Median Item 19 revenue per invested dollar across 660 franchise systems' 2024-2026 FDDs. Senior care leads at 4.36x, food and beverage trails at 1.25x.
Quick answer Across 660 franchise systems with a parseable Item 19 median in their 2024-2026 FDDs, the median unit turns $408,700 of investment into $755,100 of annual revenue, or $1.58 per invested dollar. Senior care leads all industries at 4.36x and fitness trails at 0.93x. Item 19 discloses revenue, never owner profit.
Search “most profitable franchises” and you get a list of logos. The lists rarely agree, almost never cite a source, and none of them show their work.
So we did the arithmetic instead. This post ranks franchise industries and brands on two numbers taken directly from official Franchise Disclosure Documents: the median revenue figure a franchisor discloses in Item 19, and the total initial investment range it discloses in Item 7. Data as of July 2026.
Three findings stand out. First, across the 660 systems with a usable Item 19 median in their 2024-2026 FDDs, the median unit reports $755,100 in annual revenue against a $408,700 median investment, or $1.58 of revenue per invested dollar. Second, ranking industries by revenue and ranking them by revenue-per-dollar produce nearly opposite lists: food and beverage posts the highest median revenue of any large category ($1,047,115 across 217 systems) and the second-worst capital efficiency (1.25x). Third, 154 of those 660 systems report a median unit revenue below their own median cost to open a unit. In fitness and wellness, that describes 28 of 51 systems.
None of these numbers are profit. Item 19 discloses revenue, and the gap between the two is where most franchise buyers lose money. We come back to that repeatedly below, because it is the single most important caveat attached to every figure on this page.
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 yields 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 mark that figure unsupported by the source document. The $50,000 floor removes 16 records whose parsed value is implausible as annual unit revenue, such as a national gym system that came through at $1,759. We also drop rows where the Item 7 range tops out at or below the franchise fee alone, which is arithmetically impossible and flags a corrupted parse. That guard removed four systems, including one whose live investment range still reads $2,500 to $3,500 against a $34,000 franchise fee.
Investment. We use the midpoint of each system’s Item 7 low-to-high total initial investment range. Ratios are computed per system, then the median of those per-system ratios is reported, so one enormous outlier cannot carry a category.
Disclosure is voluntary, and coverage is uneven. Of 2,280 systems with a 2024-2026 filing, 1,579 include an Item 19 at all. Only 828 of those produce a single systemwide revenue figure our pipeline can compare; the rest disclose segment tables, gross-profit lines, expense-only models or per-territory data that does not reduce to one number. So the 660-system core set is not a census of franchising. It is the subset that chose to publish a comparable revenue figure, which is already a self-selected group of more confident systems.
Item 19 reports revenue, not owner profit. A franchisor does not know your rent, your wage market or your debt load, so it cannot disclose your bottom line. Every dollar figure in this post is top-line revenue.
Survivorship bias is real and measurable. 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 of them (43%) report on fewer than three-quarters, and 124 (21%) report on fewer than half. Systems that closed units mid-year, or that never got a struggling location past its first twelve months, are frequently outside the reporting group by construction. We unpack the mechanics in average vs median and survivorship bias in Item 19 and walk one system’s numbers line by line in the Subway Item 19 survivorship-bias breakdown.
Small samples stay out of the headline table. Six industries have fewer than 15 qualifying systems and are excluded from the ranking below: staffing and HR (n=4, 11.68x median ratio), technology (n=4, 3.18x), hospitality and travel (n=7, 1.29x), financial services (n=8, 2.55x), real estate (n=9, 2.38x) and a small “other” bucket (n=5, 0.64x). Treat those as directional only.
Here is the core table: every industry with at least 15 qualifying systems, ranked by the median Item 19 revenue figure its systems disclose. The last two columns are the ones the logo lists never show.
| Industry | Systems (n) | 25th pct revenue | Median revenue | 75th pct revenue | Median investment | Revenue per invested $ | Share of systems with revenue below cost to open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive | 16 | $618,915 | $1,147,736 | $1,454,122 | $450,625 | 2.11x | 13% |
| Food & Beverage | 217 | $727,535 | $1,047,115 | $1,596,761 | $764,250 | 1.25x | 30% |
| Senior Care | 34 | $409,741 | $927,582 | $1,365,270 | $185,687 | 4.36x | 3% |
| Retail | 39 | $436,114 | $780,955 | $1,067,313 | $387,150 | 2.10x | 10% |
| Health & Beauty | 37 | $438,909 | $587,086 | $862,165 | $570,330 | 1.08x | 35% |
| Home Services | 93 | $318,744 | $549,358 | $1,033,748 | $185,925 | 3.01x | 6% |
| Child Services & Education | 45 | $219,449 | $541,256 | $1,301,531 | $362,592 | 1.28x | 27% |
| Fitness & Wellness | 51 | $398,982 | $515,779 | $807,976 | $619,578 | 0.93x | 55% |
| Cleaning & Maintenance | 47 | $339,352 | $500,496 | $688,694 | $227,650 | 2.42x | 15% |
| Pet Services | 15 | $147,096 | $390,448 | $826,432 | $383,617 | 1.53x | 20% |
| Business Services | 29 | $158,316 | $340,250 | $592,916 | $125,332 | 2.16x | 14% |
Item 19 median annual revenue per unit and Item 7 total investment midpoint, VetMyFranchise FDD database, 2024-2026 filings, data as of July 2026. Revenue figures are not profit.
Read the table twice. The first read, down the revenue column, produces the ranking every other article publishes: automotive and food and beverage on top, business services and pet services at the bottom. The second read, down the revenue-per-dollar column, reorders almost everything. Senior care jumps from third to first because its median system asks for $185,687 and reports $927,582. Food and beverage falls from second to tenth because its median system asks for $764,250, the second-highest capital requirement in the table, to produce $1,047,115.
That is not a margin argument, and we are careful not to make one. Revenue per invested dollar measures capital efficiency, not profitability. A senior care agency at 4.36x still pays out most of its revenue in caregiver wages. But capital efficiency is the part of profitability the FDD can actually prove, and it is the part that determines how much of your own money is exposed if the unit underperforms.
The spread inside a category is also wider than the gap between categories, which is the caveat that keeps this table honest. Food and beverage runs from $469,711 at the 10th percentile to $2,434,728 at the 90th. Home services runs from $165,307 to $1,398,994. Picking the right industry narrows your odds; it does not pick your brand.
For a single brand, we ranked established systems, defined as those with at least 100 franchised units, by revenue per invested dollar. Established systems matter here because a 6-unit brand with a flattering ratio has told you almost nothing.
| Brand | Industry | Franchised units | Item 19 median revenue | Item 7 investment | Revenue per invested $ | Reporting group | FDD year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier Pools & Spas | Home Services | 125 | $3,052,327 | $58,950–$122,190 | 33.70x | 104 units open all of 2025 | 2026 |
| Pop-A-Lock | Automotive | 309 | $4,637,356 | $117,565–$190,610 | 30.10x | top 30% of franchisees owning 5+ outlets | 2026 |
| ActiKare | Senior Care | 150 | $879,976 | $32,530–$57,550 | 19.54x | 54 units, 35+ hrs/week, 24+ months, same owner | 2026 |
| Precision Garage Door Service | Home Services | 147 | $4,925,952 | $164,285–$360,294 | 18.78x | 116 units open the full 52 weeks | 2026 |
| SYNERGY HomeCare | Senior Care | 626 | $1,763,025 | $80,245–$164,091 | 14.43x | 523 units open 1+ year | 2026 |
| POOLWERX | Home Services | 107 | $1,613,596 | $105,400–$140,525 | 13.12x | 31 units running mobile plus retail | 2026 |
| iTrip | Real Estate | 105 | $1,767,339 | $119,400–$153,000 | 12.98x | 100 units, all franchised | 2026 |
| Superior Fence & Rail | Home Services | 310 | $2,598,212 | $134,400–$278,300 | 12.59x | 93 single and multi-territory franchisees | 2026 |
| Griswold | Senior Care | 114 | $1,492,691 | $99,600–$180,600 | 10.65x | 59 units | 2026 |
| Home Instead | Senior Care | 626 | $2,261,503 | $92,640–$350,550 | 10.21x | 611 units, all franchised | 2026 |
| Right at Home | Senior Care | 566 | $1,334,579 | $94,330–$176,239 | 9.86x | 390 offices open 1+ year | 2026 |
| ReBath | Home Services | 145 | $2,548,254 | $275,875–$606,925 | 5.77x | 113 units open a full year | 2026 |
All figures from each brand’s own 2025 or 2026 FDD as extracted in the VetMyFranchise database, data as of July 2026.
The “reporting group” column is the one to read first, because it is where the ranking earns or loses its credibility. Home Instead discloses on 611 of its 626 franchised units, so its $2,261,503 median describes essentially the whole system. Pop-A-Lock discloses on the top 30% of franchisees who own five or more outlets, which is a different claim entirely: its $4,637,356 is a figure about high-performing multi-unit veterans, not about the unit you would open. POOLWERX reports on 31 of 107 units, Superior Fence & Rail on 93 of 310, and ActiKare on owner-operated units running full-time under the same owner for two years. Every one of those filters is legal and disclosed. Every one also removes the units most likely to be struggling.
The pattern underneath the table is consistent with the industry data: eleven of these twelve systems are senior care, home services or real estate, and every one asks for less than $610,000 at the top of its Item 7 range. Capital efficiency in franchising comes from not needing a building.
The inverse list is more useful than it sounds, and nobody publishes it. These are large, recognizable systems whose disclosed median unit revenue is at or below their own median investment. Every figure is the franchisor’s own 2025 or 2026 disclosure.
| Brand | Industry | Item 19 median revenue | Item 7 investment | Revenue per invested $ | Reporting group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Wild Wings | Food & Beverage | $3,433,937 | $2,463,945–$4,900,320 | 0.93x | all 532 franchised units |
| Crunch Fitness | Fitness & Wellness | $2,848,462 | $2,147,500–$5,367,000 | 0.76x | 331 units open 12-59 months |
| Applebee’s | Food & Beverage | $2,822,904 | $616,682–$5,822,933 | 0.88x | 1,351 units |
| The Learning Experience | Child Services & Education | $2,168,511 | $805,799–$5,658,799 | 0.67x | 266 units |
| Kiddie Academy | Child Services & Education | $2,075,740 | $590,000–$8,530,000 | 0.46x | 293 mature academies open 24+ months |
| Planet Fitness | Fitness & Wellness | $1,863,300 | $1,282,500–$5,386,000 | 0.56x | 2,291 units, middle third |
| Burger King | Food & Beverage | $1,685,154 | $2,249,200–$3,320,600 | 0.61x | 4,730 traditional franchised restaurants |
| Tommy’s Express Car Wash | Automotive | $1,749,041 | $3,482,389–$7,529,460 | 0.32x | 197 outlets open 12+ months |
A ratio under 1.0 does not mean these are bad businesses. Several are excellent ones. It means the capital intensity is high enough that revenue takes more than a year to equal the check you wrote, so the payback math depends entirely on margin and on how long you hold the asset. It also means that if the unit lands at the 25th percentile instead of the median, the hole is deep and the fixed costs do not shrink to match. That is the risk a revenue-ranked list hides completely.
Worth noting on this table: Planet Fitness discloses the middle third of its franchised units, a genuinely useful framing that a lot of systems avoid. Kiddie Academy discloses mature academies open 24 months or more. Both are narrower than “all units,” and both are clearly labeled in the FDD.
Two things hide inside every figure above. The first is that it is revenue, so the entire cost stack is yours to subtract: cost of goods or materials, labor, occupancy, the Item 6 fee load, and debt service. The median royalty across our 2024-2026 set is 6.0% of gross sales (n=1,143 systems with a single flat percentage disclosed), and it is charged on revenue in a losing month exactly as it is in a winning one. Our breakdown of the true cost of ongoing franchise fees shows how that stack compounds against a thin margin.
The second is that an average or median can be dragged upward by strong units and by the choice of who counts. Both effects point the same way: they make a brand look more profitable than the middle owner experiences. We catalogue the specific mechanisms, from selective sampling to top-quartile framing to missing cost lines, in Item 19 red flags and misleading data.
The honest version of profitability is two numbers multiplied: the margin the category supports, and what you keep after paying yourself a market-rate salary for the hours you actually work. If you work 60 hours a week in your own store, part of what feels like profit is really wages. We walk through that wage adjustment and what counts as a healthy result in what makes a good franchise cash-on-cash return, and we run the full revenue-to-take-home waterfall on these same medians in how much franchise owners actually make. The short version: the median disclosed system’s $755,100 of revenue leaves roughly $54,000 of owner return once a manager’s wage and debt service on 70% of the investment come out.
Once you have narrowed to a category and a few brands, the work shifts from ranking to rebuilding. Take the brand’s Item 19 top line, check the reporting group the way we did in the tables above, haircut it for a realistic first-year single unit, layer in cost of goods, labor and occupancy as a percentage of sales, subtract the Item 6 fee stack and your debt service, and only then pay yourself. Our walkthrough on how to build a pro forma from Item 19 takes that line by line, and our franchise matcher filters brands by investment level so you are only weighing concepts whose economics could plausibly clear your number.
If you want the rebuild done for you, our $49 Tier 2 report on our pricing page reconstructs a specific brand’s unit economics from its own FDD, including the reporting-group check. The aggregates on this page tell you where to look. They cannot tell you what one unit in your market will earn, and any page that claims otherwise is selling you something.
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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.
No single brand wins for every buyer, but the data narrows it sharply. Across 660 systems in our 2024-2026 FDD set, senior care returns the most revenue per invested dollar at a 4.36x median, followed by home services at 3.01x and cleaning at 2.42x. Among established systems, Premier Pools & Spas reports the highest ratio we found: a $3,052,327 median on a $59,000 to $122,190 investment.
By median Item 19 revenue across our 2024-2026 set: automotive $1,147,736 (n=16), food and beverage $1,047,115 (n=217), senior care $927,582 (n=34), retail $780,955 (n=39) and health and beauty $587,086 (n=37). Revenue rank is not profit rank. Food and beverage also carries the second-highest median investment at $764,250, which is why its capital efficiency lands near the bottom.
Start with Item 19, then treat it as a revenue figure. Subtract cost of goods, labor, occupancy, the Item 6 royalty and ad-fund stack, debt service and a market-rate salary for the hours you will personally work. The median royalty in our 2024-2026 set is 6.0% of gross sales (n=1,143), charged on revenue whether or not you make money.
No. Buffalo Wild Wings reports a $3,433,937 median revenue on a $2.46M to $4.90M investment, a ratio of 0.93. Precision Garage Door Service reports $4,925,952 on a $164,285 to $360,294 investment, a ratio of 18.78. Both are real Item 19 figures from 2026 FDDs. Revenue tells you the size of the machine, not what it returns on the capital you put in.
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