Best franchises to own

Most lists of the best franchises to own are written by franchise brokers, who are paid by the brands they recommend, or by the brands themselves. Others rank franchises by total sales, which rewards size rather than how owners do. This ranking uses only what each franchisor is required to report to state regulators every year: how many locations it has, how many opened and closed, and whether it tells buyers what its locations earn. We add one public check of our own, the SBA Franchise Directory.

A brand earns a place by passing all five tests described below, using the three years from 2023 to 2025. The ones that pass are then ordered by how few franchised locations closed, were terminated or weren’t renewed each year, because the rate at which owners leave a system is the closest public measure of how owners are doing. No brand pays to appear, and none can.

The 25 best franchises to own

Christian Brothers Automotive, Nothing Bundt Cakes and Culver's top the list because almost none of their franchised locations closed or left the system over three years, while each kept adding locations. The table gives each brand’s growth in US locations, its yearly exit rate and its cost to open, so you can weigh the record against what you can afford.

A few big names stand out. Taco Bell grew to 7,998 locations while losing only 0.4% of its franchised ones a year, Domino’s did the same at 7,210, and Jersey Mike’s grew 35% with exits at 0.3% a year. Size doesn’t guarantee a place: 17 of the 49 brands here with 1,000 or more US locations either shrank or lost more than 2.6% of their franchised locations a year.

The other brands that passed every test, in the same order:

The five tests

Every test is a yes-or-no question, so you can check any brand yourself on its page here. We scored 153 brands whose filings report the same three years of locations, openings and closures. Brands without that record aren’t scored at all, rather than being marked down for missing figures, which is why some large names, McDonald’s among them, aren’t on the list.

Growth rules out more well-known brands than you might expect: 44 of 153 had fewer US locations at the end of 2025 than at the start of 2023, or the same number. We count franchised and company-run locations together, so a franchisor buying stores back from owners doesn’t look like decline, and selling them to owners doesn’t look like growth. A shrinking system can still be a fine business in the right town, but it means fewer new owners are joining than leaving, and resale values tend to follow.

Exits are franchised locations that closed, had their agreement terminated or weren’t renewed. Locations sold to a new owner or bought back by the franchisor aren’t exits, since the business keeps trading. A brand passes when its yearly exit rate is at or below the typical rate across the brands scored, 2.6% of franchised locations a year. This is the closest thing to a failure rate that every franchisor reports the same way.

Earnings figures are optional. A franchisor may tell buyers what its locations sell or earn, or say nothing; it may not hint at numbers it doesn’t publish. 141 of the brands scored publish some figures. A brand that publishes none leaves you to build a forecast from owner calls alone, which is why it fails this test however good its other numbers are. Our guide to buying a franchise explains how to use those figures and what to ask owners.

SBA listing matters because many franchise buyers borrow, and SBA-backed loans offer some of the longest terms and lowest down payments available. A lender can only make an SBA loan for a brand on the SBA Franchise Directory. Proven means at least 100 US locations at the start of the three years: enough owners to call and enough markets to show the model works beyond its home town.

Best franchises to own by budget

The best franchise for you is one you can afford without stretching. These are the top brands in each band, in ranking order, grouped by the low end of their cost to open, the cheapest version the brand allows. An SBA loan needs at least 10% of the total in cash, and many lenders ask for more. The cost calculator works out the cash, loan and monthly payment for any brand.

The cheapest brands that pass every test are almost all service businesses, led by home care, where Right at Home, Visiting Angels and Home Instead all pass. They need an office or a vehicle rather than a kitchen, so most of the cost is working capital to carry you until the client list grows. Between $150K and $500K the list is mostly sandwich shops, pizza, fitness studios and car care; above $500K it is full-size restaurants, early-education schools and car washes, where the building is most of the bill. The UPS Store is one of the few retail brands that passes, from $222K. See the low-cost franchise list for every brand under $100K, passing or not.

Best franchise in each industry

If you already know the kind of business you want, start with the brand that leads its industry on these tests, then compare it with the others in the same list. Industries where no brand passed all five aren’t shown.

A brand can lead more than one industry, since a burger chain that sells frozen custard counts in both. Where only one brand passes, it is worth looking at the near misses in that industry too: a brand that missed a single test may suit you better than the one that passed all five.

Well-known brands that missed one test

Plenty of famous franchises fall just short. Missing one test doesn’t make a brand a bad choice; it tells you which question to press hardest before you buy.

Five Guys grew and rarely loses owners, but it publishes no sales figures, so you would have to piece together what a restaurant makes from owner calls. Little Caesars, Kumon and Kona Ice miss for the same reason. Chick-fil-A passes everything except the SBA test, and for a different reason: its Operators don’t buy the restaurant at all. The company finds the site and builds it, and the Operator pays a $10K fee and a share of sales and profit instead, so there is nothing for an SBA loan to finance.

Some of the biggest names miss more than one test. Subway, still the largest franchise in the country, shrank 8.8% over the three years and lost 4.6% of its franchised locations a year, and it publishes no earnings figures. The growth rankings show which other large systems are shrinking.

How to choose the best franchise for you

A ranking can narrow thousands of brands to a few dozen with a clean record. Choosing between those is personal. Start with the money: the cash you can put in, the loan you can carry, and how long you can go without a salary while the business ramps up. That alone rules out most restaurants for most first-time buyers. Then think about the work. A sandwich shop is a daily operations job with a large staff; a home-care franchise is a sales and hiring job; a kids’ sports program is mostly evenings and weekends. Pick the kind of day you want to have.

Then test the brand. Call at least ten current owners, and a few former ones, from the owner lists every franchisor must give you. Ask what they earned in their second and third years, how long it took to break even, what the franchisor does well and what they would change. Compare their answers with the brand’s published earnings figures. Check that there is open territory where you want to be, and how close the nearest location is.

Finally, line up your shortlist side by side. The compare tool shows cost, fees, royalties and three years of locations for up to four brands, and the franchise finder lets you filter every brand by budget, industry and SBA listing. If you are buying for the first time, read how to buy a franchise before you sign anything.