Education Franchise Statistics: Tutoring, Child Care and Kids Enrichment Brands Tracked

How the education franchise statistics registry is built

The registry lists 104 franchise brands that carry an SBA franchise identifier code and whose SBA loans point to children’s education or child care. 101 qualify because their main NAICS code (the code lenders recorded most often across the brand’s franchise-coded 7(a) and 504 loans approved FY2020 to June 30, 2026) is one of seven education or child care codes and at least two loans carry it. 3 more are listed only because they are in the site’s 259-FDD sample: The Little Gym and My Gym, which lenders mostly coded to fitness centers (NAICS 713940), and Mad Science, with one loan. Registry brands hold 2,865 franchise-coded loans in all industries, according to the SBA FOIA loan files as of June 30, 2026.

50 other codes had an education or child care main NAICS but fewer than two loans in it (61 loans in total); they are counted in the sub-sector totals below but not listed, because one-loan industry codes include lender coding errors. 70 of the 104 codes appear on the SBA Franchise Directory dated October 9, 2026, which lists 2,437 S-format codes. A code missing from the Directory can mean a renamed brand, a newer code or a brand that is no longer listed; the registry does not judge eligibility. It shows loan counts only: no borrower names, defaults or charge-offs.

Education franchise statistics by industry: how franchised each segment is

Tutoring is one of the most franchised industries in the Economic Census; child care is mostly independent. In 2017, 37.1% of the 9,467 US exam preparation and tutoring establishments were franchised (3,511), according to the 2017 Economic Census franchise file. That ranked 10 of 267 six-digit industries with a published franchise count, and 9 of 241 industries with 1,000 or more establishments. The median covered industry was 3.2% franchised.

Child day care was 4.3% franchised in 2017 (3,301 of 77,366 establishments). The three enrichment codes sat between: sports and recreation instruction 8.8%, fine arts schools 8.0% and all other instruction 10.4%. Franchisees owned most franchise units: franchisors owned 7.4% of franchise tutoring establishments and 15.5% in child care, but 47.0% in other instruction.

The share rose in every core segment except fine arts schools between the 2007 and 2017 censuses: tutoring went from 32.8% to 37.1% (+4.3 points) and child care from 2.8% to 4.3% (+1.5 points), based on the 2007 and 2012 franchise tables. 2017 is the latest US franchise tabulation: the 2022 Economic Census release list shows franchise status only for Puerto Rico.

The firm view: Annual Business Survey, 2020 to 2023

The Annual Business Survey (ABS) asks employer firms whether all or part of the business operates as a franchise. It counts firms, not locations, and it publishes industry only to four digits. In 2023 (2024 ABS), 14.6% of reporting firms in other schools and instruction (NAICS 6116, which includes tutoring and enrichment) said they operated as a franchise, with a standard error of 1.2 points. In child day care (NAICS 6244) the share was 7.5% (1,575 of 21,105 reporting firms), against 4.7% for all sectors, according to the ABS 2023 company file.

Two cautions. The ABS percentages cover only firms that answered, unweighted for nonresponse, and a franchisee firm with several centers counts once. Child care franchise firms’ share of reporting firms’ receipts jumped from 11.3% in 2022 to 20.5% in 2023, but that estimate carries a large standard error, so the jump is not evidence of a shift. The 2019 file publishes these industries only at three digits. Census lists the next ABS release for December 3, 2026 on its upcoming releases page.

Franchise vs independent: size per establishment, 2017

Franchised child care centers are about twice the size of other centers; franchised tutoring centers are smaller. In 2017, franchise child day care establishments averaged $1,017,192 in receipts and 21.3 paid employees, against $510,748 and 12.1 at non-franchise establishments: a receipts ratio of 1.99, computed from the 2017 Economic Census franchise file. That is why franchise units held 8.2% of child care receipts with 4.3% of establishments.

Tutoring runs the other way. Franchise tutoring establishments averaged $376,655 in receipts against $658,227 for the rest (ratio 0.57), with almost the same staff count (12.2 vs 11.8 employees). Census does not say why. The non-franchise group also holds test preparation and professional exam review firms, which the NAICS definition places in the same code, so the gap may reflect business mix rather than franchising. Sports instruction (0.84) and fine arts schools (0.99) show franchise and independent units of similar size.

Receipts are revenue, not profit, and are in nominal 2017 dollars. Non-franchise establishments include those that did not answer the franchise question. For the cross-industry picture see franchise vs independent business data.

SBA lending to education and child care franchises, FY2020 to 2026

Franchise units show up in SBA lending far more often than in the establishment count, and child care franchise loans are large. From FY2020 to June 30, 2026, SBA lenders approved 10,862 7(a) and 504 loans to businesses coded to the five core industries; 2,536 (23.3%) carried a franchise code and they took 37.2% of the dollars, according to the SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA files. Across all industries the franchise-coded share was 11.7%.

Child care dominates the money. 1,457 franchise-coded child care loans had a median of $1,004,500, against $382,500 for child care loans without a franchise code. In 7(a) alone the medians were $737,850 and $328,750; in the 504 program the franchise-coded median was $1,972,000. Tutoring loans are small: 184 franchise-coded loans with a median of $150,000, but they made up 47.8% of all SBA tutoring loans. Enrichment and instruction had 895 franchise-coded loans (25.4%), median $300,000.

Lending is concentrated in a few brands. Four codes held 71.2% of franchise-coded child care loans (1,038 of 1,457) and four held 64.1% in tutoring; enrichment is spread out, with the top four at 26.7%. Most franchise-coded loans fund new units: 53.1% of child care and 71.3% of enrichment franchise-coded loans were marked as startups, against 16.7% and 18.2% of other loans. For all franchise sectors see SBA franchise loan data.

What children's education FDDs charge and require (17 FDDs, 2025 to 2026)

The site’s 259-FDD sample includes 17 children’s education and child care FDDs filed in Minnesota and issued from 2025-03-14 to 2026-07-16 (14 in 2026): three tutoring brands, two child care and preschool brands, three swim schools and nine enrichment, sports and driver education brands. An adult ballroom dance brand in the same site sector is left out. All figures come from the published Item 7, Items 5 and 6, Item 12 and Item 15 datasets; no term was re-coded here.

Item 7. The median low estimate of initial investment was $198,017, 0.74 times the $267,300 median of the other 241 FDDs. The median hides a split: the three swim schools start at $1,619,820 (median low) and the two child care brands at $695,670, while the tutoring median low is $85,101. 29.4% of the slice has a low estimate under $100,000. See Item 7 across 259 FDDs and what franchise costs include.

Fees. The median percentage royalty was 7% of sales across 16 FDDs that charge one, against 6% in other sectors; the median brand fund was 2% and the median initial fee $49,900. 52.9% of the slice sets a minimum royalty, against 39.0% elsewhere (royalty rates across 259 FDDs).

Item 12. Every FDD in the slice grants some protected area (100.0%, against 80.1% elsewhere). 8 of 17 define or size the territory by children or school enrollment, and 5 state a number: about 50,000 children aged 3 to 14 (Snapology), 8,000 to 10,000 children aged 0 to 4 (The Little Gym), at least 7,500 children aged 13 or younger (My Gym), about 12,500 people aged 13 to 18 (Jungle Driving School) and about 30 elementary schools with 200 or more students each (Challenge Island). Only 2 of the other 241 FDDs do the same. Tutoring FDDs do not: they use population, a radius or a map. The FTC rule asks Item 12 to state any minimum territory, for example a radius or a specified population (16 CFR 436.5). More in franchise territory rights.

Item 15. 14 of 17 FDDs (82.4%) let a manager run the unit, against 78.0% in other sectors; 23.5% require the owner to work full time (semi-absentee franchise data).

State licensing shapes child care unit size

Child care centers answer to state licensing rules that fix staff-to-child ratios, so a center’s minimum staff rises with its enrollment and the ages it serves. Two primary examples:

• Minnesota Rules 9503.0040 set a minimum ratio of 1:4 for infants (maximum group 8), 1:7 for toddlers (group 14), 1:10 for preschoolers (group 20) and 1:15 for school-age children (group 30), according to the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes.
• California Code of Regulations title 22, section 101216.3 allows one teacher for no more than 12 children in a child care center (one teacher and one aide for 15), and section 101416.5 requires one teacher for every four infants in an infant care center (section 101216.3, section 101416.5).

Franchise child care establishments averaged 21.3 paid employees in 2017, against 12.1 at other establishments. Rules differ by state and change; check the current rule with the state licensing agency before any site plan.

Market context: employer and nonemployer counts

The franchise counts above cover employer establishments only. The Census Nonemployer Statistics counted 537,849 child day care businesses with no paid employees in 2024 (NAICS 6244) and 924,679 in educational services. They sit outside the franchise tabulations. Set against the 2017 employer count, franchise establishments were about 0.54% of all employer and nonemployer child care businesses, a rough figure because it mixes years.

Industry employment grew after 2017, according to BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data for private establishments. From 2017 to 2025, exam preparation and tutoring establishments rose 25.6% (to 11,393), child care establishments 11.2% (to 79,225) and sports and recreation instruction 36.4% (to 22,143) (QCEW 611691, QCEW 624410, QCEW 611620). QCEW has no franchise flag, so these counts say nothing about franchised share after 2017. FRANdata counted more than 166 active children services franchise brands and more than 10,100 units in a 2023 IFA industry spotlight; its definition differs from the NAICS codes used here.

Does the planned angle hold?

Mostly. Tutoring and test prep is among the most franchised industries the Census measures (37.1% in 2017, rank 10 of 267). Child care is mostly independent (4.3%), its franchise centers are about twice the size of the rest (receipts ratio 1.99) and they draw large SBA loans (median $1,004,500).

Two parts need qualifying. Franchise tutoring units are not larger: their receipts per establishment were 0.57 times those of other tutoring establishments. And child-count territories are an enrichment practice, not an education-wide one: 8 of 17 kids FDDs use children or school counts, none of the three tutoring FDDs do, and senior care FDDs use age-targeted counts too (people over 65).

Update log and what to watch

• 2026-10-14: first edition. SBA FOIA files as of June 30, 2026; SBA Franchise Directory of October 9, 2026; 17 FDDs issued March 2025 to July 2026.
• Next SBA FOIA file: quarterly, typically about one month after quarter end (data through September 30, 2026). The registry counts and FY2026 figures will be refreshed then.
• SOP 50 10 8.1 took effect October 1, 2026; loans approved under it will appear in the next files.
• Census: the next Annual Business Survey release is listed for December 3, 2026. The 2022 Economic Census release list contains no US franchise table.