Beauty Salon Franchise Statistics: Salons, Barbers, Nails, Spas and Weight Loss

Beauty salon franchise statistics by industry

Summary. The table ranks the five U.S. personal care industries (NAICS 8121xx) on the latest Census franchise count (2017) and on SBA loans approved from FY2020 to June 30, 2026. Beauty salons have the most franchise units; weight loss centers have the highest franchised share; other personal care services (waxing, massage, tanning, day spas) draw the most franchise-coded SBA loans.

The 2017 Economic Census counted 28,596 franchise establishments across the five industries, 21.3% of 134,449 employer establishments (Census EC1700FRAN). That share is well above the 11.5% average for all industries in the 2017 franchise tabulation, and personal care held 5.7% of all 498,234 franchise establishments counted that year.

Two cautions apply to every column. The Census figures cover employer establishments only, and 2017 is the latest U.S. tabulation: the 2022 Economic Census asked the franchise question but its release schedule lists no U.S. franchise table (2022 release schedule). SBA counts depend on lenders entering a franchise code, which dipped while SBA did not publish its Franchise Directory (see the lending section).

Salons, barbers and nail salons: franchise counts and unit size

Summary. Beauty salons lead personal care franchising by count, but a franchise salon is a small business by franchise standards and only slightly larger than an independent employer salon. Barbers and other personal care show a wider franchise size gap; nail salons are barely franchised.

In 2017, 21,462 of 78,887 employer beauty salons (27.2%) were franchises (Census). Beauty salons ranked 6th of 268 industries by number of franchise establishments and held 4.3% of all franchise establishments. Franchisees owned 90.7% of franchise salons; franchisors owned 1,986.

Receipts per franchise salon averaged $306,860 in 2017, against $279,501 for a non-franchise employer salon, a ratio of 1.10. A franchise salon employed 6.3 paid workers against 5.2. Compared with franchising as a whole, the franchise salon is small: $306,860 is 8.8% of the $3,468,320 average per franchise establishment across all industries in the tabulation, and salons sit 9th from the bottom of 247 industries on receipts per franchise establishment.

Barber shops were 19.0% franchised (981 of 5,166), with franchise shops taking in $321,685 against $175,048 (ratio 1.84) and employing 7.3 workers against 3.3. Nail salons were 1.5% franchised (379 of 24,931). Other personal care services were 19.1% franchised, and franchise units there were the largest in personal care at $686,124 per establishment, 2.43 times non-franchise units. The same comparison across all industries is in franchise vs independent business.

Franchise share trend, 2007 to 2017, and the 2017 series break

Summary. Between 2007 and 2012, when the method was stable, franchise shares in personal care moved little except in weight loss, which fell. The 2017 figures sit on a new method and are higher in almost every industry.

Beauty salons were 8.0% franchised in 2007 (Census 2007) and 8.3% in 2012 (Census 2012). Barber shops went from 6.6% to 8.0%, other personal care from 9.6% to 12.4% and nail salons from 1.0% to 2.2%. Weight loss centers dropped from 58.3% to 53.3% and then to 49.8% in 2017, the only personal care industry whose share fell in both intervals.

Response coverage matters for the older years: in 2012, establishments answering the franchise question accounted for 73.0% of beauty salon sales and 48.2% of weight loss center sales.

Weight loss centers: the most franchised corner of personal care

Summary. On share, weight loss is the most franchised corner of personal care. It is also the corner where franchisors own most units and where employment has shrunk fastest.

In 2017, 1,484 of 2,982 diet and weight reducing centers (49.8%) were franchises, 6th of 247 U.S. industries with 1,000 or more establishments (Census). Franchise units took 50.4% of the industry’s receipts and 52.6% of its employees. Unlike the rest of personal care, most franchise units were company-run: franchisors owned 872 (58.8%) and franchisees 612.

Since then the industry has contracted. Private employment in NAICS 812191 fell from 22,085 in 2019 to 10,279 in 2025 (minus 53.5%) and establishments from 3,011 to 2,390 (BLS QCEW). SBA lending is thin: 51 franchise-coded loans from FY2020 to June 30, 2026. The NAICS code covers non-medical programs only, so medically supervised weight loss clinics are counted in health care and are not in these figures.

Firms, solo operators and why the franchise share depends on the count

Summary. How franchised hair salons look depends on what is counted: 27.2% of employer establishments, about 5.5% of employer firms, and under 3% once solo salon businesses are added.

The Annual Business Survey counts firms, not locations. In 2023 (2024 ABS), 2,981 of 54,514 responding personal care employer firms (5.5%, standard error 0.5 points) operated all or part of the business as a franchise (Census ABS), against 4.7% for all sectors. Those franchise firms held 18.5% of employees (standard error 4.9 points) and 14.7% of receipts (standard error 3.8 points), 3.4 times their share of firms on employees, consistent with multi-unit franchisees. The personal care franchise share of firms was 7.6% in 2021 and 6.6% in 2022; the 2020 figure was withheld.

Most salon businesses have no employees. The Census counted 732,946 nonemployer beauty salons in 2017 (Nonemployer Statistics 2017) and 867,242 in 2024 (Nonemployer Statistics 2024), average receipts $30,832 in 2024. Franchise salons were 2.6% of employer salons plus nonemployer salon businesses in 2017, a floor because nonemployer franchise status is not collected. Employer salons have lost workers: private beauty salon employment fell 14.2% from 2019 to 2025 while nail salons gained 36.8% and other personal care 27.0%.

SBA lending to personal care franchises, FY2010 to FY2026

Summary. SBA franchise lending in personal care is concentrated in other personal care services, skews to startups, and has grown in loan size; the franchise-coded share dipped during the Directory gap and recovered.

From FY2020 to June 30, 2026, SBA approved 12,952 7(a) and 504 loans to the five personal care industries, and 2,022 (15.6%) carried a franchise code, worth $925.9 million (SBA FOIA). Other personal care services had 1,135 franchise-coded loans (27.3% of its SBA loans, 9th of 538 NAICS codes by franchise loan count), beauty salons 574 (9.7%, 17th), barber shops 203 (20.7%), nail salons 59 and weight loss centers 51. Personal care was 4.0% of all 51,043 franchise-coded SBA loans in the period. See SBA franchise loans for the program-wide picture.

The median franchise-coded personal care loan was $350,000 against $100,000 for non-franchise personal care loans and $407,000 for franchise-coded loans in all industries. It rose from $240,000 across FY2010 to FY2019 to $450,250 in FY2026 to date. Startups took 70.6% of franchise-coded personal care 7(a) loans against 16.4% of non-franchise ones.

What personal care FDDs charge and disclose

Summary. Personal care FDDs sit near the middle of the franchise sample on cost and fees, and above it on manager-run permission and transfers.

The site’s sample of 259 Minnesota FDDs includes 18 personal services and beauty brands (hair, barber, nail, waxing, massage, facial, tanning, med spa, body sculpting and similar), issued between 2025-03-27 and 2026-08-18. Their median Item 7 estimate runs from $301,896 to $603,996, against $265,372 to $573,000 for all 259 (Item 7 data); 8th of 14 sectors on the high end. The median standard royalty is 6.0% and the median brand fund contribution 2.0%, both equal to the full sample (fee data). The median initial fee is $49,750 at the high end and the median transfer fee $10,000. Item 7 assumes leased premises in 88.9% of the 18.

Item 12 grants a protected area in 14 of 18 (77.8%, all sample 73.7%). In the latest fiscal year reported in Item 20, exits equaled 6.3% of start-of-year franchised outlets (all sample 6.2%) and transfers 5.8% (all sample 4.7%, 3rd of 14 sectors), across 4,694 outlets in 14 systems with a usable base. Item 19 financial performance representations appear in 83.3% of the personal care FDDs; this report does not use their figures. For cost context see franchise costs.

Manager-run models in Item 15

Summary. On owner role, personal care FDDs lean toward manager-run units more than most sectors. They do not use semi-absentee language, and a third still require the owner to stay involved.

FTC Rule Item 15 must state whether the franchisee has to take part personally in running the business (16 CFR 436.5(o)). In the 18 personal services and beauty FDDs, 16 (88.9%) let a manager run the unit, against 71.8% of all 259 sampled FDDs, 3rd of 14 sectors (tied with entertainment) (Item 15 data). Ten of the 16 attach conditions to the manager (training, approval, or similar) and six require the owner to stay involved while a manager runs daily operations. Only 1 requires a full-time owner (5.6%, against 23.2% of all sampled FDDs).

None of the 18 FDDs uses the words semi-absentee, absentee, executive model or passive owner anywhere in the document. A manager-run permission in Item 15 is a legal allowance, not a statement about how much time an owner will spend. The cross-sector picture is in semi-absentee franchises.

Suite and membership models in the FDDs

Summary. Two formats show up in current personal care FDDs: membership pricing inside service concepts, and salon suites that rent space to independent professionals instead of employing them.

Ten of the 18 personal services and beauty FDDs describe a customer membership program, plan or agreement (for services such as massage, facials, waxing, blowouts, tanning or spa treatments). The sample contains no salon suite brand, so a Minnesota CARDS search found three salon suite systems with a 2025 or 2026 FDD. Each describes licensing or subleasing furnished suites to independent salon professionals who serve their own clients.

The three suite FDDs estimate $676,081 to $1,217,272 (FDD issued September 19, 2025), $675,106 to $1,678,095 (FDD issued May 1, 2025) and $922,528 to $2,274,038 (FDD issued May 5, 2026) to open one location. Royalties are set on space or revenue: one charges $0.34 per square foot leased, per month; the other two charge the greater of $1,000 or 5.5% of gross revenues (one after reduced rates in the first 12 months). Item 15 differs too: one requires full-time on-premises supervision by the owner, the other two allow a designated or approved manager.

Where the data stops

Summary. The Census franchise count is nine years old, the SBA code is lender-entered, and the FDD slice is a sample.

• 2017 is the latest U.S. Economic Census franchise tabulation; 2022 was collected but not tabulated for the U.S., so no newer establishment count exists.
• 2017 is not comparable with 2007 and 2012 because the question and review method changed.
• Non-franchise establishments include those that left the franchise question blank, which pulls the franchise share down in every year.
• ABS shares are for responding employer firms; standard errors on employment and receipts shares are wide.
• Nonemployer and QCEW counts carry no franchise flag; they size the field, they do not measure franchising.
• SBA franchise coding depends on the lender and on the Directory; FY2026 is a partial year.
• The FDD slice is 18 brands chosen by the site’s stratified sample, plus three suite FDDs found by name search; it is not a census of personal care franchisors.

This report is research, not investment, legal, tax or financial advice. It makes no earnings claims; receipts are revenue, not profit, and Item 19 figures are not used.