Express Employment Professionals franchise unit economics
Express franchisees run a staffing and recruiting office that places temporary workers and makes direct hires. The franchisor employs the workers, invoices the clients and funds wages, then remits the owner a share. The owner’s monthly take runs $1,199 in month one, $17,344 by month twelve and $25,646 by month twenty-four. An office open more than five years takes $784,572 a year on $5,775,277 of client billings.
- Primary source
- Express Services, Inc., 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Item 7 for cost to open; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure
- Population
- 526 of 758 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.
This brand prints its build-up month by month, and it is the most useful table an owner will see. The owner’s take runs $1,199 in month one, $14,075 by month six and $25,646 by month twenty-four. Across the first twelve months it totals $146,369, which sits inside the $75,000 to $175,000 of working capital the build assumes.
- The first year returns $146,369 to the owner and the second returns $283,829.Cumulative monthly take across 24 months of operation *, so year two is worth 1.94 times year one, and the build-up still has years to run after that.
- Gross profit holds at about 20% of client billings at every years open.20.17% above 24 months, 19.93% at 24 to 60 months, 20.22% above 60 months *, so growth here is volume of hours, with the range on each hour fixed.
- The owner keeps 67% of gross profit, which is 13.5% of what clients are billed.$723,237 of a $1,077,371 margin on $5,342,686 of billings *, and the filed royalty works out at 8.4% of billings.
- An office open over five years takes $784,572 and one open two to five years takes $466,143.1.68 times *, so most of the earnings growth in this system arrives after the fifth year, later than in almost any other model.
- By month 24 the office has about 40 people on assignment.6,868 hours a month at full-time equivalents *, billed at $26.07 an hour, of which $3.73 reaches the owner.
How much does a Express Employment Professionals franchise make?
The average Express Employment Professionals unit reported $5,342,686 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $4,043,021. The brand’s disclosure document discloses revenue and not profit, so what an owner keeps depends on the cost structure set out below. Fees come off the top first, at about 8.4% 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 as the unit
Everything here is an hour worked by somebody else.
| Measure | Month 12 | Month 24 | Per hour, month 24 * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client billings | $123,789 | $179,022 | $26.07 |
| gross profit | $25,871 | $38,670 | $5.63 |
| Owner take | $17,344 | $25,646 | $3.73 |
| Hours billed | 4,737 | 6,868 | n/a |
| People on assignment * | 27 | 40 | n/a |
The billings, margin, take and hours are as the brand reported it and the per-hour and headcount figures divide them by hours and by a 173-hour month, marked *.
Every hour on assignment costs $26.07 of billing and returns $3.73 to the owner. *, so thirteen more people on assignment is worth about $8,300 a month, which is the arithmetic of adding one client.
Gross profit per hour is $5.63 at month 24. 21.6% of the hourly rate, and franchise fees come to 40% of it, leaving the owner $3.73 before any office cost.
A client account below 10% margin or $1.75 an hour is charged as though it hit the minimum. The brand’s share is calculated on the minimum instead. The difference comes out of the owner’s remittance, so a low-margin client costs more than it appears to.
The bonus that rebates part of the brand’s 40% needs $981,600 of annual gross profit. Plus a margin of 18% or $4.21 an hour, which at 20% margin implies about $4.9 million of billings, close to the system average.
Multi-unit owners averaged a $33,370 bonus in 2025 and a median of $17,916. *, so for most owners the bonus is an useful supplement.
Top performers
What separates the top Express Employment Professionals performers
Express Employment Professionals splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $16,032,858 a year. The worst averaged $1,410,891. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $4,043,021. The average was $5,342,686. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 11.4× 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 $131,000 to $287,700, a 2.2× 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
- Customers, the operating driver.This model bills on customers. The owner works on how many customers are won, how many are lost, and what each spends in a year. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Membership and rebooking.A recurring plan turns a high-fixed-cost business from an appointment book into a subscription, which smooths the utilisation that drives the wage line. Rebooking before the customer leaves is what builds it, not marketing spend afterwards.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 8.4% 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.526 of 758 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 the disclosure leaves out.Item 19 publishes no profit or cost data for franchised locations. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
The first year, month by month
Twenty-four months, printed one month at a time.
| Month | Client billings | gross profit | Owner take | Hours | Offices reporting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $7,169 | $1,615 | $1,199 | 292 | 29 |
| 3 | $49,159 | $10,174 | $6,910 | 2,065 | 28 |
| 6 | $94,952 | $19,535 | $14,075 | 3,852 | 28 |
| 9 | $115,174 | $22,738 | $15,207 | 4,617 | 25 |
| 12 | $123,789 | $25,871 | $17,344 | 4,737 | 22 |
| 15 | $150,414 | $31,295 | $20,268 | 5,806 | 20 |
| 18 | $190,982 | $39,114 | $23,580 | 7,577 | 15 |
| 21 | $160,520 | $35,543 | $22,399 | 6,364 | 12 |
| 24 | $179,022 | $38,670 | $25,646 | 6,868 | 9 |
Every figure is as the brand reported it for units that opened during 2023, 2024 or 2025 and were still trading at the end of the 2025 fiscal year. The office count falling because fewer units have reached the later months.
The owner’s take passes $10,000 a month in month five. $11,787 *, and passes $20,000 in month fourteen, so the useful planning question is how to fund the first five months.
Year one totals $146,369 and year two totals $283,829. *, against working capital of $75,000 to $175,000 budgeted for nine months. Is one of the longer allowances in franchising and, on these figures, an honest one.
Annualized, the first twelve months produce $999,949 of billings and the second produce $1,998,852. Exactly double, and the first 24 months together annualize at $3,026,213, against a mature office at $5,775,277.
Between 21% and 46% of offices clear the average in any given month. Which is what a small group with one or two very large members looks like, month ten had a high of $643,368 against a median of $82,775.
Eleven units that opened in these three years closed inside their first 24 months. Four during 2025, four during 2024 and three during 2023. They sit outside the table above, so the build-up shown is the build-up of the survivors.
What years open is worth
The earnings keep climbing well past year five.
| Years open | Offices | Average billings | Median billings | gross profit | Owner take | Median owner take |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 to 60 months | 97 | $3,520,372 | $2,954,181 | $701,487 | $466,143 | $396,050 |
| Over 60 months | 430 | $5,775,277 | $4,339,327 | $1,167,533 | $784,572 | $618,498 |
| All over 24 months | 526 | $5,342,686 | $4,043,021 | $1,077,371 | $723,237 | $563,915 |
Every figure is as the brand reported it for the 2025 fiscal year, excluding company-owned units and units closed during the period.
An office over five years old takes $318,429 more than one aged two to five. $784,572 against $466,143 *, a 68% difference that arrives entirely after the second anniversary.
The median office takes $563,915 against an average of $723,237. 78% *, with 182 of 526 offices reaching that average, so the mean is pulled by a long tail at the top.
The top tenth of mature offices bill $17,098,101 and the bottom tenth $1,560,076. 11.0 times *, and the single highest-selling office billed $39,242,565 against a lowest-selling at $129,300.
Billings fell across all three years shown. $5,951,124 in 2023 to $5,380,571 in 2024 to $5,342,686 in 2025 for offices over 24 months, a 10.2% decline. The owner’s take fell 16.1% over the same period *.
Multi-unit owners hold 2.55 offices on average and take $2,148,478. But the median multi-owner takes $615,655, 28.7% of that average *, so a handful of very large operators have the multi-unit figures.
Fees, territory and the system
Forty percent of the margin, and a territory drawn on available jobs.
| Year | Start | End | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 789 | 788 | −1 |
| 2024 | 788 | 783 | −5 |
| 2025 | 783 | 758 | −25 |
The counts are as the brand reported it for US locations including branch offices. The 2025 totals row understates openings by one against its own state detail, which we flag instead of adjust.
Franchise fees take 40% of gross profit on temporary work and 8% to 18% on direct hires. Withheld before the owner is paid, since the franchisor invoices the client and funds the wages, so the owner receives a net remittance.
That works out at 8.4% of billings and 38.0% of gross profit. As the brand reported it for FY2025, and steady at 8.6% and 8.8% in the two prior years, useful when comparing this against a conventional percentage royalty.
A Core office costs $131,000 to $287,700 to open. Of which $75,000 to $175,000 is nine months of working capital. So the fixed set-up is roughly $56,000 to $112,700. A Professional office runs $303,500 to $598,700.
Up to $40,000 of the initial fee is refundable under the new franchise incentive. On billing sixteen clients in a single week or generating $65,000 of gross profit in the first 26 weeks, a target the month-by-month table puts within reach around month five.
Territory is drawn from an available-jobs report. With zero minimum size, and direct hire services, enterprise accounts and an affiliate recruiter all carved out of the protection. So two territories of similar geography can have very different job counts.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks.
What does an Express office earn its owner?
For the 526 offices open more than 24 months, the average owner take in FY2025 was $723,237 with a median of $563,915, on client billings averaging $5,342,686. Offices over five years old averaged $784,572 and those aged two to five years $466,143.
How long is the build-up?
Longer than most. The owner's monthly take runs $1,199 in month one, $14,075 by month six, $17,344 by month twelve and $25,646 by month twenty-four. Year one totals $146,369 and year two $283,829, on our reading. A mature office takes 1.68 times what a two-to-five-year office does, so growth continues well past year five.
What does “sales” mean here?
Total client billings invoiced by the franchisor. Gross profit is billings less the workers' wages and the full wages burden, and runs about 20% of billings at every years open. The owner keeps 60% of that margin plus 90% of direct-hire receipts, roughly 13.5% of what clients are billed.
What does the brand take?
40% of gross profit on temporary staffing and 8% to 18% of direct-hire receipts, withheld before the owner is paid. That works out at 38.0% of gross profit and 8.4% of billings for FY2025. A 0.6% marketing fund contribution is also withheld.
How does the wages funding work?
The franchisor employs the workers, invoices the clients, funds the wages and remits the owner's share monthly. That removes the working-capital burden that normally defines a staffing business, which is why the nine-month additional funds figure of $75,000 to $175,000 covers the office.
What does an office cost to open?
$131,000 to $287,700 for a Core Occupations office, $303,500 to $598,700 for Professional and a separate range for Healthcare. The initial fee is $40,000 per occupation addendum, with 25% off a second and 50% off all three, and 50% off for veterans. Up to $40,000 is refundable on hitting an early billing target.
What territory do you get?
One drawn from an available-jobs report, with zero minimum size, set by job counts. An exclusive territory is expressly excluded, though the brand agrees to keep other franchises and company offices out of it for the services you are authorized to provide. Direct hire work, enterprise accounts and an affiliate recruiter all sit outside that protection.
Which two numbers should run monthly?
Hours billed against 6,868, because each hour costs $26.07 of billing and $3.73 of owner take. And gross profit percentage against 20%, because it holds steady across the whole system and a client account below 10% is charged as though it reached the minimum.
- No profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
- 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 Express Employment Professionals
The filing answers what it answers. These are the gaps an owner or a buyer should close directly.
- What do locations at the median spend on wages and rent as a share of sales? The filing reports sales only.
- 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 Express Employment Professionals 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 →How many hours is your week carrying?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around $26.07 of billing an hour, the $3.73 of it that reaches you. a ramp that runs well past year five.
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
Express Employment Professionals reads against the rest of the staffing offices group: AtWork Group · Labor Finders · PrideStaff · Spherion.
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.