Gold's Gym franchise cost in 2026: $2,356,000 to $5,162,000 to open, a $40,000 fee, 5% royalty. See Item 19 on 126 clubs and the Item 20 drop.
Quick answer A Gold's Gym franchise costs $2,356,000 to $5,162,000 to open per Item 7 of the 2026 FDD, including a $40,000 initial franchise fee and excluding any real estate purchase. Ongoing fees are the greater of 5% or $2,000 a month in royalty plus the greater of 2% or $1,350 a month in marketing. Franchised clubs reported a $1,759,000 median gross revenue across 126 clubs in 2025.
The cheapest Gold’s Gym in the 2026 disclosure document from Gold’s Gym Franchise LLC, issued May 13, 2026, still costs $2,356,000. That floor sits higher than the other big-box gym brands we cover. Crunch starts at $2,147,500. Planet Fitness starts at $1,282,500. The top of the Gold’s range, $5,162,000, sits a little under both of those brands, so the gap is at the bottom, where most first-time buyers start.
The reason is in one footnote. Every estimate in the table assumes a newly constructed 25,000 square foot club, and the franchisor requires at least two thirds of that floor to be workout space. There is no small format. Gold’s tried smaller concept gyms from 2009 to 2011 and the Gold’s Gym Express line from 2011 to 2013, and Item 1 says no Express clubs still operate.
| Item 7 line | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| Travel and living during training | $4,000 | $7,000 |
| 3 months’ rent | $52,500 | $320,000 |
| Lease security deposit | $17,500 | $110,000 |
| Leasehold improvements and construction | $1,500,000 | $3,125,000 |
| Selectorized equipment and free weights | $425,000 | $850,000 |
| Cardiovascular equipment | $160,000 | $275,000 |
| Signage | $40,000 | $85,000 |
| Inventory, other equipment, supplies | $7,000 | $40,000 |
| Computer and gym management system | $10,000 | $25,000 |
| Advertising and marketing | $50,000 | $120,000 |
| Miscellaneous opening costs | $10,000 | $65,000 |
| Additional funds, 3 months | $40,000 | $100,000 |
| Total | $2,356,000 | $5,162,000 |
The full Item 7 table and fee schedule are on the Gold’s Gym dossier. Build-out is 64% of the low total and 61% of the high. The FDD prices it at $60 to $125 per square foot, which on 25,000 square feet is exactly the $1,500,000 to $3,125,000 shown. Equipment runs $17 to $34 per square foot for strength gear, and the franchisor recommends at least 35 cardio machines at $4,000 to $10,000 per treadmill.
Some costs sit outside the table. The optional Gold’s Fit and Gold’s Burn studio programs add about $30,000 and $31,000 in equipment, plus A/V gear of $8,000 to $9,000 each. A development agreement adds $10,000 per committed location, with a two-location minimum, credited against later franchise fees. The marketing line includes a required membership presale of at least $25,000. If you already run a gym and convert it, Item 7 says you will probably spend less, though it gives no conversion range.
Item 5 sets the initial franchise fee at $40,000, paid in full when you sign and non-refundable. Qualified veterans pay $32,000 on their first agreement. Item 6 then charges two recurring fees on gross revenue, each with a monthly floor: royalty is the greater of 5% or $2,000, and the marketing contribution is the greater of 2% or $1,350.
On the $1,759,000 franchised median, that is $87,950 in royalty and $35,180 in marketing contribution, or $123,130 a year. The franchisor can also require you to spend up to 3% of gross revenue each quarter on cooperative dues and approved local marketing, another $52,770 at the median, which brings the possible total to $175,900, or 10% of revenue.
The floors matter at the bottom of the system. The $2,000 monthly royalty minimum binds below $480,000 in annual revenue, and the lowest franchised club in Item 19 did $357,000. The FDD’s special risks page flags these mandatory minimum payments, and it flags something else: the franchisor’s financial condition, as shown in its Item 21 statements, “calls into question the franchisor’s financial ability to provide services and support to you.” The audited balance sheet shows $38,530,429 in long-term receivables from related parties and no separate cash line.
Exit costs are written into Item 6 too. If the agreement ends early for any reason other than the franchisor’s uncured breach, you owe termination damages equal to your average monthly royalty and marketing payments times the months left on a 10-year term. Fees can rise once a year with CPI.
Item 19 covers calendar 2025 gross revenue for every full-amenity club open by December 31, 2024, so each had at least a full year of operation. Of 132 franchised clubs, the franchisor excluded 6: four open under 12 months and two that did not send complete revenue statements. That leaves 126.
| 2025 group | Clubs | Median | Average | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franchised | 126 | $1,759,000 | $1,797,000 | $357,000 to $6,316,000 |
| Affiliate-owned | 48 | $2,078,000 | $2,222,000 | $597,000 to $9,644,000 |
| All clubs | 174 | $1,789,000 | $1,914,000 | $357,000 to $9,644,000 |
The quartile table tells you more. Franchised clubs in the top quartile had a $2,858,000 midpoint, the second $2,063,000, the third $1,601,000, and the bottom 36 locations $863,000. In 2024 the franchised median was $1,743,000 on 150 units, so the typical club barely moved while 24 fewer reported.
What it leaves out is everything below the top line. The FDD states the figures do not reflect payroll, occupancy, or any operating cost. Franchisee numbers are self-reported. Affiliate figures come from unaudited internal statements. Item 19 also notes ramp-up takes 18 to 24 months, yet treats any club past 12 months as mature. Our Gold’s Gym financials page lays out the full disclosure.
Hold the median against the build. A $1,759,000 club that cost $2,356,000 to open earns about $0.75 of annual revenue per dollar invested at the low end, before rent and labor.
The franchised count held at 158 through 2023, ticked to 159 in 2024, then dropped to 132 by the end of 2025. Affiliate-owned units went from 63 to 52 to 50, almost all of them in Texas. In 2025 the system opened 4 franchised locations, terminated 5 (four in Texas), did not renew 1, and recorded 25 as ceased operations. Twenty-two of those were in California, where the franchised count fell from 29 to 8. Since year end, two Florida franchisees were terminated, one in North Carolina ceased operations, and one in New Jersey closed on non-renewal.
Item 21 lines up with that year. The franchisor booked $11,273,893 in termination fees in 2025 against none in 2024, which is why total revenue roughly doubled to $24,982,108 while royalties grew only from $12,192,047 to $12,848,150. The FDD does not tie those fees to specific clubs.
Ownership history explains the entity dates. Gold’s Gym filed for Chapter 11 in May 2020, and Club Solutions Magazine reported in July 2020 that RSG Group won the auction at roughly $100 million. The current franchisor was formed July 27, 2020, began offering franchises March 26, 2021, and reports to RSG Group USA Inc. and RSG Group GmbH in Berlin. Item 20 lists 19 signed agreements for clubs not yet open and projects 9 franchised openings in the next year. It also states that current and former franchisees have signed provisions restricting what they can say about the system, so some of your reference calls will go nowhere. The franchisor-sponsored Gold’s Gym Franchisee Association, listed in Item 20, is another contact worth using.
| Brand | Item 7 range | Fee | Royalty | Disclosed revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold’s Gym | $2,356,000 to $5,162,000 | $40,000 | 5% of gross, $2,000/mo floor | $1,759,000 median, 126 franchised |
| Planet Fitness | $1,282,500 to $5,386,000 | $40,000 | 7% of EFT dues | $1,873,231 middle-third average, 2,291 franchised |
| Crunch Fitness | $2,147,500 to $5,367,000 | $35,000 | 5% of gross | $2,848,462 median, 331 franchised |
| Anytime Fitness | $539,329 to $905,482 | $42,500 | $842 a month | $398,982 median, 1,683 franchised |
Gold’s and Crunch charge the same 5% royalty on similar build budgets, yet Crunch’s disclosed median runs about $1.09 million higher. Planet Fitness costs less to open at the low end and its middle third averages slightly more than the Gold’s median. Anytime is a different business: a small 24-hour club at a fifth of the capital, with a flat fee. The fitness franchise cost comparison puts more of the category side by side.
The square footage drives everything else. Item 7 quotes rent from 70 cents per square foot a month for warehouse space to $4.25 for prime metro space. At the high end, 25,000 square feet is about $1,275,000 a year in rent, roughly 72% of the franchised median. At 70 cents it is $210,000. That spread is why site selection decides whether a Gold’s club works, and Item 7 excludes the cost of buying land or a building altogether.
You get nine months from signing to have a site accepted and a lease signed. Territory is a radius the franchisor sets after the lease, as small as one eighth of a mile in dense areas or up to 3 miles in rural ones, and Item 12 says plainly that you get no exclusive territory. RSG affiliates also run John Reed Fitness and Heimat studios that may operate inside it.
Item 7 says the franchisor offers no financing, and the FDD we read states no minimum net worth or liquidity figure. Plan for a lender wanting a meaningful cash injection on a $2.4 million to $5.2 million project, and a spouse who must sign a personal guarantee under the special risks page. This suits an operator who has run a large club or a multi-unit owner with commercial real estate experience. If you are weighing a franchise against building your own, read gym franchise vs independent gym before you decide what the brand is worth.
Ask the franchisor to explain the 2025 California exits and the termination fees, then ask existing owners what rent and payroll leave from $1.76 million. The $49 full report on the Gold’s Gym dossier page walks through every Item in this FDD.
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About this analysis The franchise data in this article is drawn from VetMyFranchise's structured analysis of 2,400+ Franchise Disclosure Documents filed with U.S. state regulators. See our data & methodology.
A new Gold's Gym costs $2,356,000 to $5,162,000 per Item 7 of the 2026 FDD. That includes the $40,000 franchise fee, $1,500,000 to $3,125,000 in leasehold improvements, $585,000 to $1,125,000 in equipment, and three months of rent and working capital. It excludes buying land or a building.
Franchised Gold's Gym clubs reported a $1,759,000 median gross revenue in 2025 across 126 clubs open at least 12 months, with an average of $1,797,000 and a range of $357,000 to $6,316,000. That is revenue, not profit. The FDD discloses no payroll, rent, or other costs.
The franchisor is Gold's Gym Franchise LLC, a Delaware company formed July 27, 2020 and based in Dallas. Its parent is RSG Group USA Inc., which is owned by RSG Group GmbH of Berlin. RSG bought Gold's out of its 2020 Chapter 11 case.
Not at the low end. Gold's Gym starts at $2,356,000 against $1,282,500 for Planet Fitness under their 2026 FDDs, though Planet Fitness tops out higher at $5,386,000. Both charge a $40,000 franchise fee. Gold's royalty is 5% of all gross revenue, while Planet Fitness charges 7% of EFT membership dues.
Yes, through a transfer, though few happen. Item 20 shows 1 transfer in 2023, 1 in 2024 and 2 in 2025. A control transfer costs $10,000 and a non-control transfer $2,500 under Item 6, and Item 19 notes the franchisor may share an existing club's actual records with a buyer.
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