Daycare franchise costs

Daycare franchises run licensed child care centers, usually called schools, for infants through pre-kindergarten, with before- and after-school care at some. Parents pay weekly or monthly tuition, so a full school has steady, predictable revenue; the work is enrollment, hiring and keeping teachers, and meeting the state’s licensing rules on ratios, space and safety.

Most brands build a purpose-built school of several thousand square feet with classrooms and a playground, which makes it costly to open. A few smaller brands run drop-in care or in-home programs for far less.

What a daycare franchise costs

Across the 40 brands on the daycare list, the typical cost to open runs from $737K at the low end of each brand’s estimate to $1.44M at the high end. The low end is a small location in a cheaper market with little build-out; the high end a large site in an expensive one. Of these brands, 6 start at $250K or less and 2 at $100K or less.

Where the money goes

Each franchisor itemizes its cost to open. Grouping the lines for the 29 daycare brands with a full breakdown shows what a typical budget pays for, as an average share of the high estimate, with the typical amount.

The building is the largest share: construction or a long lease and fit-out of a school with classrooms, child-sized restrooms, a kitchen and a fenced playground. Furniture, toys and curriculum materials come next. Working capital is large because a new school opens with few children and full staffing ratios, and can take a year or two to fill.

Cheapest and most expensive daycare franchises

The cheapest daycare brands with at least 20 US locations, by the low end of the cost to open. Use the full range on each brand’s page for budgeting, not the low end alone.

Fees and royalties

The typical daycare brand charges a franchise fee of $65K, a royalty of 7% of sales and 2% to a marketing fund. Another 2 brands charge a flat or tiered royalty instead of a single percentage. Royalties and marketing come off sales before rent, staff or loan payments, so on a $2.19M year they cost about $197K. The fees and royalties guide compares industries.

What daycare franchise locations sell

Of the daycare brands, 12 publish a comparable yearly sales figure per location. The typical one is $2.19M, above the $797K typical across all brands.

A full school’s tuition adds up to large yearly sales, but against a high cost to build. Revenue depends on enrollment and on local tuition rates, which vary several-fold between markets.

Which daycare franchises are growing

Of the 24 daycare brands with three years of figures, 14 added US locations from 2023 to 2025 and 1 shrank. The typical brand with 20 or more locations changed by +28%, against +3.8% across all franchises.

The brands that lost the most locations were TSL Kids Crew (4). The fastest-growing franchises ranking covers every industry.

Who runs a daycare franchise

Of the daycare brands whose agreements are clear, 20 let a trained manager run the business day to day and 17 require the owner to. Initial training typically runs 91 hours, against 71 across all brands. The typical brand loses 1.0% of its franchised locations a year to closures, terminations and non-renewals. On the SBA Franchise Directory are 19 of the 40 brands, so SBA-backed loans are available for them.

Best daycare franchises to own

These daycare brands pass all five tests on the best franchises to own ranking: they grew, lost no more owners than is typical, publish earnings figures, are on the SBA directory and had 100 or more US locations three years ago.

Before you buy a daycare franchise

Read your state’s child care licensing rules before choosing a site: they set staff-to-child ratios, space per child and staff qualifications, and so decide how many children a building can hold and what it costs to staff. Ask how long the brand’s schools take to reach full enrollment and how they recruit teachers, the constraint for the whole industry.

Many brands let a trained director run the school, so owners can be semi-absentee; see the semi-absentee franchises guide and each brand’s page for who it lets run the school.