Huntington Learning Center franchise unit economics
Huntington Learning Center franchisees run a tutoring and test preparation center offering individual instruction, academic evaluations and exam programs. That runs from leased premises with an exclusive area of up to three miles. Across 232 centers open all of 2025 the average was $609,454 of sales with a median of $533,106. Local advertising has a minimum of $57,000 a year, which alone is 23.0% of a bottom-quarter center.
- Primary source
- Huntington Learning Centers, Inc., 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
- 232 of 243 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.
Local advertising is fixed at $57,000 a year and $2,000 a month, owed the same by a center billing $136,567 and one billing $3,093,560. Stack a 9.5% royalty, a 2% fund and $26,460 of required monthly services on top and the load reaches 45.8% of a bottom-quarter center against 19.0% of a top-quarter one.
- The minimum advertising charge alone is 23.0% of a bottom-quarter center.$57,000 against $247,465 of revenue *, and 41.7% of the lowest-selling center in the system at $136,567, with zero percentage alternative available.
- Brand and marketing charges take 45.8% at the bottom quartile and 19.0% at the top.$113,460 on $247,465 against $211,735 on $1,115,433 *, a 26.8-point range, built almost entirely from dollar minimums landing on smaller revenue.
- Forty-two centers were terminated in three years against twelve openings.Plus 5 non-renewals and 2 reacquisitions, taking the system from 280 to 243 *, a 13.2% fall, with terminations rising 10, 15 then 17.
- The top half averages 2.6 times the bottom half.$880,749 against $338,159 *, and 94 of the 232 centers reach the system average of $609,454, which is 40.5%.
- Thirty centers bill a million dollars or more, averaging $1,337,289.12.9% of the mature system *, and at that revenue Franchise fees falls to 17.7%, against 45.8% at the bottom quartile.
How much does a Huntington Learning Center franchise make?
The average Huntington Learning Center unit reported $609,454 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $533,106. 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 25.2% 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.
Top performers
What separates the top Huntington Learning Center performers
Huntington Learning Center splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $1,115,433 a year. The worst averaged $247,465. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $533,106. The average was $609,454. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 4.5× 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 $191,992 to $340,632, a 1.8× 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
- Accounts, the operating driver.This model bills on accounts. An account signed this year still bills next year, so keeping accounts matters more than winning them. 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 25.2% 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.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.232 of 243 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.
Best to worst, by sales
Four and a half times, top quarter to bottom.
| Group | Centers | Average | Median | Lowest | Highest | Above their own average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top quarter | 58 | $1,115,433 | $1,016,562 | $764,311 | $3,093,560 | 23, 40% |
| Second | 58 | $646,065 | $635,442 | $533,308 | $759,290 | 26, 45% |
| Third | 58 | $428,854 | $433,139 | $328,228 | $532,904 | 30, 52% |
| Bottom quarter | 58 | $247,465 | $242,341 | $136,567 | $327,440 | 28, 48% |
| Top half | 116 | $880,749 | $761,800 | $533,308 | $3,093,560 | 44, 38% |
| Bottom half | 116 | $338,159 | $327,834 | $136,567 | $532,904 | 56, 48% |
| All 232 | 232 | $609,454 | $533,106 | $136,567 | $3,093,560 | 94, 41% |
Every figure is as the brand reported it, covering the 232 franchised centers open the whole of 2025 with 21 more excluded as part-year and all company-owned centers left out.
The quartiles and the halves both weight back to $609,454. Four groups of 58 and two of 116 *, so the three tables describe one population and can be read together.
The median is 87.5% of the average. $533,106 against $609,454 *, a tighter relationship than most, because only the top quartile has a long tail, running from $764,311 to $3,093,560.
The three lower quartiles are each packed inside a narrow group. $533,308 to $759,290, $328,228 to $532,904 and $136,567 to $327,440. Their medians sit within $5,000 of their averages. So a quartile figure here is a real expectation.
Thirty centers bill a million or more, averaging $1,337,289. 12.9% of the mature system *, with a median of $1,164,749 inside that group, so even the highest-selling tier has a mean lifted by a few.
The top quarter starts at $764,311. Which is $231,205 above the system median *, an useful way to read the gap: reaching the top quarter means adding about 43% to a median center’s revenue.
Minimums on minimums
A percentage, two minimums and a fixed monthly stack.
| Charge | Rate and minimum | Bottom quarter | Median | Average | Top quarter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 9.5% or $2,000 a month | $24,000 | $50,645 | $57,898 | $105,966 |
| Advertising fund | 2% or $500 a month | $6,000 | $10,662 | $12,189 | $22,309 |
| Local advertising | $57,000 a year, $2,000 a month | $57,000 | $57,000 | $57,000 | $57,000 |
| Required services | $2,205 a month | $26,460 | $26,460 | $26,460 | $26,460 |
| Total | n/a | $113,460, 45.8% | $144,767, 27.2% | $153,547, 25.2% | $211,735, 19.0% |
Every rate and minimum is as the brand reported it and each dollar figure and share is marked. With required services covering technology at $1,375, the call center at $415, conferencing at $315 and the marketing communication program at $100 a month.
$83,460 of this arrives whatever the center bills. The $57,000 minimum advertising charge and $26,460 of required services *, which is 33.7% of a bottom-quarter center’s revenue before a dollar of royalty.
9.5% overtakes the minimum royalty at $252,632 and 2% overtakes the fund minimum at $300,000. *. The bottom quartile averages $247,465, so a quarter of the mature system pays both minimums.
At the lowest-selling center the load reaches 83.1% of revenue. $113,460 on $136,567 *, before instructors, rent or materials, which is the clearest illustration of what a stack of dollar minimums does at the bottom of a system.
Cooperative payments count toward the $57,000. Averaging about $2,000 a month where a cooperative exists. So a center in an active cooperative has roughly $24,000 of its minimum already spent, with $33,000 left to place itself.
Variable charges sit outside all of this. $5.00 for each student hour on the platform once introduced, academic evaluation fees running $34.47 to $76.50 each depending on volume. Virtual testing at an estimated $95 to $195 a test, all on top of the 25.2% the average center already pays.
Forty-two terminations
Twelve opened, forty-nine left.
| Year | At start | Opened | Terminations | Non-renewals | Reacquired | At end | Net * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 280 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 273 | −7 |
| 2024 | 273 | 4 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 260 | −13 |
| 2025 | 260 | 4 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 243 | −17 |
Every figure is as the brand reported it and the net column is marked. Across a system that opened exactly four centers in each of the three years.
Terminations rose every year while openings stayed at four. 10, then 15, then 17 *, so the system lost 4.1 centers for every one it opened in 2025, against 2.5 in 2023.
The system fell 13.2% in three years. 280 to 243 *, and the rate of decline itself accelerated, from 7 centers to 13 to 17.
Almost every departure is recorded as a termination. 42 terminations against 5 non-renewals and 2 reacquisitions, a different signal from a system where owners simply walk away, because a termination is the brand’s action.
The exclusive area can be zero miles. A circle of between zero and three miles around the premises. The radius set at zero where the site sits in or near a metropolitan, densely populated or low-income area. So the protection an owner receives depends entirely on where the site is.
The royalty rate depends on which agreement you inherit. 9.5% on a new agreement and 8% only where a franchise is acquired from an owner holding an effective royalty amendment, a 1.5-point difference worth $9,142 a year at the system average *.
What it costs to open
A hundred and five thousand dollars to the brand before you open.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $42,000 |
| Kick start marketing program | $28,500 |
| Start-up package | $25,207 |
| Training and technology initial fee | $9,000 |
| Total to the franchisor | $104,707 |
| Curricula and testing materials | $18,957 |
| Furniture and computers | $51,396 |
| Advertising before opening | $36,747 |
| Total initial investment | $191,992 to $340,632 |
Every figure is as the brand reported it, with the kick start marketing program credited against the first year’s $57,000 local advertising requirement.
$104,707 goes to the brand before the doors open. 54.5% of the low end of the total investment *, and 19.6% of what a median center bills in a full year.
The kick start program covers half the first year’s minimum advertising charge. $28,500 credited against $57,000 *, so a first-year center still places another $28,500 itself on top of what it has already paid.
Furniture and computers alone run $51,396. More than the franchise fee, and curricula and testing materials add $18,957, both at fixed prices.
The whole investment is $191,992 to $340,632. 36.0% to 63.9% of a median center’s annual revenue *, and the royalty minimum starts at the earlier of the sixth full month after opening or the twelfth after signing.
Two software platforms are still to arrive. An artificial intelligence platform charged at $5.00 a student hour, expected in 2026. Virtual testing expected in 2026 or 2027, both mandatory once introduced. So the cost base here has known additions ahead of it.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks.
What does a Huntington center bill?
Across 232 centers open all of 2025, the average was $609,454 of sales and the median $533,106, with a low of $136,567 and a high of $3,093,560. 94 of the 232 beat the average. By quartile the averages were $1,115,433, $646,065, $428,854 and $247,465. Thirty centers billed a million dollars or more, averaging $1,337,289.
What does the brand take?
9.5% of sales in royalty, or $2,000 a month if greater, plus 2% into the advertising fund or $500 a month if greater. Separately, local advertising must reach $57,000 a year and $2,000 a month. Required services add $2,205 a month, technology at $1,375, the call center at $415, conferencing at $315 and the marketing communication program at $100.
What is the real load?
On our reading, 45.8% of revenue at the bottom quartile’s $247,465, 27.2% at the $533,106 median, 25.2% at the $609,454 average and 19.0% at the top quartile’s $1,115,433. At the lowest-selling center in the system it reaches 83.1%. The range comes from $83,460 of dollar minimums that arrive whatever the center bills.
When do the minimums stop binding?
9.5% overtakes the $24,000 minimum royalty at $252,632 of revenue, and 2% overtakes the $6,000 fund minimum at $300,000. The bottom quartile averages $247,465, so a quarter of the mature system pays both minimums. The $57,000 advertising figure stays a flat dollar requirement at every revenue level.
What does it cost to open?
$191,992 to $340,632, of which $104,707 goes to the franchisor at signing, a $42,000 franchise fee, a $28,500 kick start marketing program, a $25,207 start-up package and a $9,000 training and technology fee. Furniture and computers add $51,396, curricula and testing materials $18,957, and pre-opening advertising $36,747.
How big is the protected area?
A circle around the premises with a radius between zero and three miles. The radius may be set at zero where the premises sits in or near a metropolitan, densely populated or low-income area. Franchisees acquiring or renewing may instead hold a territory defined by political or physical boundaries by signing a territory amendment.
How stable is the system?
243 franchised centers at the end of 2025, down from 280 two years earlier. Across the three years 12 opened and 49 left, 42 terminations, 5 non-renewals and 2 reacquisitions. Openings held at exactly four a year while terminations rose from 10 to 15 to 17.
Which two numbers should run monthly?
Sales against $21,053 a month, which is where 9.5% overtakes the minimum royalty and where the fixed stack stops dominating. And enrolled student hours against the $5.00 platform charge and the academic evaluation fee group you fall into. Because those two are the variable costs that scale with the work itself.
- 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 Huntington Learning Center
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 Huntington Learning Center 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 →What are your minimums costing you?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around the $83,460 that arrives whatever you bill, the $252,632 where 9.5% overtakes the minimum royalty, and what your advertising is enrolling.
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
Huntington Learning Center reads against the rest of the tutoring and learning centers group: Best in Class Education Center · Brain Balance · Kumon · LearningRx · Mathnasium · Sylvan Learning. The tutoring and learning centers 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.
- I run several locations. Which ones actually make money?Location-level contribution, and what it takes to see it.
- How much of Item 19 can I rely on?What a financial performance representation does and does not tell you.