owner’s absence.