Best daycare franchises on 2026 FDD data: Item 7 lease vs. build costs, disclosed revenue, and whose units each Item 19 sample actually describes.
Quick answer Center-based childcare runs $590,000 to $1.5 million for a leased center and $4.9 million to $8.9 million if you buy the land and build. The Learning Experience discloses a $2,168,511 median across 266 franchised centers; Kiddie Academy discloses $2,075,740 across 293. Real estate structure drives the capital, not the brand.
The Kiddie Academy 2026 FDD contains two estimated initial investment tables. One totals $590,000 to $1,010,000. The other totals $4,935,000 to $8,530,000. Same brand, same academy, same year. The only difference is whether you lease the building or buy the land and construct it yourself.
Nearly every childcare franchise ranking quotes one blended number for this brand, usually something like “$590,000 to $8.5 million,” which describes no buyer who has ever existed. You are either signing a lease or financing dirt, and you make that call before you pick a brand.
The pattern holds across the whole category.
The Goddard School’s 2026 FDD splits Item 7 into three scenarios: lease a school the landlord constructs ($1,003,500 to $1,503,000), lease a building that needs improvements ($1,736,500 to $5,032,000), or purchase the land and build ($5,493,500 to $8,908,000). Primrose runs the same structure, at $826,900 to $1,405,000 leased against $6,162,660 to $8,550,000 for a franchisee-affiliated real estate entity that buys and builds. Lightbridge Academy discloses $834,868 to $1,409,735 for a single leased center and $5,801,350 to $8,122,575 fee simple. The Learning Experience separates a site-development-services center at $805,799 to $1,563,499 from a self-developed one at $2,264,799 to $5,658,799, and adds a third table for buying an existing center at $937,300 to $3,393,000.
| Brand | Units | Leased center | Buy land and build | Initial fee | Disclosed revenue, and whose units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Goddard School | 665 | $1,003,500-$1,503,000 | $5,493,500-$8,908,000 | $135,000 | school-by-school P&L, 620 mature schools, no system median published |
| Primrose Schools | 557 | $826,900-$1,405,000 | $6,162,660-$8,550,000 | $50,000 | $1,863,251 to $3,308,944 median by occupancy quartile, 520 franchised schools |
| The Learning Experience | 436 | $805,799-$1,563,499 | $2,264,799-$5,658,799 | $60,000 | $2,168,511 median, 266 franchised centers open 48+ months |
| Kiddie Academy | 363 | $590,000-$1,010,000 | $4,935,000-$8,530,000 | $150,000 | $2,075,740 median, 293 franchised academies open 24+ months |
| Lightbridge Academy | 68 | $834,868-$1,409,735 | $5,801,350-$8,122,575 | $50,000 | $2,640,681 average, 62 mature centers, franchised and company-owned mixed |
| Celebree School | 44 | $1,023,550-$1,404,100 | dropped from the 2026 FDD | $75,000 | $1,981,871 median net revenue, 17 mature franchised schools |
Ivybrook Academy sits outside this shape at $540,700 to $869,860 across 40 units, because the half-day preschool model needs less square footage and no infant room. It is a different business wearing the same category label. Celebree runs a third table for a remodel of existing space at $2,778,550 to $3,569,099, and its 2026 amendment quietly drops the land-purchase table its 2025 filing carried at $5,410,700 to $7,379,500.
Only two brands here carry franchisee samples large enough to survive a hard look.
The Learning Experience reports franchised and corporate centers in separate tables, which is the correct way to do it and rarer than it should be. In calendar 2025, its 266 franchised Mature Centers (open more than 48 months) averaged $2,186,393 with a median of $2,168,511. Its 17 corporate mature centers posted a $2,574,296 median, about 19% higher. The 135 franchised centers below the franchise average ran $1,688,611 on average, with a low of $715,099. If you quote the corporate figure as a franchisee expectation, you are overstating the outcome by roughly $400,000 a year.
Kiddie Academy discloses 293 mature academies open 24 months or more, with a $2,075,740 median gross revenue and, unusually, gross profit alongside it. Median labor expense was $983,102, or about 47% of median revenue. Median occupancy cost was $363,623, and median gross profit after both came to $479,211. Then the FDD splits that group into quarters by gross profit, and the spread is the number worth carrying into a lender meeting: the top 73 academies posted a $991,054 median gross profit on $2,932,736 of revenue, while the bottom 73 posted $105,058 on $1,343,525. That bottom figure is before debt service, before your draw, and it sits on a build that started at $590,000 and can reach $8.5 million.
Set those two medians side by side and you are already comparing apples to oranges. Kiddie Academy’s 293 academies qualify at 24 months open. The Learning Experience’s 266 centers have to clear 48 months. Four extra years of enrollment ramp sit inside that definitional gap, which flatters the brand with the longer cutoff, and no published ranking adjusts for it.
The expense disclosure runs the other way. Kiddie Academy publishes labor, occupancy, and gross profit for all 293 franchisee-owned academies. The Learning Experience publishes expense and EBITDAR detail only for its 17 company-owned centers, and its own Item 19 explains why: it cannot poll cost data from franchisees through its point-of-sale system. So the brand with the stronger headline revenue number is the one that can tell you least about what a franchisee keeps. Very few franchisors publish a figure as unflattering as Kiddie Academy’s bottom quartile, and that willingness should count in its favor even though the number itself is grim.
Kiddie Academy charges the highest initial fee in center-based childcare, and buyers reasonably ask what the extra $90,000 over The Learning Experience buys. The disclosed answer: site selection, background checks, franchisee training, and a separate director training program, paid in four installments tied to signing, site acceptance, permitting, and occupancy.
The more useful answer is in the second half of Item 5. The 2026 FDD discloses five reduced-fee programs. A new franchisee buying multiple academies pays $70,000. An existing franchisee’s second academy costs $85,000, and the third and beyond drop back to $70,000. Veterans and buyers taking a market where the brand has no presence pay $125,000. So the $150,000 sticker applies to a single-unit, non-veteran, non-pioneering buyer, which is the profile least likely to survive this category anyway. Goddard’s $135,000 fee comes with a 4% ad fund, double what Kiddie Academy, Primrose, and Lightbridge charge, and over a 15-year term that difference outruns the fee gap entirely. Fee comparisons that stop at Item 5 miss where the money actually goes; the Item 7 walkthrough covers how to rebuild the full stack.
Celebree School shows up in most category roundups at roughly $2.26 million in revenue. That figure is real, and it does not describe a franchisee.
Its Item 19 opens with 26 company-operated schools run by Celebree affiliates: median net revenue $2,214,730, median gross revenue $2,258,522, average occupancy 88.9%, EBITDA at 28.5% of net revenue. A separate table covers the 17 mature franchised schools, and the numbers move. Median net revenue drops to $1,981,871, average occupancy falls to 63.4%, and EBITDA lands at 15.5%. A 25-point occupancy gap between corporate and franchised schools inside one brand is the finding, and it survives into the 2026 disclosure, which covers 26 mature company schools against 18 mature franchised ones out of 44 franchised schools total.
Seventeen schools is too thin a sample to rank a brand on. Use it as a directional read, then ask Celebree why its own schools fill and its franchisees’ schools do not. That question belongs on your discovery day agenda, and browsing the full child services and education category shows how far this labeling problem extends past childcare.
Primrose publishes the clearest picture of what drives revenue in a childcare center, and it is not the brand on the sign.
Its 2026 FDD sorts 520 franchised schools into four quartiles by average occupancy rate. The top quartile ran 94% occupancy and averaged $3,586,393 in calendar 2025. The second ran 83% and averaged $3,109,936. The third, 72% and $2,513,577. The bottom quartile ran 52% occupancy and averaged $1,909,787. Licensed capacity barely moved across the four groups, from 184 to 188 children. Same building size, same brand, and a $1.7 million revenue gap driven by how full the classrooms are.
Getting full takes years. Primrose also breaks out 44 schools by opening year: the 2024 class posted a $1,959,063 median in 2025, the 2023 class $2,724,821, and the 2022 class $3,144,507. Enrollment fills classroom by classroom as word moves through a neighborhood, and your working capital plan has to cover that curve rather than a six-month ramp. Our Primrose cost breakdown goes deeper on the build-to-suit structure behind those figures.
Lightbridge Academy discloses more line-item detail than anyone else here. Across 62 mature centers in 2025, average gross revenue was $2,640,681, payroll ran 45% of revenue, rent and taxes and CAM took $384,525, and EBITDA landed at $404,324, or 15%. The top quartile of 16 centers hit 22% EBITDA on $3,454,498; the bottom 16 hit 5% on $1,875,147. One footnote changes how you read all of it: the sample combines franchised and company-owned centers, and Lightbridge’s affiliate operates centers of its own.
Goddard runs the opposite problem. Its Item 19 lists revenue, payroll, occupancy cost, and EBITDAR for roughly 620 mature schools individually, page after page, with no system median or average summarized anywhere. That is enormous disclosure and almost unusable without a spreadsheet, which is presumably the point. It is worth the afternoon it takes to build one, because 620 schools is the largest franchisee-only childcare sample in circulation.
Montessori Kids Universe, filed as Montessori School Franchising LLC, discloses a $1,503,632 median across 18 franchised locations open for all of 2025. Eighteen units cannot be ranked against a 293-unit or 520-unit disclosure, and we are not ranking it. Note it, and go pull the individual numbers.
Three questions decide this category, and none of them is which brand ranks highest.
First, are you leasing or buying? That answer moves your capital requirement by $4 million to $7 million at every brand here, and it determines whether you need a real estate partner before you need a franchise agreement. Work through lease terms before signing anything. Second, what does your state require for ratios, director credentials, and square footage per child? Those rules set your payroll floor, and payroll is 45% to 48% of revenue at every brand that discloses it. Third, how many children under five live within a ten-minute drive, and how many competitors are already inside that ring? Primrose’s own data puts roughly 5,800 to 6,800 children under five within ten minutes of a typical school and 1.6 to 1.8 competitors within five minutes, which is a usable benchmark for testing a site.
For the broader category, including tutoring, enrichment, and swim, start with our child education franchise guide or the head-to-head on Kiddie Academy versus The Learning Experience. If you are still deciding whether a $1M-plus operating business fits your balance sheet at all, the franchise readiness quiz takes two minutes and will tell you more than another comparison table will.
Get the full 12-section FDD analysis — $49
Real franchise data, real Item 19 numbers, personalized to your capital and location. Comparing 2–3 brands? The 3-pack is $99.
Browse franchises · pick your brand Or see a real sample report →
Get this comparison as a spreadsheet.
We'll email you the full comparison spreadsheet: every brand in this category with its Item 7 investment range and royalty, side by side. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
✓ Check your inbox
The comparison spreadsheet is on its way.
The only franchise report written entirely for the buyer. 12 sections covering financial risks, legal obligations, and a personalized recommendation.
Browse Franchise Library See a real sample report →
$49 per brand · $99 for a 3-brand pack
best daycare franchisespreschool franchise costchildcare franchise opportunitiesKiddie AcademyThe Learning Experienceearly education franchise
About this analysis The franchise data in this article is drawn from VetMyFranchise's structured analysis of 2,300+ Franchise Disclosure Documents filed with U.S. state regulators. See our data & methodology.
A leased center runs roughly $590,000 to $1.6 million depending on brand, and buying the land and building the school runs $4.9 million to $8.9 million. Kiddie Academy's 2026 FDD discloses $590,000 to $1,010,000 for a leased academy and $4,935,000 to $8,530,000 for a purchased one. The Goddard School discloses $1,003,500 to $1,503,000 leased and $5,493,500 to $8,908,000 owned. Which table applies to you is a real estate decision made before you pick a brand.
On disclosed 2025 revenue, Lightbridge Academy's 62 mature centers averaged $2,640,681 and The Learning Experience's 266 mature franchised centers posted a $2,168,511 median. Profitability is a different question. Lightbridge discloses 15% average EBITDA across those 62 centers and 5% in the bottom quartile. Kiddie Academy discloses a $479,211 median gross profit across 293 franchisee-owned academies, after labor and occupancy. The Learning Experience discloses no franchisee expense data at all, only company-center figures. Read each brand's expense definitions before comparing margins.
No. None of the six systems here requires the franchisee to hold an early-childhood credential, because the license typically attaches to the center director rather than the owner. State licensing rules govern director qualifications, staff-to-child ratios, and square footage per child, and they vary enough that the same brand's model produces different staffing costs in different states. Your director hire matters more to the outcome than your own resume.
Primrose's 2026 FDD is the clearest public evidence on ramp. Schools that opened in 2024 posted a $1,959,063 median in calendar 2025, schools from the 2023 class posted $2,724,821, and the 2022 class posted $3,144,507. Revenue roughly tracks enrollment, and enrollment fills classroom by classroom over two to three years. Budget working capital for that curve, not for a six-month ramp.
The fee covers site selection, background checks, franchisee training, and a separate academy director training program, and it is paid in four installments tied to signing, site acceptance, permitting, and occupancy. It is also a list price. Item 5 of the 2026 FDD discloses five reduced-fee programs: $70,000 for a new franchisee buying multiple academies, $85,000 for an existing franchisee's second, $70,000 for a third and beyond, and $125,000 under both the VetFran and First In Market programs.
This page is part of VetMyFranchise. View all pages: llms.txt · llms-full.txt