What Is My Optometry Practice Business Worth in 2026?

Most independent optometry practices I'm working with in 2026 are selling for 3.5x to 5.5x adjusted EBITDA, with multi-doctor and multi-location practices reaching 6.0x to 8.5x when a strategic consolidator is at the table. That's the short version. The longer version is that optometry is in its third wave of private-equity-backed consolidation, and where your practice lands in that range depends on roughly a dozen variables I underwrite before I ever take you to market.

Who This Is For

Owners of single-location or multi-location optometry practices doing $500K to $15M in annual collections who are considering a sale in the next 6 to 24 months. If you're weighing whether to sell now or keep building, the answer usually comes down to whether you've crossed the EBITDA thresholds the strategic buyers underwrite to, and whether you've built enough associate-doctor coverage that the practice doesn't walk out the door with you.

How Are Optometry Practices Valued?

Optometry valuations use one of two methods depending on size. Practices below roughly $250K in adjusted EBITDA are almost always priced on a multiple of seller's discretionary earnings (SDE) — that's earnings plus the owner-doctor's full compensation and benefits. Typical SDE multiples run 2.5x to 4.0x. Above $250K in adjusted EBITDA, buyers shift to an EBITDA multiple after subtracting a market-rate associate-doctor salary (usually $140K-$180K plus benefits). That shift matters because the math changes: a practice earning $350K in SDE might only produce $180K in EBITDA after a replacement-doctor charge, which is why small solo practices often get more value sticking with the SDE framework.

The buyers I work with normalize for three things before they make an offer: personal expenses run through the P&L (family vehicles, personal travel, spouse on payroll), one-time expenses (equipment purchases, renovations), and rent adjustments if you own the building and have been paying yourself below or above market. Get these right in your pre-sale preparation and you protect 10-15% of your purchase price that sloppy sellers leave on the table.

What Are Optometry Practices Selling For in 2026?

Here are the multiple ranges I'm seeing across actual closed deals and active LOIs in 2026:

• Solo practitioner, $600K-$1.2M revenue, single location: 2.5x-3.5x SDE. Deals in this range usually close at $450K to $900K in enterprise value.
• Strong solo or two-doctor practice, $1.2M-$2.5M revenue: 3.5x-5.0x EBITDA. Enterprise values typically $1.2M to $3.5M.
• Multi-doctor single location or small two-location group, $2.5M-$5M revenue: 4.5x-6.5x EBITDA. Enterprise values typically $3M to $7M.
• Regional multi-location platform, $5M+ revenue: 6.0x-8.5x EBITDA. These are the deals consolidators fight over.

Optical revenue mix matters more than most owners realize. Practices where optical is 40%+ of collections consistently trade at a half-turn premium because dispensing revenue has higher margins than exam revenue and is harder for a disruptor to steal. Practices heavily dependent on medical optometry coding and commercial insurance exam reimbursement are still attractive, but the multiple tends to sit at the lower end of the range.

Who's Buying Optometry Practices Right Now?

The 2026 buyer landscape is dominated by strategic consolidators and their PE sponsors. The groups I'm negotiating with most often are EssilorLuxottica (which has been aggressive on both the manufacturing and retail sides), MyEyeDr (owned by Goldman Sachs Asset Management since 2019), EyeCare Partners (FFL Partners, operator of Clarkson Eyecare), Keplr Vision (Blue Sea Capital), Vision Innovation Partners (Centre Partners), and Eye Health America (LNK Partners). For mid-sized practices, I also see meaningful activity from regional rollups like US Vision, Visionworks (EssilorLuxottica), and a handful of sponsor-backed local platforms in the Southeast.

Independent buyers — young ODs buying their first practice, or associate doctors acquiring their employer's practice — are still a real market at the lower end, typically financed through SBA 7(a) loans. Those deals tend to clear 2.5x-3.5x SDE and move faster than strategic deals because there's less diligence.

What Makes an Optometry Practice Worth More?

Multiple expansion in optometry comes down to removing buyer risk. The practices that command 6x+ EBITDA have a few things in common:

• Associate doctor coverage. If you produce less than 60% of exams personally, a buyer can underwrite your transition as low-risk. If you produce 85%+ of exams, the buyer prices in revenue attrition.
• Modern equipment. OCT, digital retinal imaging, visual field, and an EHR that actually works. Buyers hate inheriting deferred capex.
• Strong optical margin. 45%+ gross margin on dispensing, a managed eyewear formulary, and a frame board that turns.
• Consistent same-store growth. 3-5% year-over-year collections growth signals a healthy practice. Flat or declining collections triggers working-capital grinding during diligence.
• Clean books. Accrual or cash statements that tie to tax returns, minimal personal expenses, and 36 months of clean history.

What Hurts Optometry Practice Valuations?

The fastest ways to lose a half-turn or a full turn on your multiple: owner-doctor dependency north of 80% of exams with no succession plan, heavy Medicaid exam mix (below 40% commercial payor mix), a large concentration of a single vision plan (particularly VSP at 50%+), and any compliance issue in the last 36 months (audit, board action, unresolved Medicare clawback). I also see valuations trimmed for practices still operating on paper charts or a legacy EHR that doesn't integrate with modern revenue-cycle tools.

How Long Does It Take to Sell an Optometry Practice?

From the day I take a practice to market to the day funds hit the seller's account, plan on 7 to 10 months. The pre-market preparation work — normalizing earnings, organizing diligence, building the confidential information memorandum — typically runs 6 to 10 weeks before I ever reach out to buyers. Buyer outreach and LOI negotiation runs another 8 to 12 weeks. Diligence and closing typically runs 60 to 90 days. If your books need work or you're waiting on year-end financials, add 2 to 3 months.

"The biggest shift I've seen in optometry M&A over the last three years is the premium consolidators are paying for associate-doctor bench strength. I closed a practice last year at 7.2x EBITDA — well above the comp set — purely because the seller had built out an associate who'd been there four years and was willing to sign a three-year non-compete and stay post-close. The seller told me he almost didn't hire that associate because of the salary cost. That hire returned somewhere around $800K of transaction value. It's the single highest-ROI decision he ever made, and he didn't know it at the time."

— John M. Salony, Business Broker

If you want to see what consolidator interest looks like in your specific market and practice type, start with my optometry practice valuation hub for detailed multiple benchmarks, or review my broader framework for healthcare practice valuation to see how optometry compares to adjacent specialties.