Always Best Care franchise unit economics
Always Best Care franchisees run non-medical home care and, where licensed, skilled nursing across assigned areas. The 66 franchisees filing accounts for 2025 averaged $3,226,345 of gross sales at 12.2% owner discretionary profit. Owners with one territory keep 17.1% of sales. Owners with several keep 11.8%. A second territory brings 2.78 times the sales at 0.69 times the margin.
- Primary source
- Always Best Care, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Items 5 and 6 for fees; Item 7 for cost to open; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure
- Population
- 66 of 291 locations
- Our calculations
- Marked on the page with an asterisk. Method
- Last reviewed
- 26 September 2026
Disclosure-based. Not a forecast, not an offer to sell a franchise, and not advice.
Sixty-six franchisees filed accounts for 2025, averaging $3,226,345 of gross sales at 12.2% owner discretionary profit. Split them by how many territories they hold and the picture changes: single-territory owners earn 17.1% and multi-territory owners 11.8%. A second territory brings 2.78 times the sales and keeps 0.69 times the share.
- A single-territory owner earns 17.1% and a multi-territory owner 11.8%. $226,860 against $435,692 in dollars *, so holding several areas returns 1.92 times the money on 2.78 times the revenue, which is worth knowing before signing for the second one.
- Multi-territory margin starts at 6.7% and takes six years to reach 12.5%. Against 16.3% rising to 17.2% for single-territory owners across the same span. The expansion costs margin for years before it returns any.
- The minimum royalty is exactly 6% of a required sales level at all six stages. $8,333.33 a month against a $500 minimum, rising to $55,000 against $3,300 *, so the performance standard and the fee are the same number written twice.
- All of 2025’s growth came from client count, and revenue per client fell. Systemwide sales rose 8.1% while average monthly clients rose 10.2%, so revenue per client slipped 1.9% to $35,693 *.
- The highest-selling franchisees bills 60 times the lowest-selling franchisees. $11,843,669 against $196,359 *, and 34.8% of franchisees clear their own average, so the mean describes an upper-middle result.
How much does a Always Best Care franchise make?
The average Always Best Care unit reported $3,226,345 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $2,507,952. The brand’s disclosure document puts the profit line at 12.2% of revenue. Fees come off the top first, at about 6% of sales across royalty, brand fund and the rest of the stack. Revenue is not income. Rent, wages, cost of goods and the franchise fees all come out before an owner is paid. The figures for the highest-selling and lowest-selling businesses are below.
Sales and clients
$303,822,764 across the system, and 8,512 clients a month.
| Year | Systemwide gross sales | Growth | Assigned areas | Franchisees earning | Average monthly clients | Revenue a client * | Revenue an area * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $303,822,764 | +8.1% | 291 | 110 | 8,512 | $35,693 | $1,044,064 |
| 2024 | $280,952,555 | +17.9% | 275 | 106 | 7,721 | $36,388 | $1,021,646 |
| 2023 | $238,360,485 | +12.1% | 249 | 101 | 6,978 | $34,159 | $957,271 |
Gross sales, growth, areas, franchisee counts and client counts are as the brand reported it. The two right-hand columns are marked *, dividing annual sales by the average monthly client count and by the assigned area count.
Growth halved while client growth held. Sales rose 8.1% in 2025, against 17.9% the year before. Monthly clients rose 10.2%, against 10.6% *. Each client is worth less than last year.
Revenue per client fell 1.9% in 2025. $35,693 against $36,388 *. The first fall in the three years shown, and on 8,512 clients that is $5,916,000 of revenue the system would have had at the prior rate.
A franchisee holds 2.65 assigned areas on average. 291 areas across 110 earning owners *, up from 2.47 areas each in 2023. The system is adding areas to existing owners as fast as it adds owners.
An area is worth $1,044,064 a year systemwide. Up 9.1% across the three years *, and the 110 franchisees holding them averaged $2,762,025 each.
Top performers
What separates the top Always Best Care performers
Always Best Care splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $3,692,303 a year. The worst averaged $1,326,666. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $2,507,952. The average was $3,226,345. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 2.8× gap between bands is not an operating gap. Catchment, daytime population and what sits next door set the ceiling before the first customer arrives.
- Territory, and how much of it is real.This model sells from a territory rather than a building. Two owners with the same brand and different ground are running different businesses, and density decides how much driving sits between jobs.
- What you spend to open.Opening costs $89,725 to $145,900, a 1.6× range inside one brand. The high end usually buys more capacity, so the cheapest build is not always the cheapest route to the top band.
Live operating levers
- Billed hours, the operating driver.This model bills on billed hours. The owner pays for every hour worked and bills only the hours a client accepts, so the job is to keep those two close and to protect the gap between the rate charged and the rate paid. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 6.0% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
- The first year.This filing shows how a new location builds up, so the ramp can be underwritten from the document rather than assumed. Read two things out of it: the month sales cross the point where costs are covered, and how much cash you fund before that month arrives. Everything before break-even is paid for by you.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.66 of 291 locations are behind these figures. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded, so the numbers describe locations that cleared that screen, not the system as a whole.
What an owner keeps
Two businesses wearing one brand.
Owner discretionary profit is net profit with the owner’s own salary and benefits added back. Split by whether a franchisee holds one assigned area or several, the two groups behave differently enough to be read as separate businesses.
| Group | Franchisees | Average gross sales | Median | Profit margin | Median margin | Profit in dollars * | Clearing the average margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-territory, 6 or more years | 10 | $1,564,111 | $1,218,161 | 17.2% | 15.5% | $269,027 | 5 of 10, 50.0% |
| Single-territory, 1 to 5 years | 3 | $535,185 | $672,721 | 16.3% | 17.6% | $87,235 | 2 of 3, 66.7% |
| Single-territory, all | 13 | $1,326,666 | $1,020,454 | 17.1% | 17.6% | $226,860 | 7 of 13, 53.8% |
| Multi-territory, 6 or more years | 44 | $3,887,360 | $2,873,989 | 12.5% | 10.7% | $485,920 | 19 of 44, 43.2% |
| Multi-territory, 1 to 5 years | 9 | $2,738,694 | $2,945,070 | 6.7% | 9.9% | $183,492 | 5 of 9, 55.6% |
| Multi-territory, all | 53 | $3,692,303 | $2,897,198 | 11.8% | 10.6% | $435,692 | 22 of 53, 41.5% |
| All 66 | 66 | $3,226,345 | $2,507,952 | 12.2% | 10.8% | $393,614 | 28 of 66, 42.4% |
Franchisee counts, sales, shares kept and attainment are as the brand reported it. We worked out the dollar column, applying each group's own margin to its own average sales.
Owners with one area keep 5.3 points more of their sales than owners with several. 17.1% against 11.8% *, on the multi-territory average that gap is worth $195,692 a year, which is most of what a single-territory owner earns in total.
Adding an area lowers the margin for several years. An owner with several territories keeps 6.7% in years one to five. An owner with one keeps 16.3% *. Reaching 12.5% takes until year six, so a second area is a multi-year investment.
Scale still wins in dollars, by 1.92 times. $435,692 against $226,860 *, so the real choice is the larger number or the better business.
In every group, fewer than half the owners reach their own average. 42.4% across all 66, and 41.5% among multi-territory owners *, with median shares kept running 1.2 to 1.4 points below the means.
How the royalty steps down
The performance standard and the royalty are the same number.
The royalty is 6% of gross sales. Underneath it sits a required level of monthly sales that rises by stage, and a minimum royalty attached to each stage. Those minimums turn out to be exactly 6% of the required sales figure printed beside them, at every one of the six stages.
| Months | Required monthly gross sales | Minimum monthly royalty | 6% of the required sales * | Required sales a year * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 to 15 | $8,333.33 | $500 | $500.00 | $100,000 |
| 16 to 27 | $15,000 | $900 | $900.00 | $180,000 |
| 28 to 39 | $25,000 | $1,500 | $1,500.00 | $300,000 |
| 40 to 51 | $35,000 | $2,100 | $2,100.00 | $420,000 |
| 52 to 63 | $45,000 | $2,700 | $2,700.00 | $540,000 |
| 64 to 120 | $55,000 | $3,300 | $3,300.00 | $660,000 |
The months, required sales and minimum royalties are as the brand reported it; the two right-hand columns are marked *.
The mature requirement is 20.5% of what an average franchisee bills. $660,000 a year against $3,226,345 *, so the ladder binds hard in the early years and is comfortably cleared by a settled business.
The first rung asks $100,000 of sales in a year. Reached at roughly three clients held on the system’s own revenue-per-client figure *, which is the clearest way to read what the standard actually requires.
Technology costs a multiple owner $35 a month per extra area. Against $175 for the first *, so a franchisee holding the system-average 2.65 areas pays roughly $2,793 a year against $5,565.
Opening an area
$89,725 to open, and the skilled nursing option costs as much again.
| Line | Low | High | Share of the low column * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $49,900 | $49,900 | 55.61% |
| Additional funds, three months | $17,000 | $30,000 | 18.95% |
| Office equipment | $5,000 | $8,000 | 5.57% |
| Travel and other while training | $3,000 | $6,000 | 3.34% |
| Rent, three months | $3,000 | $6,000 | 3.34% |
| Insurance, full year premium | $3,000 | $6,500 | 3.34% |
| Professional fees | $2,500 | $5,000 | 2.79% |
| Computer equipment, software and print | $2,000 | $5,000 | 2.23% |
| Advertising | $1,500 | $1,500 | 1.67% |
| Furniture and fixtures | $1,500 | $3,000 | 1.67% |
| Signage | $500 | $2,000 | 0.56% |
| Grand opening inventory | $500 | $1,000 | 0.56% |
| Miscellaneous opening costs | $200 | $1,000 | 0.22% |
| Permits, licenses and manual | $125 | $18,000 | 0.14% |
| Building work | $0 | $3,000 | 0.00% |
| Total | $89,725 | $145,900 | 100% |
| Skilled nursing services, added as the brand reported it | $48,500 | $108,500 | n/a |
The brand reported the amounts. We worked out the share column. The fifteen lines add to $89,725 and $145,900, matching the brand's totals exactly.
The fee is 55.6% of the entry price. $49,900 of $89,725 *, and almost everything else is working capital, so this is a business bought.
Adding skilled nursing costs 54.1% of the base entry again. $48,500 against $89,725 *, and its own three months of funds is $40,000 to $80,000, more than double the $17,000 to $30,000 the non-medical side needs.
Entry is 2.8% of what an average franchisee bills in a year. $89,725 against $3,226,345, which is 2.78% *, among the lightest ratios in this library, which is what a business with zero premises and zero equipment looks like.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
What does an Always Best Care franchisee bill?
The 66 franchisees filing accounts for 2025 averaged $3,226,345 with a median of $2,507,952, ranging from $196,359 to $11,843,669. Single-territory owners averaged $1,326,666 and multi-territory owners $3,692,303. Systemwide the brand billed $303,822,764 across 291 assigned areas.
What does an owner keep?
12.2% of gross sales as owner discretionary profit across all 66, with a median of 10.8%. That splits sharply: 17.1% for single-territory owners and 11.8% for multi-territory owners. The measure is net profit plus whatever the owner takes in salary and benefits, so it describes what the business produces before the owner is paid.
Is a second territory worth it?
Sales rise. The margin falls. A multi-territory owner averages $435,692 of owner discretionary profit against a single-territory owner’s $226,860, so 1.92 times the money on 2.78 times the revenue. Owners with several territories keep 11.8% against 17.1% for single-territory owners. In the first five years they keep 6.7%, reaching 12.5% past year six.
What does the brand take?
A 6% royalty on sales, or a minimum that rises in stages to $3,300 a month, whichever is higher. Technology costs $175 a month, falling to $35 for each extra area an owner holds. Nursing has its own royalty: 6% where the family pays, 4% otherwise. The minimum royalty at every stage is exactly 6% of the sales level the agreement requires at that stage.
What does it cost to open?
$89,725 to $145,900 for one assigned area, of which $49,900 is the franchise fee and $17,000 to $30,000 is three months of additional funds. Adding skilled nursing services costs a further $48,500 to $108,500, most of it working capital and state licensure.
What is a client worth?
$35,693 a year on the system’s own figures, dividing 2025 gross sales by the average monthly client count. That figure rose from $34,159 in 2023 to $36,388 in 2024 and then fell 1.9% in 2025. That is where the slowdown in systemwide growth came from.
- No cost lines. Wages, rent and cost of goods are not broken out, so margin cannot be rebuilt from the document.
Questions worth putting to Always Best Care
The filing answers what it answers. These are the gaps an owner or a buyer should close directly.
- Is the profit figure in Item 19 before or after owner pay, and how many locations sit below it?
- What separates the highest-selling locations from the lowest: trade area, years open, size, or the owner?
- How long does a new location take to reach the average you publish, and what does the build-up look like month by month?
- At what level of sales do the minimum charges stop applying and the percentage take over?
- How many Always Best Care locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Finance Diagnostic runs the same checks on your own numbers. It scores where you stand and compares you with Item 19 of your brand’s FDD. It works out what one location earns and spends, and builds a 13-week cash forecast. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →Is your second territory earning its margin yet?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around owner discretionary profit against the 17.1% single-area and 11.8% multi-area benchmarks, revenue per client against $35,693. Where you sit on the royalty ladder.
Request the reviewthe franchise library, all 243 brands · how franchise unit economics work · running the books across several locations · what Averan does for franchise owners
Always Best Care reads against the rest of the home health and staffing group: BrightStar Care · Interim HealthCare. The home health and staffing guide compares all of them on the same figures.
Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- At what level of sales does a minimum fee stop costing me more than the percentage?How royalty, ad fund and minimums actually work on a monthly statement.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?A 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?Usually it is a revenue problem wearing a payroll costume.
- At what point do spreadsheets stop coping?What changes at around ten units, and why lenders care.
- I run several locations. Which ones actually make money?Location-level contribution, and what it takes to see it.