A funeral home in Cicero is priced on adjusted seller’s discretionary earnings after a buyer compares this book to Chicago — not on a statewide rumor multiple. CBS-1 (10 business days) plus Cook County’s 45-day local notice; Chicago’s 45-day city notice only if this business also operates in the city. The statewide funeral homes playbook is on the industry hub; this page is the Cicero file. Confidential sale. No upfront listing fee.
Confidential • No upfront fees • Illinois statewide
Cicero market
Selling a funeral home in Cicero
A funeral home in Cicero is priced on adjusted seller’s discretionary earnings after a buyer compares this book to Chicago — not on a statewide rumor multiple. CBS-1 (10 business days) plus Cook County’s 45-day local notice; Chicago’s 45-day city notice only if this business also operates in the city. The statewide funeral homes playbook is on the industry hub; this page is the Cicero file.
Cicero is a dense inner-ring Cook town on Cermak and the Stevenson — industrial remnants and a large Latino retail corridor pressed against Chicago’s West Side.
This is a Town of Cicero license file, plus Cook bulk-sale timing if the deal meets the local rule. Hawthorne Works–era industrial and Cermak storefronts are different buyers. Spanish-language operations transfer only if the crew and the books stay; a Chicago PE story that ignores the town’s clerk and landlord reality will stall.
Cicero has about 85,616 residents in Cook County, inside the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin area. Nearby markets buyers already compare this book to include Chicago, Berwyn, Oak Park. That comparison changes who shows up: a buyer who will drive from Chicago is not the same buyer who will fly in from a coastal platform.
Planning facts
Typical multiple
4x–7x EBITDA
Typical timeline
9–18 months
SBA eligible
Often — confirm
County
Cook County
Population
85,616
Metro
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Nearby comps
Chicago, Berwyn, Oak Park
Closing clock
CBS-1 (10 business days) plus Cook County’s 45-day local notice; Chicago’s 45-day city notice only if this business also operates in the city
Cook County and the City of Chicago add 45-day bulk-sale notices on top of Illinois Form CBS-1 (10 business days). That calendar is longer than most downstate businesses.
Buyer density is the highest in Illinois. Confidential outreach matters more here than a public ad on a recognizable storefront.
Cicero demand for funeral homes is the customer list and the license path — not the Census population figure. About 85,616 residents is context for who already lives in the trade area. It is not a sale price.
Funeral Home in Cicero
What a Cicero buyer will underwrite on this funeral home
Personal-service licenses are personal. A funeral home in Cicero sells the chairs and the walk-in book that is not one stylist’s following. Neighbors in Chicago, Berwyn, Oak Park are the comparison set, not a statewide salon multiple.
Funeral Homes statewide typically plan around 4x–7x EBITDA and a 9–18 months process when books and the lease are ready. That is a planning range, not a price for this Cicero shop. Buyers here usually argue call volume, preneed backlog, facility condition, location market share, cemetery affiliation.
Closing clock for this Cicero file: CBS-1 (10 business days) plus Cook County’s 45-day local notice; Chicago’s 45-day city notice only if this business also operates in the city. License path: IDFPR licenses funeral directors, embalmers, and the funeral-home establishment. The industry hub teaches the statewide rule. This URL is the Cicero application of it.
In a suburb like Cicero, funeral home chains (sci, loewen), independent operators, licensed directors are the names that usually appear on the NDA list. A buyer who will drive from Chicago is not the same buyer who will fly in from a coastal platform.
Buyer pool
Who buys a funeral home in Cicero
Cook has the deepest Illinois buyer pool: SBA owner-operators, PE home-services and healthcare platforms, and strategics who already have a Chicago route. Density is an asset and a leak risk. Employees and landlords hear rumors faster here than in a downstate county. Confidential outreach is the default, not a listing-site photo of a recognizable storefront.
Illustration: a family funeral home in a central-Illinois county seat with 140 calls, a funded preneed book, a chapel that needs HVAC, and a selling director who still lives upstairs. Not a closed sale.
A funeral home whose customers already sit in Chicago, Berwyn, Oak Park is a larger business than one that stops at the Cicero city limit. Tell the truth about the route. Buyers will map it.
SDE recast
How a buyer will read the books on this Cicero funeral home
Funeral buyers recast EBITDA after a market-rate licensed director, not SDE that still hides the seller living above the chapel. Pull a high-call flu year and any cemetery or preneed commission that belongs to a different entity. Preneed is trust-and-liability, not revenue to multiple twice. A 4x–7x EBITDA band assumes call volume that stays with the name and a director who is not only the seller.
Illustration only — not a quote for any Cicero shop. A funeral home whose tax return shows $179,000 of net profit is not worth $179,000 × a rumor multiple.
Add back the owner’s $127,000 W-2 and payroll tax, $13,000 of discretionary benefits, $1,000 of accepted one-time cost, and $12,500 of personal expenses that a buyer will not run. Then subtract $27,000 of replacement labor if the owner still diagnoses, sells, or closes the books.
Adjusted seller’s discretionary earnings are $305,000. At the planning range 4.0x–7.0x, enterprise value is $1,220,000 to $2,135,000. Mid-range 5.50x is $1,677,500 before debt, working capital, holdback, and tax. A Cicero buyer will argue the multiple after they ride with the staff and read the lease.
At 5.50 times $305,000 of seller’s discretionary earnings, enterprise value is $1,677,500 before debt, working capital, holdback, and tax. That is the planning conversation. It is not a listing-site guess.
SDE line items
Reported net profit (tax return, not the marketing P&L)
+ Interest expense
+ Income taxes (not payroll, sales, or property tax)
+ Depreciation and amortization
+ Owner W-2, bonuses, and payroll taxes on the owner
+ Discretionary owner benefits that a buyer will not keep (auto, personal travel, family on payroll with no role)
+ Accepted one-time or non-recurring expenses
− Market-rate replacement labor for owner work that will not transfer
= Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE)
Illustration recast for a Cicero funeral home — not a quote
Net profit
$179,000
Owner W-2
$127,000
Benefits
$13,000
One-time
$1,000
Personal
$12,500
Replacement labor (subtract)
−$27,000
Recast SDE
$305,000
Planning EV at 5.50x
$1,677,500
Recast Seller’s Discretionary Earnings, then apply a planning multiple for funeral homes.
Replacement labor is subtracted. This is a planning tool, not an appraisal.
Recast SDE—
Planning enterprise value—
Before debt, working-capital peg, holdback, and tax. Educational only.
Enter your annual Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE) — your net profit plus owner's salary and any personal expenses run through the business — to estimate a range.
$
1x3.0x8x
Estimated Value Range—to—
This is an estimate for planning purposes only. Actual value depends on lease terms, asset quality, customer concentration, and current market conditions. Request a professional valuation for a precise number.
Cook County adds a local bulk-sale notice on top of Illinois Form CBS-1. File the Cook County notice at least 45 days before transfer with the sales contract (revenuecompliance@cookcountyil.gov). City of Chicago businesses also file a Chicago Department of Finance bulk-sales notice at least 45 days out under Municipal Code 3-4-140, covering city taxes and Title 4 licenses. State CBS-1 is still due at least 10 business days before closing. Miss a local clock and the buyer can inherit tax or license debt.
IDFPR licenses funeral directors, embalmers, and the funeral-home establishment. Those licenses are personal and premises-specific; they do not transfer by bill of sale. Illinois preneed (Funeral or Burial Funds Act) trust rules sit on the book. A buyer who is not a licensed director needs a licensed person in charge. Cemetery affiliation, if any, is a separate license track.
Labor and lease
What has to keep working on Monday after close in Cicero
For a funeral home in Cicero, the first labor question is: Stable call volume and a name the community will keep calling.
Leases are the deal killer more often than the multiple. Loop, River North, and neighborhood retail have assignment clauses, kick-out rights, and renewal politics that collar-county industrial shops rarely see. CTA-adjacent and parking-constrained sites change buyer type. Labor is union-aware in several trades and hospitality crews turn over faster than downstate.
Cook is not one market. A bungalow-belt repair shop, a South Side contractor, and a Near North concept do not share a “Chicago premium.” O’Hare, the lakefront, and the expressway grid concentrate customers and also concentrate competing buyers. Price the business, not the skyline.
Diligence
What a serious funeral home buyer will open
Levers that move the multiple in this vertical: Stable call volume and a name the community will keep calling; A staying or incoming IDFPR-licensed director; A clean, funded preneed trust file; Facility and crematory access that do not need immediate capital; Arm’s-length real estate or a rational related-party lease.
Have these ready before anyone hears the name of the Cicero business: Call volume by year and at-need versus preneed mix; IDFPR establishment and director licenses on people who stay; Preneed trust inventory, funding status, and Illinois compliance; Facility condition, crematory access, and any cemetery relationship; Market share versus competing homes and societies; Related-party real estate and true market rent.
Buyer tool
SBA payment sketch for a Cicero funeral home buyer
Most Illinois owner-operator acquisitions use SBA 7(a). This is a payment sketch, not an approval.
SBA 7(a) loans are the most common financing for business acquisitions. Estimate your monthly payment and required down payment based on the purchase price.
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This calculator provides estimates for planning purposes only. Actual SBA loan terms depend on your credit profile, the specific lender, and current market conditions. Contact us to connect with SBA-approved lenders in Illinois.
Sale steps
How to prepare a Cicero funeral home for sale
Recast this Cicero funeral home. Start with the tax return. Add owner pay. Subtract replacement labor if the seller still does the work a Cicero buyer must hire. Do not treat a spike year as the new normal.
Name who can operate on Monday. List every credential that lets this funeral home pull a permit or see a patient in Cicero, and whether that person stays. Personal licenses do not transfer with the assets.
Tell the truth about the Cicero trade area. Map customers against neighboring towns. Buyers will. A book that already covers those towns is larger than a book that stops at the Cicero limit.
Open the lease and the labor file. Remaining term and assignment in Cook County. Whether the crew can run without the seller living eight minutes away.
Calendar the notices that apply here. CBS-1 (10 business days) plus Cook County’s 45-day local notice; Chicago’s 45-day city notice only if this business also operates in the city. Start them at letter of intent, not the week of funding.
Read the statewide playbook, then talk. The Illinois funeral homes hub is the statute and recast teaching. This page is the Cicero file. Confidential consult — no upfront listing fee.
Answers for owners and buyers in Cook County, including local closing steps.
Illinois funeral homes typically sell for 4x–7x EBITDA. Call volume, preneed backlog, facility condition, market share, and real estate value are the primary value drivers.
A healthy preneed backlog is a significant value driver — it represents guaranteed future revenue. Funeral homes with large, funded preneed portfolios command meaningful premiums because buyers are acquiring future business, not just current performance.
The most active buyers are national funeral home groups (Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, Dignity Memorial), regional chains, and individual licensed funeral directors ready to own. Illinois is an active funeral home acquisition market.
Illinois requires that funeral homes be supervised by a licensed funeral director and embalmer. Buyers who are not personally licensed will need to retain a licensed director. We assess buyer qualifications early in every process.
Funeral home real estate can be sold with the business or retained and leased back to the buyer. Many sellers prefer a sale-leaseback to maximize liquidity at closing while maintaining a real estate income stream.
Illinois Form CBS-1 is due at least 10 business days before an asset sale. Cook County and the City of Chicago each add a 45-day local notice when the sale meets their rules. Ask counsel which notices apply to this Cicero company.
Cicero sits in the deepest Illinois buyer pool: owner-operators, neighboring shops, and platforms that already cover Cook County. Density is why a public listing leaks. Start with confidential outreach.
No. The planning multiple for funeral homes is a statewide starting point, not a Cicero appraisal. Buyers in Cook County still adjust seller’s discretionary earnings, then argue the lease, licenses, labor, and owner dependency.
Service Area
Funeral Home Brokerage Near Cicero
We serve funeral homes owners and buyers across Cook County and the surrounding region.