“Fort Cavazos's 36,000+ soldiers create a military family housing pest control market where customer turnover doesn't create attrition — it creates replacement. Every PCS move that takes one family out of a housing unit brings in a new family that needs pest control on day one.”
Killeen-Temple's Military-Medical Economy
The Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metropolitan area is anchored by two massive institutional employers that give it economic characteristics unique among Texas metros of its size. Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) — the Army's largest active duty installation by population, with 36,000+ soldiers — creates an enormous military family housing market in Killeen and surrounding communities. Baylor Scott & White Health's flagship Temple campus (Scott & White Medical Center — Temple, the system's founding hospital) is one of Texas's largest comprehensive medical centers and the dominant employer in Temple and Bell County. Texas A&M College of Medicine (located at the Baylor campus) adds a medical education component. The dual military-medical anchor creates exceptional revenue stability for pest control businesses serving either sector.
Central Texas Pest Pressures
The Killeen-Temple area's Central Texas location creates diverse pest pressure across residential, agricultural, and military housing environments. Subterranean termites are active throughout Bell County. Fire ants are pervasive in residential properties and military family housing across the Killeen metro. German cockroaches are endemic to the food service sector associated with military installations and the Temple medical complex. Scorpions — specifically the Texas striped bark scorpion — are a significant residential service category in Central Texas, generating premium-priced service calls that many operators have built specialty programs around. Mosquitoes are a major seasonal issue. The agricultural surroundings (cotton, hay, cattle ranching) create rodent pressure that suburban neighborhoods adjacent to rural land experience regularly.
Valuation Benchmarks
Killeen-Temple pest control businesses typically sell at 2.8x–4.3x SDE. Texas's no-income-tax advantage applies, and the Fort Cavazos military housing program scale creates recurring commercial revenue that buyers assign significant premium to.
- Military family housing programs (Fort Cavazos): 3.3x–4.5x SDE
- Baylor Scott & White hospital and clinic commercial: 3.5x–4.8x EBITDA
- Recurring general pest with scorpion specialty: 3.0x–4.2x SDE
- Mosquito subscription programs: 3.0x–4.0x SDE
- Termite bond programs: 2.8x–3.8x SDE
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Fort Cavazos Military Housing and Medical Center Accounts
Fort Cavazos's military family housing creates one of the most attractive commercial pest control account categories in Central Texas. On-post and off-post housing communities serving the installation's 36,000+ soldiers require consistent, documented pest management with military specification compliance. High turnover — soldiers rotate frequently — creates ongoing new-service demand rather than the attrition risk associated with civilian residential turnover. Baylor Scott & White's hospital campus and its network of outpatient clinics across the Temple-Killeen metro require Joint Commission-aligned pest management with detailed service documentation. The combination of military housing recurring revenue and healthcare institutional commercial creates a two-pillar revenue structure that buyers recognize as exceptionally stable and difficult to build from scratch.
Texas Tax Advantage
Texas has no individual income tax — the full advantage applies in Killeen-Temple as across the state. Asset sale proceeds from a pest control business S-corp or partnership sale flow through with no state-level income tax. Federal long-term capital gains at 15–20% (plus 3.8% NIIT) represent the total tax cost. For Bell County sellers, the absence of Texas income tax is a meaningful seller advantage compared to operators in neighboring states — the nearest comparable metro in Missouri, Arkansas, or Louisiana would face 4–7% state income tax on the same gain.
Buyer Dynamics in Bell County
The Killeen-Temple market attracts buyers from Austin (65 miles south) and Waco (35 miles north) — the nearest adjacent Texas metros — as well as national platform buyers with Central Texas strategies. The market's dual institutional anchor — Fort Cavazos and Baylor Scott & White — gives buyers exceptional confidence in revenue stability that pure residential markets don't offer. Buyers who specifically want military housing programs view Fort Cavazos as one of the most important Army installations in the country for that account category. Healthcare buyers targeting Baylor Scott & White recognize the system's scale and the medical complex's continued expansion trajectory. Sellers with documented military housing programs, Baylor commercial accounts, and scorpion specialty services have the most competitive buyer dynamics in this market.
Jason Taken
Pest Control Business Broker · HedgeStone Business Advisors
Jason specializes exclusively in pest control company acquisitions and sales. He works with sellers across 34 states and buyers ranging from owner-operators to private equity platforms.