How to Value a Laundromat (2026 Buyer's Guide)

Laundromats are a favorite “boring business” for a reason: they're cash-based, mostly unattended, and relatively recession-resistant. But they're only a good deal at the right price. Here's how buyers actually value them.

Start with SDE, not revenue

Laundromats are priced on SDE (Seller's Discretionary Earnings) — the cash a single owner-operator takes home, including their own labor and any add-backs. Revenue is a vanity number here; two shops with identical revenue can have wildly different SDE depending on rent, utilities, and machine efficiency.

Apply an industry multiple

Published broker rules of thumb put laundromats in this range:

So a laundromat with $120,000 SDE typically values around $420,000 (3.5×), with a defensible range of roughly $300,000–$540,000 depending on quality.

Adjust for the things that actually move price

Equipment age is the big one — a re-equip can cost six figures, so a shop full of 15-year-old machines should price below typical. The lease is the other: a long, transferable lease at market rent supports a higher multiple; a short or escalating lease compresses it. Card systems and remote monitoring add value because they reduce theft and labor.

Verify before you anchor

Sellers love to quote “collections,” which are easy to inflate. Ask for water and utility bills — water usage is a hard-to-fake proxy for real volume. Reconcile against tax returns and, if possible, a coin/card report. Then run the number through a calculator to sanity-check the asking multiple.