Comfort Keepers franchise unit economics
Comfort Keepers franchisees run a non-medical in-home senior care agency, billing caregiver hours for companionship, personal care and private duty nursing.
Comfort Keepers franchise at a glance
Across 600 franchised businesses open at least a year the average was $1,277,857 of net revenue on 37,065 client hours, with a median of $857,010. Owners in the brand's peer groups reported keeping 39.2% after caregiver pay, and 10.8% for themselves.
Comfort Keepers franchisees averaged $1,277,857 of sales in the fiscal year to 31 August 2025, with a median of $857,010, according to Item 19 of Comfort Keepers’ 2026 FDD, issued 19 December 2025. The 600 in that group are 97%* of Comfort Keepers’ 619 locations. Fees paid to Comfort Keepers come to about 5.75%* of sales.
- A Comfort Keepers franchise costs $119,560 to $190,700 to open, according to the brand's 2026 FDD.
- Comfort Keepers charges a royalty of 5% of sales and a brand fund contribution of 2% of sales or $802.89 a month, whichever is less.
- Comfort Keepers reported 619 franchised locations in its 2026 FDD.
- The 51 Comfort Keepers franchisees in the brand’s Performance Management Groups averaged owners’ discretionary profit of 10.8% of revenue. Comfort Keepers’ FDD does not define the term, and those 51 averaged $5,453,226 of revenue, more than four times the system average.
- Work out Comfort Keepers's fees at your own sales with the minimum fee calculator.
These figures come from Comfort Keepers's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, as the brand reported them, and were read by Averan Advisors.
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Talk to Averan → Move your books and accounting to Averan →- You keep $3.72 of a $34.48 hour. That is 39.2% gross profit, 29.3% operating expense, 10.8% owner's discretionary profit.
- Caregivers take 60.8% of revenue. That is $20.96 of every billed hour, against a median aide wage of $17.21 nationally.
- The average business sells 713 client hours a week. That is about 24 caregivers at 30 hours each. The median sells 474.
- The average owner runs three businesses. That is 600 businesses across 199 franchisees. The top quarter of owners bills $9,553,439 and the bottom quarter $785,161.
- The median business bills $857,010 against a $1,277,857 average. The largest single business in the system bills $21,532,846.
How much does a Comfort Keepers franchise make?
The average Comfort Keepers unit reported $1,277,857 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $857,010. The brand’s disclosure document puts owners’ discretionary profit for 51 benchmarked franchisees at 10.8% of revenue. Fees come off the top first, at about 5.8% 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.
The hour
Cost structure per billed hour
| Line | Share of revenue | Per billed hour | On the average business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 100% | $34.48 | $1,277,857 |
| Caregiver cost | 60.8% | $20.96 | $776,937 |
| Gross profit | 39.2% | $13.52 | $500,920 |
| Operating expense | 29.3% | $10.10 | $374,412 |
| Owner's discretionary profit | 10.8% | $3.72 | $138,009 |
The brand reported the percentages left after caregiver pay, spent on running costs and kept by the owner. They come from 51 owners who gave full-year figures as members of the brand's Performance Management Groups over 2023 and 2024.
Raising the hourly rate by a dollar adds $37,065 at the average business. Cutting caregiver cost by a dollar an hour does the same. Against $138,009 of owner's profit at the benchmarked 10.8%, either move is worth more than a quarter of the year's earnings.
The caregiver line is 60.8% of revenue. $20.96 an hour of loaded cost sits against a median home care aide wage of $17.21 nationally, so the burden on top is roughly 22%. Wage pressure moves straight through to the 10.8%, so staffing markets matter more here than anything on the revenue side.
Running the office costs $10.10 an hour. That is 29.3% of revenue on schedulers, care coordinators, recruiting, insurance, rent and the franchisor's fees. That line is largely fixed, so it spreads across more hours as a business grows. What is left on each hour is the same at every size of business, so more hours is the only way to earn more.
What the businesses bill
| Net revenue | Client hours a year | Hours a week | Caregivers at 30 hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average business | $1,277,857 | 37,065 | 713 | 24 |
| Median business | $857,010 | 24,662 | 474 | 16 |
| Largest business | $21,532,846 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Smallest business | $8,829 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Revenue and hours as the brand reported it for the year to 31 August 2025.
The median business is a third smaller than the average. $857,010 against $1,277,857, which is 474 client hours a week against 713. Benchmarking against the average means measuring yourself against a set pulled upward by a business billing $21.5 million. At the 51 benchmarked owners' 10.8%, the median business of $857,010 would earn its owner about $92,557 on Averan's calculation.
Sixteen caregivers is what the median business runs on. The average business runs on twenty-four. Those are small teams carrying a large revenue number. The difference between the median and the average Comfort Keepers business is eight caregivers.
Top performers
What separates the top Comfort Keepers performers
Comfort Keepers publishes a range for its businesses instead of grouped averages. The largest Comfort Keepers business reported $21,532,846 of net revenue for the year to 31 August 2025. The smallest Comfort Keepers business reported $8,829. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $857,010. The average was $1,277,857. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Site and trade area.The largest Comfort Keepers business sells 2438.9× the smallest one. Catchment, daytime population and neighboring businesses affect where a location falls.
- Territory.This model sells from a territory, with no storefront. Population density sets how much driving sits between jobs.
- Opening cost range.Opening costs $119,560 to $190,700, a 1.6× range inside one brand.
- Fees and the minimum.Fees run about 5.8% of sales. A minimum fee also applies, so lower-selling locations pay a higher effective rate. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum.
- Cash needed in the first year.This filing shows how a new location builds up: the month sales cover costs, and how much cash you fund before then.
Live operating levers
- Billed hours.You pay for every hour worked and bill only the hours a client accepts. Track hours worked against hours billed, and the rate charged against the rate paid.
- Memberships and rebooking.A recurring plan turns appointments into a monthly subscription and keeps the schedule fuller. Rebooking before the customer leaves keeps it full.
Context you underwrite around
- Locations included.These figures cover 600 of 619 locations. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded.
- What the filing does not include.Item 19 publishes no attainment figure. Ask the franchisor or current owners for cost and profit figures.
Years open and owners
Revenue by how long the business has been running
| Months in operation | Businesses | Average revenue | Median | Hours a week | hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 to 24 | 2 | $206,572 | $206,572 | 119 | $33.39 |
| 25 to 36 | 12 | $554,615 | $313,573 | 318 | $33.58 |
| 37 to 48 | 5 | $364,056 | $306,064 | 179 | $39.19 |
| 49 to 60 | 10 | $661,147 | $412,354 | 406 | $31.30 |
| 61 to 72 | 17 | $979,263 | $733,953 | 465 | $40.52 |
| 73 to 84 | 22 | $608,214 | $372,952 | 288 | $40.63 |
| 85 and over | 532 | $1,355,613 | $902,478 | 760 | $34.29 |
Revenue, median and weekly hours as the brand reported it.
Eighty-nine percent of the system has been running more than seven years. That is 532 of 600 businesses. Each Comfort Keepers group below that holds fewer than 25 businesses. Comfort Keepers businesses open more than seven years averaged $1,355,613 and 760 hours a week.
The 73-to-84-month group bills a higher rate and sells fewer hours. That is $40.63 an hour at 73 to 84 months against $34.29 at the mature businesses. They bill a higher rate and sell 288 hours a week against 760. It is the same pattern as every hours-based brand: rate is available and volume is what pays.
Franchisees ranked by revenue
| Quarter | Franchisees | Average net revenue | Median | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top quarter | 50 | $9,553,439 | $7,969,517 | $30,605,983 | $4,480,219 |
| 2nd quarter | 50 | $3,152,953 | $3,051,406 | $4,395,402 | $2,398,016 |
| 3rd quarter | 50 | $1,858,439 | $1,800,147 | $2,392,056 | $1,305,975 |
| Bottom quarter | 49 | $785,161 | $811,481 | $1,295,899 | $107,937 |
| All franchisees | 199 | $3,852,836 | $2,398,016 | $30,605,983 | $107,937 |
As the brand reported it, covering the 199 franchisees who operate the 600 businesses in the tables above.
Owners run three businesses on average. That is 600 businesses across 199 franchisees. The average franchisee bills $3,852,836 while the average business bills $1,277,857, and the two numbers are consistent with each other. This is a multi-territory model in practice whatever the single-unit investment figure suggests.
The top quarter of owners bills twelve times the bottom quarter. That is $9,553,439 against $785,161. At the benchmarked 10.8% that is roughly $1,031,771 of owner's profit against $84,797. Almost all of that gap is territory count, which makes the decision to buy a second and third office the single largest financial decision in this system.
The median owner bills $2,398,016. That is roughly two businesses' worth, and about $258,986 of owner's discretionary profit at the 51 benchmarked owners' 10.8%. That is the realistic middle of this network.
Discounts available
- Comfort Keepers takes 15% off the second franchise, 20% off the third, and 25% off the fourth and later franchises under common ownership.
- Comfort Keepers takes 25% off for employees who have worked for a franchisee or the franchisor for at least 24 months.
- Comfort Keepers takes 20% off for veterans who qualify under the IFA VetFran Program and sign a Start-up Agreement.
From Item 5 of the Comfort Keepers 2026 FDD. The costs on this page use the full initial franchise fee for one unit, before any discount.
Fees and the network
Royalty, brand fund and local advertising
| Net revenue | Royalty at 5% | National brand fund | Local advertising | Paid to the brand | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | $25,000 | $9,635 | $12,000 | $34,635 | 6.9% |
| $857,010 (median) | $42,850 | $9,635 | $17,140 | $52,485 | 6.1% |
| $1,277,857 (average) | $63,893 | $9,635 | $25,557 | $73,528 | 5.8% |
| $3,000,000 | $150,000 | $9,635 | $60,000 | $159,635 | 5.3% |
We applied the disclosed rates. Local advertising is spent by the owner and is not in the amount paid to the brand.
The national fund is fixed at $9,635 above about $482,000 of revenue. Above about $482,000 of revenue the national fund is fixed at $9,635. Local advertising costs $12,000 a year until sales reach $600,000. Above that it is 2% of sales. So growth makes the national contribution cheaper as a share and the local one constant.
From month 25 the royalty can be calculated on an assumed revenue figure. That applies if you fall short of the standard. In a business earning 10.8%, paying 5% on an assumed figure above your actual billings is a material event.
The fees paid to the brand are 5.75% of revenue against the 29.3% operating expense line. $73,528 at the average business, most of which is the royalty. Local advertising of $25,557 is spent by the owner on top. The brand is a small cost here; the office is the expensive part, and it is the one you control.
The network of locations
| Year | Franchised at year end | Affiliate-owned | Total | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 529 | 106 | 635 | −5 |
| 2024 | 578 | 41 | 619 | −16 |
| 2025 | 619 | 5 | 624 | +5 |
As the brand reported it, at the end of each fiscal year on 31 August.
The affiliate sold down from 106 businesses to five in two years. Franchised units rose from 529 to 619 across the same period, so roughly a hundred company-operated businesses moved into franchisee hands. Most of the growth in this network has come from existing owners buying more territories. Many now hold three.
Total outlets have been broadly flat at around 620. The change has been in who owns them. Comfort Keepers refranchises its own locations.
Questions we get asked
How much does a Comfort Keepers franchise make?
Comfort Keepers franchisees averaged $1,277,857 of sales in the fiscal year to 31 August 2025, with a median of $857,010, according to Item 19 of Comfort Keepers’ 2026 FDD, issued 19 December 2025. The 600 in that group are 97%* of Comfort Keepers’ 619 locations. Fees paid to Comfort Keepers come to about 5.75%* of sales.
What does an owner actually keep at Comfort Keepers?
The 51 Comfort Keepers owners in the brand's peer groups keep 10.8% of sales as owners' discretionary profit. That is 39.2% left after caregiver pay, less 29.3% of running costs. On a billed hour of $34.48 that is $3.72 to the owner, $20.96 to the caregiver and $10.10 to running the office. Applied to the 600-business average of $1,277,857, the 51 benchmarked owners' 10.8% gives about $138,009 on Averan's calculation, and applied to the median business of $857,010, about $92,557. The 51 owners behind those percentages averaged $5,453,226 of revenue, so they are larger and peer-reviewed.
How many caregivers and hours do I need at Comfort Keepers?
The average business sells 713 client hours a week, which is about 24 caregivers at 30 hours each. The median sells 474, or 16 caregivers. A mature business past seven years averages 760 hours a week. Every additional caregiver working 30 hours is worth roughly $53,800 of annual revenue at the system rate and about $5,800 of owner's profit.
Should I be buying a second territory at Comfort Keepers?
Most owners have. 600 businesses are run by 199 franchisees, so three each on average, and the top quarter of owners bills $9,553,439 against $785,161 in the bottom quarter. What is left on each hour is the same at every size, so owners add territories to earn more from the same 10.8%. The office cost line at 29.3% is the one that spreads across a larger base.
What is the minimum performance standard clause at Comfort Keepers?
From month 25, if your revenue falls below the standard the franchisor sets, the 5% royalty can be calculated on an assumed revenue figure. In the first 24 months a $500 monthly minimum royalty applies instead. In a business that keeps 10.8% of revenue, paying royalty on an assumed figure above your actual billings is worth modeling before you sign.
Who does bookkeeping for a Comfort Keepers franchise?
Sales for royalty includes client deposits and mileage charges and excludes sales tax and refunds, so those flows need separating at entry. The monthly close has to match scheduled hours, worked hours and billed hours. At $3.72 of profit per hour, one hour paid but unbilled wipes out the earnings on five billed hours. Nursing is charged at a different rate and costs a different amount an hour from companion care. Track the two separately. Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team.
- The filing breaks out no cost lines. Wages, rent and cost of goods are not broken out, so margin cannot be rebuilt from the document.
- The filing gives no attainment figure. The filing does not say how many locations reached the average it publishes.
Questions worth putting to Comfort Keepers
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?
- Which factors does Comfort Keepers see in its highest-selling locations, such as trade area, years open and size?
- 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 Comfort Keepers locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Numbers Check 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. It checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →Run these numbers against your own agency.
We review your unit economics, cash forecast and reporting, so you know where you stand against the disclosed margins.
Talk to AveranWhere these figures come from.
Every figure here comes from CK Franchising, Inc.’s 2026 FDD and is unaudited by us. We are unaffiliated with the brand. Calculations of our own are labeled where they appear, the figures describe past performance at other businesses and are not a projection of yours. This page is an educational summary. It is not an offer to sell a franchise, and it is not financial, legal or tax advice. Comfort Keepers® is a registered trademark of its owner. How Averan reads a Franchise Disclosure Document.
These figures come from the brand's disclosure. They are not a forecast, an offer to sell a franchise or advice. Source: CK Franchising, Inc., 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, issued 19 December 2025.
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Comfort Keepers reads against the rest of the non-medical home care group: Assisting Hands Home Care · CareBuilders At Home · Caring Senior Service · ComForCare · Executive Home Care · FirstLight Home Care. The non-medical home care 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?It works out the sales level where a minimum fee stops applying.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?It builds a 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?It shows how to tell whether payroll is rising or revenue is falling.
- At what point do spreadsheets stop coping?It explains what changes at around ten units and why lenders care.
- I run several locations. Which ones actually make money?It shows each location's contribution to profit and the reporting it takes to see it.