Orangetheory Fitness franchise unit economics
Orangetheory franchisees run a roughly 3,100 square foot heart-rate-based group training studio on monthly memberships. 1,189 studios trading the year to 28 February 2026 averaged $802,145 of gross sales on 444 monthly members, and revenue per member is measured on the same quartiles, $139.67 at the fourth quartile, $159.50 at the top. Against that, 95 studios closed permanently during the year.
- Primary source
- OTF Franchisor, LLC, 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; Item 20 for the location count
- Population
- 1189 of 1209 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.
95 studios closed permanently in the year to 28 February 2026, every one after more than twelve months of trading. Openings fell 53, 27, 13 across three calendar years while departures rose 23, 55, 87. The average studio bills $802,145 on 444 members, and the $2,500 monthly minimum advertising charge binds on all but a handful of them.
- 95 studios closed permanently during the reporting year, 7.3% of the system. Every one had traded more than twelve months.
- Openings fell 53, 27 and 13 while departures rose 23, 55 and 87. The network lost 102 franchised studios across 2024 and 2025.
- Revenue per member runs $139.67 at the fourth quartile and $159.50 at the top. Measured on the same studios, so the 14.2% gap is real; member count accounts for 86% of the revenue range.
- The $2,500 monthly minimum local advertising charge binds below $1,500,000 of sales. The top quartile averages $1,205,826, so it binds on effectively the whole system.
- Brand and required marketing take 14.7% of an average studio's sales and 17.3% at the fourth quartile. The brand fund may rise from 3% to 5%, worth another $16,043 at the average.
How much does a Orangetheory Fitness franchise make?
The average Orangetheory Fitness unit reported $802,145 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $750,643. 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 13% 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 & members
1,189 studios, one set of quartiles.
| quartile | Gross sales | Median sales | Sales range | At or above average sales | Monthly members | Median members | Member range | Revenue per member a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top quartile | $1,205,826 | $1,136,849 | $976,652 – $2,870,191 | 98 (33%) | 630 | 615 | 338 – 1,390 | $159.50 |
| 2nd quartile | $857,849 | $855,427 | $750,932 – $975,601 | 142 (48%) | 477 | 476 | 287 – 640 | $149.87 |
| 3rd quartile | $670,024 | $668,456 | $592,602 – $750,643 | 143 (48%) | 386 | 387 | 198 – 505 | $144.65 |
| 4th quartile | $475,979 | $493,135 | $156,118 – $592,502 | 169 (57%) | 284 | 288 | 105 – 388 | $139.67 |
| All studios | $802,145 | $750,643 | $156,118 – $2,870,191 | 518 (44%) | 444 | 425 | 105 – 1,390 | $150.55 |
Sales, members, medians and ranges are as the brand reported it. Revenue per member is marked *, dividing each quarter's sales by its member count and by twelve.
Revenue per member rises from $139.67 to $159.50 across the quartiles. A 14.2% range, and because the quartiles are shared it is a real difference. The top quartile extracts $19.83 more a month from each member, $238 a year, or $149,915 across a 630-member studio *. That is the clearest lever available after member count itself.
Member count accounts for 86% of the gap between the top and bottom quartiles. Sales differ 2.53 times, members 2.22 times and revenue per member 1.14 times *. So the work splits roughly six to one in favor of filling the studio over pricing it. But the one is worth $238 a year per member. Is a meaningful second lever in a system where member growth is hard.
Only 33% of top-quarter studios reach their own quartile average. Against 57% in the fourth quartile. The top quartile runs $976,652 to $2,870,191 and its median of $1,136,849 sits $68,977 below its average. So a handful of very large studios have the group. The middle two quartiles are tight, 1.30 and 1.27 times inside themselves, and behave like a single population.
Half the system bills below $750,643. The all-studio median, $51,502 under the average. The fourth quartile minimums at $156,118 and 105 members, a quarter of the system average on both measures. Against a build costing $764,577 at its cheapest, that is the studio the closure figures describe.
The highest-selling studios bills $2,870,191 on 1,390 members. $172.07 a month per member *, the highest implied yield in the system, on 3.1 times the average member count. The lowest-selling bills $156,118 on 105 members, or $123.90. So across the extremes of this system, member yield moves 39% while member count moves thirteen times.
Top performers
What separates the top Orangetheory Fitness performers
Orangetheory Fitness splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $1,205,826 a year. The worst averaged $475,979. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $750,643. The average was $802,145. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 2.5× gap between bands is not an operating gap. Catchment, daytime population and what sits next door set the ceiling before the first customer arrives.
- Capacity, fixed at build.capacity is 189 studio floor multiplied by hours multiplied by how full they run. What you can sell is set by the build, and the build does not change after opening.
- 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 $764,577 to $1,104,920, a 1.4× 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
- Members, the operating driver.This model bills on members. The owner watches how many people join, how many cancel, and what a member spends beyond the plan. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Service and retail mix.Attachment rate on retail, and the share of customers on the higher service tiers, lift what each hour earns without adding an hour or a room. It is the only lever that raises the ceiling without spending capital.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 13.0% 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.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.1189 of 1209 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.
Fees & the minimum
a minimum advertising charge that binds on nearly everyone.
| Studio | Gross sales | Royalty at 8% | Brand fund at 3% | Local advertising | Total | Share of sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highest-selling studio | $2,870,191 | $229,615 | $86,106 | $57,404 | $373,125 | 13.0% |
| Top quartile | $1,205,826 | $96,466 | $36,175 | $30,000 | $162,641 | 13.5% |
| 2nd quartile | $857,849 | $68,628 | $25,735 | $30,000 | $124,363 | 14.5% |
| All studios | $802,145 | $64,172 | $24,064 | $30,000 | $118,236 | 14.7% |
| Median studio | $750,643 | $60,051 | $22,519 | $30,000 | $112,570 | 15.0% |
| 3rd quartile | $670,024 | $53,602 | $20,101 | $30,000 | $103,703 | 15.5% |
| 4th quartile | $475,979 | $38,078 | $14,279 | $30,000 | $82,357 | 17.3% |
| Lowest-selling studio | $156,118 | $12,489 | $4,684 | $30,000 | $47,173 | 30.2% |
Ours, built from the filed rates: an 8% royalty debited weekly from the owner's bank account. A Brand Fund contribution of 3% debited monthly. The franchisor may raise to 5%. And a Minimum Monthly Local Advertising Spend of the greater of 2% of the prior month's gross sales or $2,500, spent inside the territory. Any shortfall payable into the Brand Fund.
The $2,500 monthly minimum advertising charge binds below $1,500,000 of sales. The top quartile averages $1,205,826, so the minimum applies on all four quartiles and only the largest individual studios escape it. At fourth-quartile sales the 2% rate would be $9,520 and the minimum costs $30,000, $20,480 more, or 4.3 points of revenue.
The all-in rate runs 13.0% at the highest-selling studios and 30.2% at the lowest-selling studios. $373,125 against $47,173 in absolute dollars. At the median it is 15.0%. The 11% percentage element is at the top of this library's fitness range before the flat $30,000 is added. The flat portion is 3.7% of average sales.
The brand fund may rise from 3% to 5%. Two further points, worth $16,043 a year at the average studio and $24,117 at the top quartile *. That would take the all-in rate at an average studio from 14.7% to 16.7%. At the fourth quartile from 17.3% to 19.3%.
The royalty is debited weekly and the brand fund monthly. Two different calendars against a monthly close, on a base defined identically to the sales figures you are benchmarked against, which is unusually clean. Where a studio understates a payment by more than 2%, it reimburses the franchisor’s full audit costs including legal and accounting fees.
Opening a studio
What it costs to open a studio.
| Item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Building work and construction | $245,000 | $418,317 |
| Additional funds, three months | $171,239 | $171,239 |
| Fitness equipment and OTbeat system | $119,122 | $163,424 |
| Initial franchise fee | $59,950 | $59,950 |
| Technology system | $46,760 | $62,108 |
| Three months' rent and security deposit | $21,492 | $57,312 |
| Pre-sale and grand opening advertising | $36,000 | $45,000 |
| Interior and exterior signage | $17,666 | $28,436 |
| Architect and design fees | $10,000 | $24,000 |
| Miscellaneous opening costs | $11,671 | $20,216 |
| Furniture, fixtures and equipment | $10,362 | $18,918 |
| Construction management fees | $0 | $12,500 |
| Initial training and launch training | $5,000 | $8,850 |
| Initial retail inventory | $3,315 | $5,850 |
| Insurance | $4,000 | $5,000 |
| Office and cleaning supplies | $3,000 | $3,800 |
| Total | $764,577 | $1,104,920 |
As the brand reported it, reordered here by size.
The average reported tenant improvement allowance is $28.62 a square foot. On a typical 3,100 square foot studio that is $88,722 *, 36% of the low building work of $245,000, and at the reported ceiling of $100 a square foot it would be $310,000, covering the high estimate outright. Zero allowance appears in the investment table, so the figures above are gross of something most owners negotiate.
Additional funds are $171,239 at both ends of the range. A fixed figure, and 22.4% of the low build. That is an unusually specific working capital assumption. A useful one. It says the franchisor expects roughly $57,000 a month of funding need across the first quarter regardless of how the build lands.
The build is 0.95 to 1.38 times a year of average sales. $764,577 to $1,104,920 against $802,145. At fourth-quartile sales of $475,979 it is 1.61 to 2.32 years, and at the lowest-selling studios’s $156,118 it is 4.9 to 7.1. With zero cost data available, those sales multiples are what an owner has to work with.
Revenue runs $259 a square foot at the typical 3,100 square foot studio. $458 at the 1,750 square foot low end and $167 at the 4,800 square foot high end *. Since the equipment package scales with station count, a larger box buys capacity only where the member base supports the extra stations. The member ranges in the quarter table run 105 to 1,390.
The network of locations
The network of locations. (Item 20)
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminations | Non-renewals | Reacquired | Ceased, other | End | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1,281 | 53 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 1,311 | +30 |
| 2024 | 1,311 | 27 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 47 | 1,283 | −28 |
| 2025 | 1,283 | 13 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 61 | 1,209 | −74 |
As the brand reported it; every row reconciles exactly.
Openings fell from 53 to 27 to 13 while departures rose from 23 to 55 to 87. The lines crossed during 2024. In 2025 the system opened one studio for every 6.7 that left, and the franchised network fell 74 units, 5.8% in a single year.
Non-renewals went 1, 8, 26. A non-renewal is an owner reaching the end of a term and declining to sign again. Is a different signal from a closure mid-term. It says the decision was deliberate and scheduled. Against zero terminations in three years, this system's contraction is owners choosing to leave.
102 franchised studios left the network across 2024 and 2025. From 1,311 to 1,209. The 95 permanent closures counted in the performance section represent 7.3% of the studios that were open at any point in that twelve-month window. All of them had traded over a year, so these were established businesses.
Territory is protected, and only under a development agreement. A single-studio franchise receives a protected territory defined at the site. A development agreement has a Development Territory the franchisor will keep clear while the development schedule is met. The franchisor reserves studios inside private establishments where access is limited to that business's employees or guests. Reserves the right to operate any other brand inside the territory.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
What should a studio be billing?
The 1,189 studios trading the full year to 28 February 2026 averaged $802,145 of gross sales with a median of $750,643, ranging from $156,118 to $2,870,191. By quartile: $1,205,826, $857,849, $670,024 and $475,979, with medians of $1,136,849, $855,427, $668,456 and $493,135. Monthly member count averaged 444 with a median of 425, ranging 105 to 1,390, and by quartile 630, 477, 386 and 284. Only 44% of studios reach the system average on either measure.
What separates a high-selling studio from a weak one?
Member count, mostly, but yield matters here more than at comparable brands. Sales differ 2.53 times between the top and bottom quartiles while members differ 2.22 times. So member count accounts for about 86% of the gap. The remaining 14% is revenue per member, which runs $139.67 at the fourth quartile and $159.50 at the top, $19.83 a month, or $238 a year per member. Members are ranked on the same quartiles as sales, so that difference is measured.
What does the brand cost each year?
An 8% royalty debited weekly, a 3% Brand Fund contribution debited monthly which may rise to 5%. A minimum local advertising spend of the greater of 2% of the prior month's sales or $2,500 a month. That works out at 13.5% of sales at the top quartile, 14.7% at the average, 15.0% at the median studio and 17.3% at the fourth quartile. The $30,000 annual minimum advertising charge binds on any studio below $1,500,000 of sales. Is above the top quarter's own average, so it binds on essentially the whole system. A rise in the brand fund to 5% would add $16,043 at an average studio.
What does it cost to open?
$764,577 to $1,104,920, excluding any purchase of real estate. Building work and construction run $245,000 to $418,317, the fitness equipment and OTbeat package $119,122 to $163,424 depending on eight or twelve stations, and the technology system $46,760 to $62,108. Additional funds are a fixed $171,239 for the first three months. The table has zero tenant improvement allowance, although franchisees reported receiving $0 to $100 a square foot last year with an average of $28.62. That is worth about $88,722 on a typical 3,100 square foot studio.
Who does bookkeeping for an Orangetheory franchise?
Two features make this brand’s reporting more straightforward than most, and one makes it harder. The easy parts: gross sales as defined in the franchise agreement matches the definition behind the performance figures. So the royalty base and the benchmark agree without a reconciliation. And members are ranked on the same quartiles as sales. So revenue per member can be tracked against real figures, $150.55 system-wide, $159.50 at the top quartile, $139.67 at the fourth. The harder part is the cash calendar: royalty is debited weekly and the brand fund monthly. A local advertising requirement measured on the prior month’s sales with a $2,500 minimum and a shortfall payable into the brand fund. So three different measurement periods run alongside a monthly close and the advertising spend has to be substantiated as well as accrued. With zero cost data available, your own ratios are the only benchmark, which puts a premium on a consistent chart of accounts from the first month. Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team.
- 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 Orangetheory Fitness
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 Orangetheory Fitness 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.
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