World Gym franchise unit economics
World Gym franchisees run full-size gyms that sell memberships, training and retail.
World Gym in the news
- World Gym Launches Presales for Its First Thailand Club · Macau Business ·
The World Gym headline above is the publisher's own and links to the publisher. Averan Advisors checked this World Gym link on 11 October 2026. Franchise news lists news on 95 brands, including World Gym. World Gym is in the Gyms and Clubs franchise guide.
World Gym franchise at a glance
World Gym’s 2026 FDD, issued 13 March 2026, makes no financial performance representation in Item 19, so it gives no sales or profit figure. A World Gym franchise costs $452,500 to $2,232,500 to open, including a $25,000 initial franchise fee. World Gym's royalty is $1,250 a month, flat.
- World Gym reported 18 franchised locations in its 2026 FDD.
These figures come from World Gym'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 →- The royalty is a fixed $1,250 a month that grows $50 a year. That is $15,000 in year one and $20,400 in year ten, $177,000 over the term *.
- A flat royalty costs the smallest gym $2.00 a square foot and the largest 60 cents *. So the fixed fee rewards floor space more than any percentage structure would.
- Converting an existing gym costs about a quarter of a new build. $101,500 to $530,000 against $452,500 to $2,232,500 *, with the franchise fee halved to $12,500.
- Advertising obligations are currently zero. Caps are reserved at $350 a month for the fund and 2% of sales for local spend. That is worth $24,200 a year at $1,000,000 of sales if both arrive *.
- US franchised gyms fell from 33 to 18 with zero openings in two years. That is a 45.5% decline *, driven by 11 non-renewals.
How much does a World Gym franchise make?
The 2026 FDD for World Gym does not publish unit revenue in a form that answers this directly. What it does publish is set out below, starting with Royalty: $1,250 a month, flat; Annual escalation: $50 a month; Royalty over ten years: $177,000; US franchised gyms, end 2025: 18.
Build or convert
New build against conversion costs
| Measure | New gym | Conversion |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $25,000 | $25,000 |
| Build-out and building work | $200,000 to $900,000 | $25,000 to $50,000 |
| Equipment | $90,000 to $850,000 | $0 to $300,000 |
| Pre-opening sales program | $30,000 to $60,000 | $15,000 to $25,000 |
| Total investment | $452,500 to $2,232,500 | $101,500 to $530,000 |
| Conversion as a share of a new build * | n/a | 22.4% to 23.7% |
Every figure is as the brand reported it and the share row divides the conversion totals by the new-build totals, marked *.
Discounts available
- World Gym charges $12,500 instead of $25,000 to owners converting an existing gym or fitness facility.
- World Gym takes 15% off the first gym's fee for honorably discharged U.S. veterans and current U.S. or Canadian military members with majority ownership.
- Under a development agreement, World Gym charges $20,000 for the second gym and $17,500 for the third and each one after.
From Item 5 of the World Gym 2026 FDD. The costs on this page use the full initial franchise fee for one unit, before any discount.
Item 7 of the FDD starts the initial franchise fee at $12,500, a discounted price. This page uses the full fee for one unit, $25,000.
An operator already running a gym keeps their equipment and their lease. So the conversion chart has no lease deposits and no utility deposits, and why the build-out line falls by $175,000 at the low end.
The conversion still pays the same royalty. $1,250 a month whatever the route in, so the cheaper entry buys the identical ongoing cost.
A three-gym development agreement costs $62,500. $25,000, $20,000 and $17,500 on a declining scale, with two gyms the minimum, and the development area is expressly non-exclusive.
The lowest initial fee collected in 2025 was zero. So the published $25,000 and $12,500 are starting points.
Veterans receive 15% off the applicable fee. The discount applies to the first gym only, $3,750 on a new build and $1,875 on a conversion *.
Top performers
What separates the top World Gym performers
World Gym publishes no revenue figures, so neither the average nor the spread between locations is disclosed.
Decided before you open
- Capacity.Locations run 7,500 to 25,000 square feet. The build sets how much you can sell.
- Opening cost range.Opening costs $452,500 to $2,232,500, a 4.9× range inside one brand.
Live operating levers
- Membership drives the model.Track how many members join, how many cancel, and what each member spends beyond the plan.
Context you underwrite around
- What the filing does not include.Item 19 publishes no profit or cost data for franchised locations, no median, no performance bands, no attainment figure. Ask the franchisor or current owners for cost and profit figures.
- Sales spread in the category.Across 32 Fitness brands in this library, the top group sells 3.1× the bottom at the typical brand, and a median 43% of locations reach their own average *. Ask the franchisor for this brand’s spread.
A fixed bill that grows
Ongoing brand costs
| Charge | Rate | Year one * | Year ten * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty | $1,250 a month, plus $50 each anniversary | $15,000 | $20,400 |
| Technology | $165 a month | $1,980 | $1,980 |
| Payment processing and point of sale | $249 a month | $2,988 | $2,988 |
| Total | n/a | $19,968 | $25,368 |
| Brand development fund | Currently zero, capped at $350 a month | $0 | $0 |
| Local advertising | Currently zero, capped at 2% of sales | $0 | $0 |
The rates and caps are as the brand reported it and the annual figures multiply the monthly charges by twelve at the year-one and year-ten royalty levels, marked *.
A gym billing $2,000,000 pays the same royalty as one billing $400,000. $15,000 in the first year, which is 0.75% of the first and 3.75% of the second *.
The escalation adds $5,400 a year by the end of the term. * That is a 36% increase on the starting royalty, fixed in the agreement.
Both advertising obligations sit at zero today. The brand keeps the right to introduce them on 30 days’ notice, capped at $350 a month and 2% of sales. That at $1,000,000 of sales would be $24,200 a year *.
An audit is triggered at a 2% understatement. Unusually tight, and notable in a system where the royalty takes no account of the figure being reported.
Transfers cost $5,000 and renewal $2,500. Among the lightest event fees in this library, on a business that can have a $2,232,500 build.
The square foot
Costs by gym size
| Measure | Small gym, 7,500 sq ft | Large gym, 25,000 sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty a square foot, year one * | $2.00 | $0.60 |
| Build-out and building work | $200,000 | $900,000 |
| Build-out a square foot * | $26.67 | $36.00 |
| Fitness equipment | $90,000 | $850,000 |
| Equipment a square foot * | $12.00 | $34.00 |
The sizes and dollar ranges are as the brand reported it and the per-square-foot figures divide one by the other, marked *.
The large gym pays 30% of the small gym’s royalty for each square foot. * That makes the larger unit cheaper per square foot.
Equipment costs nearly three times as much a foot at the top of the range. $34.00 against $12.00 *, because the low figure assumes a 20% deposit on leased or financed equipment.
Build-out runs $26.67 to $36.00 a square foot *. That is a far narrower range than the equipment line, so the box itself is the predictable part.
Additional funds cover only the first 90 days at $45,000 to $150,000. On a build reaching $2,232,500, so the build-up assumption is worth testing hard.
The pre-opening sales program costs $30,000 to $60,000. More than twice the franchise fee at the high end, membership sold before the doors open is what funds the first quarter.
Territory and the system
US gyms opened and closed, 2023 to 2025
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Non-renewed | Ceased, other | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 33 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 24 |
| 2024 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| 2025 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| Three years | n/a | 2 | 2 | 11 | 4 | n/a |
Every figure is as the brand reported it for US outlets, with zero company-owned gyms in any of the three years.
Eleven of the 17 exits were non-renewals. Those owners reached the end of a term and left, against two terminations across three years.
The pace of decline slowed from nine to two *. So the contraction is easing even with zero openings.
The territory is defined only once the premises is secured. It is set by population, radius, zip codes, streets or a map, with the size varying by location and demographics. So the size varies from one franchisee to the next.
Territorial rights have no sales requirement. The brand keeps another gym out while you comply, and that protection holds regardless of your volume or penetration.
Online and streaming channels stay with the brand. Along with catalog, telemarketing and direct marketing, inside your territory and outside it, so digital membership is the brand’s to sell.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks
How much does a World Gym franchise make?
World Gym’s 2026 FDD, issued 13 March 2026, makes no financial performance representation in Item 19, so it gives no sales or profit figure. A World Gym franchise costs $452,500 to $2,232,500 to open, including a $25,000 initial franchise fee. World Gym's royalty is $1,250 a month, flat.
What fees does World Gym charge?
World Gym charges a flat $1,250 a month, rising $50 at each anniversary of the agreement. There is no percentage of sales. Add $165 a month of technology and $249 a month for payment processing and point of sale, both fixed.
What does that add up to at World Gym?
On our reading, World Gym fees come to $19,968 in the first year and $25,368 in the tenth, with the royalty alone coming to $177,000 across a ten-year term.
Why does a flat royalty matter at World Gym?
A flat royalty matters because extra sales add no royalty. A gym billing $2,000,000 pays the same $15,000 first-year royalty as one billing $400,000, 0.75% against 3.75% on our reading. It also means the fixed bill is heaviest on the smallest gym: $2.00 a square foot at 7,500 feet against 60 cents at 25,000.
Is there an advertising obligation at World Gym?
Both are currently zero. The brand reserves the right to require a fund contribution capped at $350 a month and a local advertising spend capped at 2% of monthly gross sales, each on 30 days' notice. At $1,000,000 of sales both together would be $24,200 a year on our reading.
How much does a World Gym franchise cost to open?
A World Gym franchise costs $452,500 to $2,232,500 to open for a new gym of 7,500 to 25,000 square feet. Converting an existing gym runs $101,500 to $530,000, about 22% to 24% of a new build on our reading, with the franchise fee halved to $12,500.
Is the fee negotiable at World Gym?
The lowest initial franchise fee collected during 2025 was $0, so yes in practice. Veterans receive 15% off the applicable fee on their first gym.
What is the World Gym system doing?
Contracting. US franchised gyms went from 33 at the start of 2023 to 18 at the end of 2025. World Gym recorded two openings across the three years and none in the last two. Eleven of the 17 exits were non-renewals.
Which two numbers should run monthly at World Gym?
Track revenue a square foot, because the brand charges by the month. Then track members against capacity, because every additional membership carries no royalty.
- The filing gives no revenue figures. The filing makes no financial performance representation, so there is no disclosed sales number for any location.
- The filing gives no profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
- 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 range. The filing does not show the highest and lowest locations, so the spread inside the system is unknown.
- The filing gives no attainment figure. The filing does not say how many locations reached the average it publishes.
- The filing shows no ramp. The filing does not show how a new location builds up, so the first-year curve has to be assumed.
Questions worth putting to World Gym
These are questions the World Gym filing leaves open. An owner or a buyer can put them to World Gym directly.
- What do locations at the median spend on wages and rent as a share of sales? The filing reports sales only.
- What did the highest and lowest locations sell last year, and what explains the gap?
- How long does a new location take to reach the average you publish, and what does the build-up look like month by month?
- What do the fees add up to as a share of sales at the average location, once minimums and technology charges are counted?
- How many World Gym 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. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →What is a square foot earning?
We review your unit economics and cash forecast and build your reporting around a royalty that ignores your sales, a $5,400 escalation over the term. A build that ranges from $452,500 to $2,232,500.
Talk to Averanthe franchise library, all 447 brands · how franchise unit economics work · running the books across several locations · what Averan does for franchise owners
World Gym reads against the rest of the gyms and clubs group: Anytime Fitness · Crunch Fitness · Fitness Premier · Planet Fitness · Snap Fitness. The gyms and clubs 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.
- How much of Item 19 can I rely on?It explains what an Item 19 financial performance representation tells you and what it leaves out.
- What should I be looking at every week?It lists the handful of numbers that move before the P&L does.
Where these figures come from.
Every figure here comes from World Gym International, LLC’s 2026 FDD and is unaudited by us, we are unaffiliated with the brand, calculations of our own are marked with an asterisk 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. World Gym® 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: World Gym International, LLC, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, issued 13 March 2026.