Median disclosed unit revenue is $755,100 across 660 franchise systems' 2024-2026 FDDs. Here is the honest walk from that top line down to owner take-home.
Quick answer Item 19 discloses revenue, not income. Across 660 franchise systems' 2024-2026 FDDs the median unit reports $755,100 in annual revenue, with a quarter under $401,211. After the median 8.0% royalty and ad-fund load, typical cost bands, debt service and a market manager wage, most single-unit owners land between $50,000 and $200,000.
The honest answer to “how much do franchise owners make” is that no franchisor discloses it, because no franchisor knows. Item 19 of the Franchise Disclosure Document reports revenue. Owner income sits several subtractions below that, and every one of those subtractions is local to you.
What we can do is show the top line with real numbers and then walk it down honestly. We pulled the Item 19 revenue figure and the Item 6 fee load out of every 2024-2026 FDD in our database. Data as of July 2026.
Across the 660 systems that disclose a usable median revenue figure, the median unit reports $755,100 in annual revenue. A quarter of those systems report a median under $401,211. A tenth report under $221,368. At the other end, a tenth clear $2,005,992. Run the median system through mid-band cost assumptions, the median royalty and ad-fund load, a market manager wage and 70% financing, and roughly $54,000 of owner return survives. That number lands at the bottom of the $50,000-$200,000 range that Franchise Business Review reports from its owner surveys, which is a useful cross-check: two independent methods, one built from FDD filings and one from self-reported surveys, arrive at overlapping answers.
The rest of this post shows the arithmetic, industry by industry, and is explicit about which figures are disclosures and which are assumptions.
We analyzed Item 19 disclosures across 2,280 franchise systems’ 2024-2026 FDDs in the VetMyFranchise database, then narrowed to the systems where the disclosure produces a comparable number.
Inclusion criteria. A system is in the core set (n=660) if it is an active, non-duplicate record with a 2024, 2025 or 2026 FDD; if Item 19 produced a parseable median annual revenue figure of at least $50,000; and if our extraction judge did not flag that figure as unsupported by the source document. The $50,000 floor drops 16 records whose parsed value is implausible as annual unit revenue. We also drop records whose Item 7 range tops out at or below the franchise fee alone, which is arithmetically impossible and signals a corrupted parse.
Fee data comes from Item 6 and covers all qualifying 2024-2026 systems that disclose a single flat percentage: royalty n=1,143, ad fund n=1,147, both together n=764. Systems disclosing sliding scales, per-month dollar fees or ranges are excluded from those medians.
Item 19 reports revenue, not owner profit. This is the central caveat and it applies to every dollar figure in the tables below. A franchisor cannot disclose your net income because it does not know your rent, your wage market, your staffing model or your debt.
Disclosure is voluntary. Of 2,280 systems with a 2024-2026 filing, 1,579 include an Item 19 at all, and only 828 of those produce any single systemwide revenue figure our pipeline can compare. For most franchise brands, the earnings question cannot be answered from the FDD alone.
Survivorship bias is measurable here. Franchisors choose the reporting group. Across the 587 systems where we can compare the Item 19 sample size to the franchised unit count, the median disclosure covers 79% of units, but 255 systems (43%) report on fewer than three-quarters and 124 (21%) report on fewer than half. Units that closed, or that never cleared their first twelve months, are often outside the reporting group by design. Read average vs median and survivorship bias in Item 19 for the mechanics, and the Subway Item 19 survivorship-bias breakdown for a single system worked through end to end.
Anything labeled an assumption is an assumption. The cost percentages in the take-home walkthrough below are industry estimate bands, not FDD data. They are labeled as such on every line.
Two independent answers, and they agree more than you would expect.
From survey data: Franchise Business Review, which surveys thousands of franchise owners each year, reports that roughly 50-55% of owners earn $50,000-$200,000 in personal income, about 7-10% earn over $250,000, and 25-30% earn under $50,000.
From FDD data plus arithmetic: the median disclosed system’s median unit produces $755,100 of revenue, which after mid-band costs, the median 8.0% fee load, a $62,500 manager wage and debt service on 70% of a $408,700 investment leaves about $54,000. Scale that unit to the 75th percentile of disclosed revenue ($1,236,266) and the same structure produces roughly three times as much. Scale it to the 25th percentile ($401,211) and there is nothing left for the owner at all.
That is the real shape of the answer. The distribution is wide, the middle is modest, and the difference between a good outcome and a bad one is mostly decided before you open, by which system you picked and how much capital you had to borrow to open it.
Every industry below has at least 15 qualifying systems. The revenue columns are Item 19 disclosures. The royalty and ad-fund columns are Item 6 disclosures. Nothing here is owner income.
| Industry | Systems (n) | 25th pct revenue | Median revenue | 75th pct revenue | Median royalty | Median ad fund |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive | 16 | $618,915 | $1,147,736 | $1,454,122 | 6.0% | 1.5% |
| Food & Beverage | 217 | $727,535 | $1,047,115 | $1,596,761 | 5.0% | 2.0% |
| Senior Care | 34 | $409,741 | $927,582 | $1,365,270 | 5.6% | 1.5% |
| Retail | 39 | $436,114 | $780,955 | $1,067,313 | 5.0% | 2.0% |
| Health & Beauty | 37 | $438,909 | $587,086 | $862,165 | 6.0% | 2.0% |
| Home Services | 93 | $318,744 | $549,358 | $1,033,748 | 6.0% | 2.0% |
| Child Services & Education | 45 | $219,449 | $541,256 | $1,301,531 | 7.0% | 2.0% |
| Fitness & Wellness | 51 | $398,982 | $515,779 | $807,976 | 7.0% | 2.0% |
| Cleaning & Maintenance | 47 | $339,352 | $500,496 | $688,694 | 6.0% | 2.0% |
| Pet Services | 15 | $147,096 | $390,448 | $826,432 | 6.0% | 2.0% |
| Business Services | 29 | $158,316 | $340,250 | $592,916 | 6.0% | 2.0% |
Item 19 median annual revenue per unit and Item 6 fee rates, VetMyFranchise FDD database, 2024-2026 filings, data as of July 2026. Royalty and ad-fund medians are computed across all qualifying systems in the industry that disclose a single flat percentage, so their n differs from the revenue column. Revenue is not profit.
The industries with the highest revenue are not the ones that pay owners best, because they also carry the highest capital requirements. Food and beverage sits second on revenue at $1,047,115 and first on cost to open, with a median Item 7 midpoint of $764,250. Senior care reports $927,582 on a $185,687 median investment, and home services reports $549,358 on $185,925. We rank all eleven categories on revenue per invested dollar in our companion analysis of the most profitable franchises to own.
One large-brand caveat worth naming: McDonald’s 2026 FDD reports $4,057,000 per restaurant against a $701,000-$2,807,000 investment, but the source document presents that figure as an average rather than a median. Our own extraction audit flagged the label mismatch. That is the exact slippage this post is about, and it happens in filings from the largest systems in the world.
Here is the honest walk. Revenue lines come from the FDD data above. Royalty and ad-fund lines come from Item 6 medians. Every cost percentage is an industry estimate band, labeled on the line, not an FDD disclosure. Manager wage and debt terms are stated assumptions.
Example 1: the median disclosed system. Revenue $755,100, investment midpoint $408,700.
| Line | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | Item 19 median, all 660 systems | $755,100 |
| Cost of goods or materials | 25% (industry estimate, band 5-35% by model) | $188,775 |
| Labor | 30% (industry estimate, band 20-35%) | $226,530 |
| Occupancy | 8% (industry estimate, band 6-12%) | $60,408 |
| Royalty and ad fund | 8.0% (Item 6 median, n=764) | $60,408 |
| Other operating | 8% (industry estimate, band 5-10%) | $60,408 |
| Operating profit | 21% of sales | $158,571 |
| Less market manager wage | $62,500 (industry estimate, band $55,000-$70,000) | $62,500 |
| Less debt service | 70% of $408,700 at 8% over 10 years | $41,653 |
| Owner return | on $122,610 of equity | $54,418 |
Example 2: food and beverage at its category median. Revenue $1,047,115, investment midpoint $764,250, royalty and ad fund 7.0% from the Item 6 medians for the category.
| Line | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | Item 19 median, 217 F&B systems | $1,047,115 |
| Cost of goods | 30% (industry estimate, band 25-35%) | $314,134 |
| Labor | 27.5% (industry estimate, band 20-35%) | $287,957 |
| Occupancy | 9% (industry estimate, band 6-12%) | $94,240 |
| Royalty and ad fund | 7.0% (Item 6 medians, F&B) | $73,298 |
| Other operating | 7.5% (industry estimate, band 5-10%) | $78,534 |
| Operating profit | 19% of sales | $198,952 |
| Less market manager wage | $62,500 (industry estimate) | $62,500 |
| Less debt service | 70% of $764,250 at 8% over 10 years | $77,889 |
| Owner return | on $229,275 of equity | $58,563 |
Example 3: home services at its category median. Revenue $549,358, investment midpoint $185,925, royalty and ad fund 8.0% from the Item 6 medians for the category. Labor sits at the top of the band because labor is the dominant cost in a service business.
| Line | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | Item 19 median, 93 home services systems | $549,358 |
| Materials | 15% (industry estimate, band 5-20%) | $82,404 |
| Labor | 35% (industry estimate, band 20-35%) | $192,275 |
| Occupancy | 7% (industry estimate, van or small warehouse) | $38,455 |
| Royalty and ad fund | 8.0% (Item 6 medians, home services) | $43,949 |
| Other operating | 8% (industry estimate, band 5-10%) | $43,949 |
| Operating profit | 27% of sales | $148,327 |
| Less market manager wage | $62,500 (industry estimate) | $62,500 |
| Less debt service | 70% of $185,925 at 8% over 10 years | $18,949 |
| Owner return | on $55,778 of equity | $66,878 |
Read examples 2 and 3 side by side. The home services unit does 52% of the food unit’s revenue and returns more to its owner, on a quarter of the capital. That is the whole argument against ranking franchises by revenue, and it comes out of the franchisors’ own filings.
Three honest limits on these walkthroughs. They describe a stabilized unit at the category median, not a year-one unit, which will land materially lower while a customer base builds. They assume you can source the operating percentages accurately for your market, which is exactly what talking to existing franchisees is for. And they use the median, so half of every category sits below every figure shown.
Two lines catch buyers off guard regardless of category. Royalty and ad fund are charged on gross sales, not profit, so a losing month still owes the franchisor its 8%. And labor is the swing factor: two points of wage inflation moves owner return by more than $15,000 on the median unit. Our breakdown of the true cost of ongoing franchise fees traces the full fee stack, and how to build a pro forma from Item 19 walks the same math for one specific brand.
Some do. The distribution says most do fine and a meaningful minority do badly, and which group you land in is heavily influenced by capital efficiency.
A quarter of the 660 systems we measured disclose a median unit revenue under $401,211. Run that through the structure above and there is no owner return left after a manager wage and debt service. The top decile discloses $2,005,992 or more, where the same structure supports a genuinely good income. Franchise Business Review’s surveys tell the same story from the other side: 7-10% of owners over $250,000, and 25-30% under $50,000.
The most useful discipline is the one most buyers skip. If you will work in the business, price your own labor at what you would pay a manager to do the job, usually $55,000 to $70,000. A unit that only clears money because you work 60 hours a week for free is not profitable, it is buying you a job. Separating owner wage from owner return is the single most valuable adjustment you can make, and we cover what a healthy result looks like in what makes a good franchise cash-on-cash return.
A franchisor reporting that the average franchisee grosses $180,000 may be describing three locations at $500,000 dragging up a long tail. The median is the more honest statistic, which is why every figure in this post is one.
But the deeper problem is not average versus median, it is who gets counted. Our sample-coverage data quantifies it: the median Item 19 covers 79% of a system’s franchised units, 43% of systems cover fewer than three-quarters, and 21% cover fewer than half. Several large systems narrow the group explicitly and legally: Senior Helpers reports on franchisees operating 60 or more months, Kiddie Academy on mature academies open 24 months or more, and Pop-A-Lock on the top 30% of franchisees who own five or more outlets. All three disclosures are properly labeled in the filings. All three also describe a population that is not a first-year single-unit owner.
Ask for, or compute from Item 19: the median rather than the average, bottom-quartile performance, revenue by unit age, and revenue by geography. A brand averaging $1.2 million nationally can average $700,000 in your market. Our Item 19 red flags guide catalogues the rest of the patterns.
Owners running 3-5 units typically earn substantially more than single-unit operators, not only from added revenue but from operational leverage: a general manager at each site while the owner handles strategy, finances and growth. Total owner income for a well-run five-unit portfolio often ranges from $250,000 to $500,000 or more. The FDD data hints at why franchisors like this cohort so much, since several systems report their Item 19 on multi-unit or long-tenured operators specifically.
Multi-unit ownership requires proportionally more capital and management capacity. Scaling from one unit to three is the hardest transition, and it is where operators find out whether their systems travel.
Owners in the top quartile of their system tend to share the same patterns: they waited for the right site instead of settling; they were actively involved through the first two to three years, particularly on labor cost and local marketing; they followed the system while adapting to local conditions; they tracked labor percentage, supply cost, average ticket and retention weekly; and they reinvested in equipment, training and marketing rather than extracting maximum cash early.
The bottom quartile usually chose a weaker location, undercapitalized the startup, or expected the brand to do the work. Note that two of those three are capital decisions made before opening day.
Browse our FDD database to compare Item 19 data across 2,000+ brands, or have the rebuild done for you: our $49 Tier 2 report on our pricing page reconstructs a specific brand’s unit economics from its own filing, reporting group included.
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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.
Most single-unit owners make $50,000 to $200,000 a year. Our FDD data explains why: across 660 systems the median unit reports $755,100 of annual revenue, and running that through mid-band cost assumptions, the median 8.0% royalty and ad-fund load, a $62,500 manager wage and 70% financing leaves about $54,000 of owner return.
Some do, and the spread is enormous. A quarter of the 660 systems we measured disclose a median unit revenue under $401,211, which struggles to support an owner wage plus debt service. The top decile clears $2,005,992. Good money in franchising comes from picking a capital-efficient system and then operating it well, not from the brand name.
Franchise Business Review, which surveys thousands of franchise owners annually, reports that roughly 50-55% earn $50,000-$200,000 in personal income, about 7-10% earn over $250,000, and 25-30% earn under $50,000. No FDD discloses owner income, so survey data and a rebuilt pro forma are the only ways to estimate it.
By median Item 19 revenue in our 2024-2026 set: automotive $1,147,736 (n=16), food and beverage $1,047,115 (n=217) and senior care $927,582 (n=34). Senior care and home services convert that revenue into owner income more efficiently because their median investments are $185,687 and $185,925, against $764,250 for food and beverage.
No. Item 19 is the Financial Performance Representation and it usually shows gross sales or a partial cost model, not your personal net income. It rarely subtracts your royalty, your debt service, or a salary for the work you would do, so an owner-earnings or cash-flow line almost always overstates what you would keep.
Check Item 19 of the FDD, then check its reporting group. Across the 587 systems where we can compare, the median Item 19 covers 79% of a system's franchised units and 43% cover fewer than three-quarters. Then speak with 8-12 franchisees from Item 20, who are the only people who know their own take-home.
Usually yes. A well-run portfolio of 3-5 units often generates $250,000-$500,000 or more in total owner income through operational leverage and shared overhead. Several systems disclose this directly: Senior Helpers reports on franchisees operating 60 or more months, and Pop-A-Lock reports only on the top 30% of franchisees owning five or more outlets.
Because averages are pulled up by outliers and by who gets counted. A system where most owners earn $80,000 and a few earn $400,000 can report a $130,000 average. Ask for the median, the bottom quartile, and a breakdown by unit age and geography before anchoring on any single figure.
This page is part of VetMyFranchise. View all pages: llms.txt · llms-full.txt