Home care franchise costs

A home care franchise is an agency that sends caregivers into clients’ homes, mostly older people who need help with bathing, meals, medication reminders, errands and company. Most brands are non-medical; some add skilled nursing. The owner doesn’t provide the care: the work is recruiting and keeping caregivers, winning clients and referral sources such as hospitals and care managers, and scheduling hours.

Demand is driven by an aging population and is steady through downturns, and personal care aides are among the occupations the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects to add the most jobs over the coming decade. The same fact is the industry’s main constraint: finding enough caregivers.

What a home care franchise costs

Across the 73 brands on the home care and senior care list, the typical cost to open runs from $100K at the low end of each brand’s estimate to $175K 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, 72 start at $250K or less and 38 at $100K or less.

Where the money goes

Each franchisor itemizes its cost to open. Grouping the lines for the 60 home care brands with a full breakdown shows what a typical budget pays for, as an average share of the high estimate, with the typical amount.

With no storefront to build, a home care franchise is one of the cheaper franchises to open, and the franchise fee is usually the single largest line, often around $50K. The rest is mostly working capital, because the agency pays caregivers weekly while clients, insurers and the Veterans Administration can take weeks to pay. A small office, state licensing where required, insurance and marketing to referral sources make up the remainder.

Cheapest and most expensive home care franchises

The cheapest home care 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 home care brand charges a franchise fee of $50K, a royalty of 5% of sales and 1% to a marketing fund. Another 11 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 $1.33M year they cost about $80K. The fees and royalties guide compares industries.

What home care franchise locations sell

Of the home care brands, 26 publish a comparable yearly sales figure per location. The typical one is $1.33M, above the $797K typical across all brands.

Home care agencies report some of the highest sales per location relative to what they cost to open, typically about 9× here, because each sale is mostly a caregiver’s wage passed through to the client at a markup. That makes margins thin in percentage terms: ask owners for gross margin after caregiver pay, payroll taxes and insurance, and how long it took to reach the hours they bill now.

Which home care franchises are growing

Of the 49 home care brands with three years of figures, 42 added US locations from 2023 to 2025 and 3 shrank. The typical brand with 20 or more locations changed by +23%, against +3.8% across all franchises.

The brands that lost the most locations were Interim HealthCare (18), Comfort Keepers (16) and Boost Home Healthcare (3). The fastest-growing franchises ranking covers every industry.

Who runs a home care franchise

Of the home care brands whose agreements are clear, 47 let a trained manager run the business day to day and 26 require the owner to. Initial training typically runs 56 hours, against 71 across all brands. The typical brand loses 3.2% of its franchised locations a year to closures, terminations and non-renewals. On the SBA Franchise Directory are 43 of the 73 brands, so SBA-backed loans are available for them.

Best home care franchises to own

These home care 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 home care franchise

Check your state’s licensing rules first: some states require a home care license, a background-check process and minimum training before you can serve clients, and a few limit new agencies. Ask the franchisor how large territories are, measured in people over 65, and how close other agencies of the same brand are. Ask owners how they recruit caregivers, what they pay compared with local hospitals and retailers, and what share of caregivers leave each year.

Home care is a good fit for owners who like managing people and building local relationships. Many brands allow a manager to run the office once it is established; the semi-absentee guide lists which.