Home Instead vs Right at Home vs Visiting Angels Franchise (2026)

The Senior Care Franchise Tailwind

The non-medical home care category has one of the strongest demographic tailwinds in U.S. franchising. The 65+ population is growing roughly 3% per year and will continue growing for another 15+ years. The 85+ population — the segment that drives most home care demand — is growing faster. Aging-in-place preferences (seniors wanting to stay in their homes rather than move to assisted living) are stronger than they were a generation ago. Hospital discharge planning increasingly directs patients to home care services rather than skilled nursing facilities for non-medical needs.

The three dominant non-medical home care franchise brands — Home Instead, Right at Home, and Visiting Angels — have built businesses on this trend. They operate similar core models but differ in operational infrastructure, brand positioning, and the buyer profile each attracts. For prospective franchise buyers, the choice among them is less about category fit (the category is solid) and more about which operational structure matches the buyer’s strengths.

The Three-Way Snapshot

Metric	Home Instead	Right at Home	Visiting Angels
U.S. unit count	~600 (largest)	~500	~600
Total investment	$115K–$200K	$90K–$200K	$90K–$130K
Franchise fee	~$60,000	~$54,000	~$48,000
Royalty	5% of gross sales (declining tier)	5% of gross sales	3.5–5% of gross sales (declining tier)
Ad fund	2%	2%	2%
Total ongoing %	~7%	~7%	~5.5–7%
Typical AUV	$1.5M–$3.5M+	$1.2M–$3.0M+	$1.0M–$2.5M+
Brand positioning	Premium, larger territories	Mid-market, healthcare-network focus	Value-positioned, accessible entry
Parent ownership	Honor Health (acquired 2021)	Independent	Living Assistance Services

(Industry-typical figures from publicly available FDD data and home care industry reports. Verify Item 5, 6, 7, and 19 in the most recent FDD before relying on any specific figure.)

Home Instead: The Category Leader

Home Instead is the largest single-brand non-medical home care franchise system, with approximately 600 U.S. territories and significant international presence. The brand was acquired by Honor Health in 2021, which has since invested in technology platforms (caregiver management, scheduling, family communication) that the smaller brands haven’t matched.

Total franchise investment runs $115K–$200K with a franchise fee of approximately $60,000. The royalty structure is a declining-tier model — typically 5% on the first revenue tier with reduction at higher revenue levels, which rewards operators who scale within their territory. Ad fund runs 2% of gross sales.

AUV at Home Instead territories runs $1.5M–$3.5M+ with significant variance by territory size, market demographics, and operator tenure. Established territories in dense suburban markets with strong senior populations routinely produce $2.5M+ in AUV. New territories in less-developed markets often take 4–6 years to reach $1.5M+.

The brand’s defining advantage is operational scale and technology infrastructure. The Honor Health backing has produced caregiver management software, scheduling platforms, and family-communication tools that smaller brands rely on third-party tools for. For first-time operators without strong operational infrastructure, Home Instead’s systems reduce the learning curve.

The trade-off is higher initial investment, larger territory commitments (Home Instead territories are often larger than Visiting Angels or Right at Home), and the higher franchise fee. The brand attracts operators who are committed to the category long-term and have sufficient capital to fund the slower ramp period.

Right at Home: The Healthcare Network Focus

Right at Home operates approximately 500 U.S. territories with a brand positioning focused on healthcare network relationships. The brand has historically emphasized referral relationships with hospitals, discharge planners, and physician networks more than direct-to-consumer marketing.

Total franchise investment runs $90K–$200K with a franchise fee of approximately $54,000. Royalty (5%) and ad fund (2%) structure is similar to Home Instead. AUV at Right at Home territories runs $1.2M–$3.0M+ with the strongest territories often in markets with established healthcare network relationships.

The brand’s healthcare-referral positioning produces a different operational shape than Home Instead’s broader market approach. Right at Home operators typically invest more time in healthcare network development — meeting with hospital discharge planners, attending healthcare professional events, building referral pipelines from physician offices. The customer acquisition is more relationship-driven and slower to develop, but the resulting clients tend to have higher acuity needs and longer service durations.

For operators with healthcare backgrounds or strong existing healthcare networks, Right at Home is often the strongest fit. The healthcare-referral model rewards operators who can build and maintain professional relationships in the healthcare community. For operators without those connections, the model can take longer to develop than Home Instead’s broader market approach.

Visiting Angels: The Value-Positioned Entry Point

Visiting Angels operates approximately 600 U.S. territories with a brand positioning focused on value and accessibility. The brand has historically emphasized family-direct marketing and a “America’s Choice in Home Care” positioning that targets the broader middle-market home care customer.

Total franchise investment runs $90K–$130K with a franchise fee of approximately $48,000 — the lowest of the three brands. The royalty structure is a declining tier starting at 3.5–5% with reduction at higher revenue levels. Ad fund runs 2%. The total ongoing fee burden is the lowest of the three brands.

AUV at Visiting Angels territories runs $1.0M–$2.5M+ with strong operators in dense markets producing higher figures. The brand’s value positioning typically produces lower per-hour billing rates than Home Instead or Right at Home, but with broader customer demand and shorter sales cycles. The total revenue per territory ends up similar to the other brands when normalized for territory size and market.

For operators with capital constraints or for first-time operators testing the category, Visiting Angels is the strongest entry point. The lower investment and lower ongoing royalty burden produce better economics during the ramp period. The trade-off is somewhat smaller per-unit territory size (Visiting Angels often has more territories per geographic area than Home Instead) and a brand positioning that competes more on value than premium service.

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The Caregiver Workforce Reality

The most important operational factor in non-medical home care isn’t the brand. It’s the caregiver workforce.

Caregivers (typically certified nursing assistants, home health aides, or qualified personal-care attendants) are the actual product the franchise delivers. They go to the senior’s home and provide the hands-on care. Without enough qualified caregivers, the franchise can’t accept clients — and home care operators who can’t accept clients lose them to competitors quickly.

Caregiver turnover is the dominant industry challenge. Annual turnover rates routinely exceed 50% across the home care industry — meaning a franchise with 50 active caregivers will typically need to recruit and train 25+ new caregivers each year just to maintain headcount. Active growth requires substantially more recruiting throughput.

The operator’s recruiting and HR infrastructure determines whether the franchise can grow. Strong operators run continuous recruiting pipelines through multiple channels (online job boards, community college nursing programs, local healthcare training programs, employee referral programs). They pay competitively relative to the local market. They invest in caregiver retention through scheduling flexibility, recognition programs, and clear advancement paths.

The brand’s contribution to caregiver workforce success is real but secondary. All three brands provide recruiting templates, training materials, and HR best practices. The day-to-day caregiver recruiting and retention work is the operator’s responsibility.

AUV Ramp Reality

Home care franchise AUV doesn’t ramp quickly. The category is inherently slow to develop because:

• Each new client requires individualized care plan development and matching with appropriate caregivers
• Customer acquisition is relationship-driven (family decision, often with multiple decision-makers)
• Service duration is variable (some clients need a few weeks, others stay for years)
• Caregiver workforce has to scale with client base

A new home care territory typically produces $200K–$500K in Year 1 revenue, $500K–$900K in Year 2, $900K–$1.5M in Year 3, and $1.5M+ in Year 4 onward at stabilized levels. The realistic ramp period is 3–5 years, and operators who underestimate the ramp routinely run into working capital problems in Year 2.

The ramp pattern is similar across all three brands. The brand choice doesn’t materially accelerate the ramp — operator effort on caregiver recruiting, client acquisition, and care coordination is the dominant variable.

Multi-Territory Math

Multi-territory home care operations are common but not universal. Single-territory operators can produce meaningful operator income ($150K–$400K+ at stabilized AUV) without expanding to additional territories.

The multi-territory advantages center on infrastructure leverage:

• Shared regional manager and back-office across multiple territories
• Consolidated caregiver recruiting across a metropolitan area
• Stronger negotiating leverage with referral sources (a 3-territory operator presents differently to a hospital discharge planner than a single-territory operator)
• More efficient marketing spend across a regional cluster

Most operators with operator income targets above $250K either run multiple territories or have built one territory to its absolute capacity. The decision to add a second territory typically comes 3–4 years into operations, after the first territory has stabilized and the operational systems can scale.

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Buyer Profile Fit

Home Instead makes sense if:

• You have $200K+ committable capital
• You value the strongest technology platform and operational systems
• You’re targeting larger territories with multi-year ramp commitment
• You want the leading brand recognition in the category
• You’re comfortable with the higher franchise fee

Right at Home makes sense if:

• You have healthcare background or existing healthcare network connections
• You’re committed to the healthcare-referral business development model
• You’re operating in markets with established healthcare network density
• You value the higher-acuity client base and longer service durations

Visiting Angels makes sense if:

• Capital is constrained ($100K–$150K range)
• You want the lowest ongoing royalty burden
• You’re targeting middle-market customers and value-positioned services
• You’re testing the category before committing larger capital
• You have strong direct-to-family sales and marketing capabilities

The Bottom Line

Non-medical home care is a strong franchise category with demographic tailwinds that are unlikely to reverse for at least 15+ years. The three dominant brands operate similar core models with meaningful operational and positioning differences. The brand choice matters less than the operator’s caregiver workforce strategy, customer acquisition execution, and capital reserves through the multi-year ramp period.

For most first-time operators, Home Instead produces the strongest support infrastructure but requires the most capital. Right at Home fits operators with healthcare backgrounds. Visiting Angels is the strongest capital-constrained entry point. The realistic outcome under any of the three brands depends more on operator execution than brand selection.

Before signing any home care franchise agreement, get an independent buyer-focused review of the FDD with attention to territory specifics, payer mix in the target market, and Item 19 disclosure. Validation calls with current operators in the system are particularly important in this category — caregiver recruiting reality and ramp pattern are best heard from operators 2–4 years into the system, not from the franchisor’s sales team.

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