Home/Reports/Franchise Pricing Index 2026
VetMyFranchise Research · Annual Index
The median franchise fee, royalty rate, ad fund contribution, and total investment range across every U.S. franchise industry — analyzed from 2,387 active FDDs across 17 industries. The most comprehensive cross-industry pricing benchmark in franchising, updated annually.
Source: 2022-2026 FDD filings · 2,387 brands analyzed
Median Franchise Fee
$40K
Item 5 initial fee
Median Royalty
6.0%
Item 6 ongoing
Median Ad Fund
2.0%
Item 6 contribution
Median Investment Low
$202K
Item 7 low column
Median Investment High
$493K
Item 7 high column
Sortable, filterable, and downloadable as CSV.
| Industry↕ | Franchises↓ | Fee↕ | Royalty↕ | Ad Fund↕ | Inv. Low↕ | Inv. High↕ | Item 19↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food & Beverage | 841 | $35K | 5.0% | 2.0% | $357K | $822K | 59.7% |
| Home Services | 264 | $50K | 6.0% | 2.0% | $129K | $227K | 76.5% |
| Fitness & Wellness | 161 | $50K | 7.0% | 2.0% | $310K | $709K | 73.3% |
| Cleaning & Maintenance | 151 | $45K | 7.0% | 2.0% | $127K | $270K | 75.5% |
| Child Services & Education | 149 | $49K | 7.0% | 2.0% | $124K | $313K | 72.5% |
| Retail | 129 | $35K | 5.0% | 2.0% | $170K | $378K | 69.8% |
| Senior Care | 124 | $50K | 6.0% | 2.0% | $120K | $249K | 76.6% |
| Business Services | 97 | $50K | 8.0% | 2.0% | $78K | $152K | 73.2% |
| Health & Beauty | 94 | $50K | 6.0% | 2.0% | $321K | $595K | 81.9% |
| Real Estate | 83 | $25K | 5.0% | 2.0% | $50K | $207K | 51.8% |
| Hospitality & Travel | 81 | $36K | 5.0% | 3.0% | $1.29M | $10.88M | 65.4% |
| Automotive | 70 | $35K | 6.0% | 2.0% | $194K | $623K | 65.7% |
| Pet Services | 58 | $50K | 7.0% | 2.0% | $195K | $470K | 77.6% |
| Financial Services | 32 | $30K | 12.0% | 2.0% | $56K | $112K | 68.8% |
| Other | 22 | $50K | 6.0% | 2.0% | $109K | $386K | 68.2% |
| Staffing & HR | 20 | $49K | 10.0% | 1.1% | $100K | $178K | 80.0% |
| Technology | 11 | $40K | 7.0% | 2.0% | $94K | $147K | 81.8% |
| All industries (median) | 2,387 | $40K | 6.0% | 2.0% | $202K | $493K | — |
Median per industry · click any column header to sort ·
17
industries shown
The Franchise Pricing Index analyzes every active FDD in the VetMyFranchise database (2,387 franchises in 2026). Each franchise contributes one observation per field; we compute the median (not the mean) at the industry level to avoid distortion from outliers like hospitality chains with $100M+ build-outs.
Initial franchise fee is Item 5 of the FDD. Royalty and ad fund rates are Item 6 — parsed from text fields (e.g. "6%" → 6.0) with non-percentage formats (flat-dollar fees, tech-fee per-month structures) excluded from that field's sample. Where a franchise discloses a range (e.g. "1.5%–3.0%"), we use the midpoint. Investment range (low/high columns) is Item 7 — the franchisor's own published total startup cost range.
Item 19 disclosure % measures the share of franchises in each industry whose FDD includes a Financial Performance Representation — not whether they disclose everything, but whether they disclose any structured revenue claim at all. Industries with low disclosure rates are systematically harder to underwrite as a buyer.
Sample sizes vary by field. Royalty rate has the most exclusions because some franchisors structure ongoing fees as flat per-week or per-month amounts rather than a percentage. Per-row sample counts are visible in the downloaded CSV.
Cite this. Please attribute figures to "VetMyFranchise, Franchise Pricing Index 2026" and link to this page.
Hospitality & Travel franchises (mostly hotel chains) skew the entire dataset on the high end — median total investment of $10.88M reflects the capital intensity of hotel build-outs. Most franchise buyers won't be playing in this tier. The vast majority of opportunities sit in Home Services, Cleaning, and Child Services — all with median investment ranges 5–10× lower.
Across all 17 industries, median royalty rates sit between 5.0% and 12.0%. The compression is real: 6-7% is the modal royalty in franchising, and franchisors charging much above 8% are charging a premium that needs to be justified by superior support, brand strength, or unit economics. Combined with the median 2.0% ad fund, the typical franchisee surrenders roughly 8.0% of gross revenue in perpetuity.
Disclosure of financial performance data is voluntary under FTC rules — and the data shows franchisors in some industries embrace it while others avoid it. Health & Beauty leads at 81.9% disclosure. The least-transparent industries tend to be ones where unit economics are weakest or most variable — making the data harder to disclose without scaring off buyers. Approach low-disclosure industries with extra diligence: franchisee validation calls become non-negotiable.
These are industry-wide medians. For one brand's exact Item 5/6/7 fees, Item 19 review where disclosed, and a buyer verdict, our full 12-section FDD analysis is $49 per report, or three for $99.
Computed from 2022-2026 FDD filings. Refreshed as new filings are analyzed. Methodology questions: contact us.
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