The Joint Chiropractic franchise unit economics
The Joint Chiropractic franchisees run a cash-pay chiropractic clinic of 1,000 to 1,400 square feet on a monthly membership model. A licensed chiropractor delivering adjustments and zero insurance billing. 799 clinics open the full year averaged $563,514 of gross sales against a median of $526,397. 492 of them filed a line-by-line profit and loss, where labor took 47.9% of sales and net profit averaged $93,945, or 16.2%.
- Primary source
- The Joint Corp., 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
- 492 of 885 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.
492 clinics filed a full profit and loss, and the average one kept $93,945 on $578,201 of sales. The franchise agreement fixes $96,226 of that clinic's costs before the owner decides anything, royalty, marketing fund, the required local advertising minimum and the technology fee. What the paperwork sets is larger than what the owner takes home.
- Labor takes 47.9% of sales, $276,787 at the average clinic. The range runs $83,088 to $676,823, and it covers chiropractor and coordinator wages, taxes, bonuses and malpractice cover.
- The agreement fixes $96,226 of cost at the average clinic, which keeps $93,945. $40,474 of royalty, $12,564 to the marketing fund, a $36,000 local advertising minimum and $7,188 of technology fee.
- Net profit runs from $721,366 down to a $214,488 loss. Median $75,780 against an average of $93,945, so the average is carried by the top end.
- Top-quarter clinics bill $892,063 and have been open 101 months; bottom-quarter clinics bill $307,458 and have been open 58. Ratio of 2.9 on sales and 1.7 on time open.
- 29 clinics opened in 2025 and 36 closed or were terminated, taking the system from 967 to 960. Company-owned clinics fell from 125 to 75, with 41 of them sold to franchisees.
How much does a The Joint Chiropractic franchise make?
The average The Joint Chiropractic unit reported $563,514 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $526,397. The brand’s disclosure document puts the profit line at 16.2% of revenue. Fees come off the top first, at about 14% 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 the first year
Sales by quartile.
| quartile | Clinics | Average | Median | Highest | Lowest | At or above average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 200 | $892,063 | $846,378 | $1,759,851 | $686,568 | 75 of 200 (38%) |
| 2nd | 199 | $597,694 | $595,430 | $685,227 | $526,594 | 95 of 199 (48%) |
| 3rd | 200 | $457,011 | $451,926 | $526,397 | $389,121 | 95 of 200 (48%) |
| 4th | 200 | $307,458 | $321,175 | $388,853 | $124,473 | 116 of 200 (58%) |
| All 799 | 799 | $563,514 | $526,397 | $1,759,851 | $124,473 | 345 of 799 (43%) |
As the brand reported it.
The top quartile bills 2.9 times the bottom: $892,063 against $307,458. The quartiles step down by roughly $150,000 each. At the average clinic's cost shape is the difference between a good year and a loss. The ceiling is $1,759,851 and the minimum is $124,473, a difference of 14 times inside one brand.
58% of the bottom quartile beats its own quartile average and only 38% of the top quartile beats its. That is the shape of each tail: the bottom quartile is pulled down by a $124,473 clinic and the top is pulled up by a $1,759,851 one. So a clinic sitting at the bottom-quarter average of $307,458 is behind most of its own peer group.
The all-799 median of $526,397 is the same figure as the third quartile’s ceiling. Half the system bills under $526,397, and local advertising is priced at a minimum until $720,000. So the median clinic pays the fixed minimum. Pays it at 6.8% of sales.
Sales against how long the clinic has been open.
| quartile | Clinics | Average months open | Median | Longest | Shortest | Open longer than average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 123 | 101 | 100 months | 267 months | 18 months | 61 of 123 (50%) |
| 2nd | 123 | 96 | 90 months | 223 months | 14 months | 58 of 123 (47%) |
| 3rd | 123 | 86 | 73 months | 247 months | 18 months | 55 of 123 (45%) |
| 4th | 123 | 58 | 46 months | 177 months | 13 months | 38 of 123 (31%) |
| All 492 | 492 | 85 | 73.5 months | 267 months | 13 months | 211 of 492 (43%) |
As the brand reported it, using the same quartile numbering for sales. That is where quartile 1 is the highest performing.
Top-quarter clinics average 101 months open and bottom-quarter clinics average 58. Three and a half extra years, and the average across all 492 is 85 months, seven years. This is a system whose highest-selling clinics are its oldest, which means the membership base is the asset and it takes years to build.
A clinic 18 months old sits in the top quartile and one 247 months old sits in the third. The bottom quartile holds a clinic open 177 months. Age raises the odds and settles the outcome for zero of them: a twenty-year-old clinic can bill less than a two-year-old one in the same system.
Only 31% of the bottom quartile has been open longer than its own 58-month average. Against 50% in the top quartile. So the lowest-selling group is the youngest group and skewed younger still. Is the one piece of good news on this table, because most of those clinics have runway left.
The first year, month by month.
Clinics opening in January 2025 billed roughly $8,000 in their opening month, crossed roughly $25,000 a month around month six, peaked near $41,000 in month nine and settled near $36,000 by month eleven. The January 2024 group tracked slightly lower throughout and reached roughly $32,000 by month twelve. The 2025 group starts at 29 clinics in month one and falls to 4 by month eleven. The 2024 group starts at 57 and falls to 8 by month twelve.
A clinic reaches the bottom quarter's run rate around month six. The bottom quartile averages $307,458 a year, which is $25,622 a month. Reaching the all-799 average of $563,514 means $46,960 a month. The chart puts beyond month twelve for both group. So a first full year at the system average is outside what either build-up group achieved.
Month one is roughly a fifth of where the clinic lands by month eleven. $8,000 against $36,000, and the additional funds line in the investment table is $75,000 to $105,000 for three months. On a chart that takes eleven months to reach $36,000 a month, three months of reserve is the opening act.
Top performers
What separates the top The Joint Chiropractic performers
The Joint Chiropractic splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $892,063 a year. The worst averaged $307,458. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $526,397. The average was $563,514. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 2.9× 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.Locations run 1,000 to 1,400 square feet. What you can sell is set by the build, and the build does not change after opening.
- What you spend to open.Opening costs $245,250 to $543,000, 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.
- Lease economics.Occupancy cost ran 11.3% of sales in this filing. The rent does not fall when sales do, so the same lease is a far heavier line at the bottom of the system than at the top. That is how a weak site compounds into a weak profit line.
Live operating levers
- Wages, the dominant line.Wages take 47.9% of sales, against 16.2% kept at the end. Staff productivity, scheduling against demand hour by hour, and the balance of base pay to commission are where this is won. Small movements here move the result more than anything else, because nothing else in the structure is that large.
- Occupancy, the line that does not flex.Rent and building costs take 11.3% of sales here. Sales per square foot and the hours the space is earning are the only two ways to move it, because the rent itself is fixed at signing.
- 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.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 14.0% 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.492 of 885 locations are behind these figures. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded, as are locations under the brand’s current size standard, so the numbers describe locations that cleared that screen, not the system as a whole.
Profit and loss
Where every dollar goes.
| Line | Average | Share of sales | Median | Highest | Lowest | Clinics at or above average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross sales | $578,201 | 100.0% | $534,019 | $1,759,851 | $155,102 | 204 of 492 (41%) |
| Cost of goods | $0 | 0.0% | $0 | $0 | $0 | 0 of 492 |
| Labor | $276,787 | 47.9% | $249,131 | $676,823 | $83,088 | 200 of 492 (41%) |
| Facilities | $65,382 | 11.3% | $64,311 | $125,670 | $1,324 | 233 of 492 (47%) |
| Insurance | $7,898 | 1.4% | $6,940 | $48,870 | −$518 | 162 of 492 (33%) |
| Operating expense | $81,152 | 14.0% | $75,666 | $316,020 | $22,636 | 190 of 492 (39%) |
| Royalty | $40,474 | 7.0% | $37,381 | $123,190 | $10,857 | 204 of 492 (41%) |
| Marketing fund | $12,564 | 2.2% | $11,680 | $36,197 | $4,102 | 204 of 492 (41%) |
| Net profit | $93,945 | 16.2% | $75,780 | $721,366 | −$214,488 | 204 of 492 (41%) |
As the brand reported it.
Labor is $276,787 and everything else together is $154,432. Wages take 47.9% of the top line against facilities at 11.3%, operating at 14.0% and insurance at 1.4%. At the Bureau of Labor Statistics median of $79,200 a year for a chiropractor, that labor line is about three and a half full-time doctors' pay. So the schedule is the business. One over-staffed shift a week shows up on this page.
The average clinic keeps $93,945 and the median keeps $75,780. An $18,165 gap, and 41% of clinics reach the average. The top of the range is $721,366 and the bottom is a $214,488 loss on sales that reach as low as $155,102. So the same brand, the same fee schedule and the same model produce a $935,854 range in outcome.
Facilities cost $65,382 a year, or $5,448 a month, and that bill changes littlewith sales. A clinic runs 1,000 to 1,400 square feet with rent of $3,000 to $9,000 a month. Hold the average facilities bill against each quartile’s sales and it is 7.3% of the top quartile’s revenue and 21.3% of the bottom quartile’s, fourteen points of margin decided by the lease.
Insurance shows a low of minus $518, so at least one clinic booked a refund. The high is $48,870 against an average of $7,898, a six-fold range on a line that is meant to be a commodity. Worth an hour of anyone's time to re-quote.
What the agreement fixes before you decide anything.
| Item | Basis | At $578,201 of sales |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | Greater of 7% of gross sales or $700 a month | $40,474 |
| National marketing fund | 2% of gross sales, up to 3% | $12,564 |
| Local advertising commitment | Greater of 5% of gross sales or $3,000 a month | $36,000 |
| Technology fee | $599 a month | $7,188 |
| Total set by the agreement | $96,226 | |
| Net profit the clinic keeps | As the brand reported it | $93,945 |
Ours, applying the filed fee schedule to the filed average gross sales, except the royalty and marketing fund figures, which are as the brand reported it.
How we calculated this
5% of $578,201 is $28,910, so the $3,000 monthly minimum local advertising charge governs at this sales level; the percentage overtakes the minimum at $720,000 of sales.
$43,188 of the $81,152 operating expense line is contractual. The local advertising minimum at $36,000 plus the technology fee at $7,188 is 53% of that line. That leaves $37,964 for merchant fees, licenses, professional fees, dues and everything else an owner actually controls. Read the 14.0% as roughly half fixed by the agreement.
The load is 14.8% of sales at the top quartile and 23.0% at the bottom. Eight points of penalty for being small, and it is the $36,000 minimum advertising charge plus the $7,188 technology fee spreading across a smaller base. Every clinic under $720,000 of sales pays local advertising at a rate above 5%.
Fees and what it costs to open
What the fees come to at each sales level. (Items 5 and 6)
| Sales level | Gross sales | Royalty 7% | Fund 2% | Local advertising | Technology | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st quartile average | $892,063 | $62,444 | $17,841 | $44,603 | $7,188 | $132,077 | 14.8% |
| 2nd quartile average | $597,694 | $41,839 | $11,954 | $36,000 | $7,188 | $96,980 | 16.2% |
| All 799, average | $563,514 | $39,446 | $11,270 | $36,000 | $7,188 | $93,904 | 16.7% |
| All 799, median | $526,397 | $36,848 | $10,528 | $36,000 | $7,188 | $90,564 | 17.2% |
| 3rd quartile average | $457,011 | $31,991 | $9,140 | $36,000 | $7,188 | $84,319 | 18.5% |
| 4th quartile average | $307,458 | $21,522 | $6,149 | $36,000 | $7,188 | $70,859 | 23.0% |
| Lowest clinic disclosed | $124,473 | $8,713 | $2,489 | $36,000 | $7,188 | $54,391 | 43.7% |
Ours, applying the filed fee schedule: royalty at the greater of 7% of gross sales or $700 a month. The national marketing fund at its current 2%, with a stated ceiling of 3%. The local advertising commitment at the greater of 5% of gross sales or $3,000 a month. You spend with third parties in your own market and which the franchisor measures on a rolling six-month basis. And the technology fee at its current $599 a month.
$43,188 a year is fixed whatever the clinic bills. The $36,000 minimum local advertising charge plus the $7,188 technology fee. At the lowest clinic disclosed, billing $124,473, that pair alone is 34.7% of sales. The whole load reaches 43.7%. Is most of the reason a clinic at that level shows up in a loss column.
A 2025 opening paid 3% royalty in year one and 5% in year two; a 2026 opening pays 7% from the first month. The build-up incentive applied to clinics opening during 2025 and closed to clinics opening after 31 December 2025. On the bottom quarter's $307,458 of sales, those four points and two points are worth $12,298 and $6,149, $18,447 of royalty across the first two years that a 2026 opener pays and a 2025 opener kept.
The marketing money splits two ways and only one of them is yours to aim. 2% goes to the national fund with zero voting rights over how it is spent. At least 5% or $36,000 is spent by you in your own market with proof owed to the franchisor. At the average clinic that is $11,270 placed for you and $36,000 placed by you.
What it costs to open.
| Line | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $19,950 | $39,900 |
| Construction | $63,600 | $225,000 |
| Architect and clinic design fees | $9,500 | $21,000 |
| Chiropractic and office equipment, furniture | $22,000 | $47,500 |
| Technology systems and signage | $12,000 | $23,000 |
| Rent for three months, plus deposits | $12,700 | $32,800 |
| Grand opening advertising | $20,000 | $25,000 |
| Training, licenses, insurance, credentialing, supplies and professional fees | $10,500 | $23,800 |
| Additional funds, three months | $75,000 | $105,000 |
| Total | $245,250 | $543,000 |
As the brand reported it, except five grouped lines. Are marked *. Architect fee with the $1,000 clinic design fee. Chiropractic and other professional equipment with office furniture and equipment. Technology systems with signage. Three months of rent with lease and utility deposits. And training expenses with business licenses and permits, chiropractor credentialing, uniforms and office supplies, professional fees and insurance premiums.
Construction swings $161,400 on the site you take. $63,600 to $225,000 for a 1,000-to-1,400-square-foot fit-out, and the lease behind it costs rent of $3,000 to $9,000 a month for the whole term. The average clinic's facilities bill of $65,382 sits mid-range. So the top of that rent group means a facilities line that on its own eats the average clinic's entire net profit.
The initial franchise fee has six published prices. $39,900 standard, $33,900 for a veteran, $29,900 for each clinic beyond the first bought at once, $20,000 for a chiropractor coming through the ownership program. Half off any of those for a 2025 signing. Renewal is charged at 25% of the then-current fee, calculated before any discount applies.
Three months of additional funds is $75,000 to $105,000, and the build-up takes eleven months to reach $36,000 a month. The reserve covers a quarter of the period the build-up actually runs. A clinic reaching the bottom quartile’s run rate around month six has six months to fund before that point.
The network of locations
The system contracted in 2025.
| Year | Franchised start | Franchised end | Company-owned start | Company-owned end | Total end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 712 | 800 | 126 | 135 | 935 | +97 |
| 2024 | 800 | 842 | 135 | 125 | 967 | +32 |
| 2025 | 842 | 885 | 125 | 75 | 960 | −7 |
As the brand reported it.
29 clinics opened and 36 closed or were terminated. Sixteen franchised terminations, eleven franchised clinics ceasing for other reasons, nine company clinics closed. That is the first year the total count fell. It fell while the franchised count rose, because 41 of the franchised additions were existing company clinics changing hands.
Company-owned clinics went from 135 at the end of 2023 to 75 at the end of 2025. Ten sold or closed in 2024 and fifty in 2025. The franchisor is converting its own estate into franchises. Puts 41 established clinics into franchisee hands in a single year and leaves the franchised network carrying almost the whole system.
Zero franchised clinics were reacquired by the franchisor in 2024 or 2025. Three were reacquired in 2023. When a clinic fails here it closes or is terminated, so a lower-selling owner should expect to run the exit themselves.
What territory you get.
Your territory holds 10,000 to 25,000 households, drawn by the franchisor with mapping software. At the average clinic's $563,514 of sales that is $22.54 to $56.35 of annual revenue per household in the territory, a 2.5-fold difference in how much market you were handed, settled before you opened.
The grant is a single clinic at a single site, with zero exclusive or development territory. The franchisor agrees to keep its own and other franchisees' clinics out of your territory during the term. Carve-outs for captive venues inside other establishments and for brands it acquires. Territory boundaries may be redrawn at renewal or on a transfer.
Relocation costs $2,500 plus a $1,000 design fee and 30 days. You must find an accepted site inside the same site selection area, strip the old premises of anything resembling the brand. Reopen within 30 days of closing, or 300 days where the premises became unusable. A lease that turns bad is therefore expensive to leave and quick to have to replace.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
What should a clinic be billing?
Across 799 franchised clinics reporting for the whole of 2025 the average was $563,514 with a median of $526,397, ranging from $124,473 to $1,759,851. quartile averages ran $892,063, $597,694, $457,011 and $307,458. The 492 clinics that also filed a profit and loss averaged $578,201 of sales with a median of $534,019.
What does the cost structure look like?
At the average of 492 clinics: labor 47.9% of sales ($276,787), facilities 11.3% ($65,382), insurance 1.4% ($7,898), operating expense 14.0% ($81,152), royalty 7.0% ($40,474) and the marketing fund 2.2% ($12,564), leaving net profit of 16.2% ($93,945). Cost of goods is zero because clinics sell adjustments. Net profit excludes tax, depreciation, amortization and any wage for the owner, so it is the pool an owner-operator's own pay comes out of.
What does the brand cost in total?
A 7% royalty against a $700 monthly minimum, 2% to the national marketing fund with a 3% ceiling, a local advertising commitment of the greater of 5% of sales or $3,000 a month, and a $599 monthly technology fee. At the average clinic that totals $93,904, or 16.7% of sales. At the bottom quartile average it is 23.0% and at the top quartile average 14.8%. Clinics that opened during 2025 paid 3% royalty for twelve months and 5% for the next twelve; clinics opening after 31 December 2025 pay 7% from the start. Opening costs $245,250 to $543,000, though the low end assumes the 2025 discount, which has closed.
How long does it take to reach the system average?
Longer than the build-up window shows. Average monthly sales in the first year run roughly $8,000 in the opening month, roughly $25,000 a month around month six and roughly $36,000 by month eleven. The all-799 average of $563,514 works out at $46,960 a month, beyond both build-up group’ final readings. Separately, the top sales quartile of the 492 reporting clinics has been open an average of 101 months against 58 for the bottom quartile.
Who does bookkeeping for a The Joint Chiropractic franchise?
Three things about this model make the monthly close the whole job. Labor is 47.9% of sales, so read wages weekly against booked visits, and wages belongs in the labor line, or the benchmark breaks. Second, $43,188 a year of the operating expense line is contractual (the $36,000 local advertising minimum, measured on a rolling six-month basis with a 10% penalty on any shortfall, the technology fee) so split that line between what the agreement requires and what you chose. Third, this is a membership business under professional-corporation arrangements in many states. Means deferred revenue, chargebacks and inter-entity payments to the PC all have to land in the right period for the top line to mean anything. Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team.
Questions worth putting to The Joint Chiropractic
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 The Joint Chiropractic 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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A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast, and reporting, so you know what you control and what the paperwork already decided.
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