7.2.1.2Vertical

Environmental Impact Assessment

Firms preparing NEPA environmental impact statements and reviews.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Environmental Consulting & Engineering (7.2.1), the segment that Environmental Impact Assessment sits within. They are not figures for Environmental Impact Assessment on its own.

Market size
~$21B
Growth
~6.5%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~8,369 firms
Firms by employee count

89.8% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 7,518 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe851 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
61372%
100–499
15118%
500+
8710%

A people business attached to a permitting queue. Growth tracks the volume of infrastructure and energy projects needing environmental review, and the constraint on scaling is licensed staff, which is exactly why the segment consolidates through acquisition rather than hiring.

NAICS 541620. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Professional advisory, compliance, and engineering fees

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$2,555,171
Revenue per employee
$215,817
Employees per firm
11.5
Recurring revenue
Moderate

recurring compliance and program work

EBITDA margin
Healthy professional-services economics
Capex intensity
Low

Characteristics

  • Balanced cost base: payroll is 36% of revenue, leaving room to scale margin without cutting staff
  • Moderate strategic-buyer pool: 87 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has buyers, but not many
  • Site assessment, permitting, compliance, and ESG advisory.
  • PFAS and ESG/sustainability fastest-growing practices.
  • Consolidating around scaled multidisciplinary firms.

NAICS 541620. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Geographic concentration

AlabamaArizonaFloridaGeorgiaIndianaKansasMaineMassachusettsMinnesotaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth DakotaTexasWyomingConnecticutMissouriWest VirginiaIllinoisArkansasCaliforniaDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiIowaKentuckyMarylandMichiganMississippiMontanaNew HampshireNew YorkOhioOregonTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonWisconsinNebraskaSouth CarolinaIdahoNevadaVermontLouisianaRhode IslandAlaskaColoradoNew Mexico

Alaska, Colorado and New Mexico. Environmental consulting concentrates around federal land and legacy resource extraction, where permitting and assessment work is generated by the public estate rather than by population.

AlaskaColoradoNew Mexico

U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (firms by state), NAICS 541620. Concentration shown by location quotient.

M&A deal context

Deal activityHigh

Who’s acquiring

  • Diversified E&C / environmental firms
  • ESG & sustainability acquirers
  • PE-backed advisory platforms

What’s driving deals

  • Roll-up of environmental and ESG specialists.
  • PFAS, climate, and ESG-reporting demand.
  • Regulation- and infrastructure-driven work.

Find Environmental Impact Assessment acquisition targets

Search Acquisera’s index for companies classified under Environmental Impact Assessment (7.2.1.2) and build a targeted deal pipeline.

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