Fitness Franchise Statistics: Census, SBA Loan and FDD Data (2026)

How many gyms are franchises: Census fitness franchise statistics

Franchising is a minority model in U.S. gyms, but a large one. In the 2017 Economic Census franchise tabulation, 9,757 of 36,655 establishments in NAICS 713940, fitness and recreational sports centers, were franchise establishments: 26.6%. Of those, 8,772 were franchisee-owned and 985 were owned by the franchisor (10.1% of franchise establishments).

Franchise establishments are smaller than non-franchise establishments on every Census size measure. In 2017 a franchise fitness establishment averaged $617,000 in receipts, 13.1 employees and $167,000 in annual payroll; a non-franchise establishment averaged $1,005,000, 23.0 employees and $332,000. The non-franchise group includes non-franchised chains, large multi-sport clubs, tennis clubs, pools and skating rinks, which the NAICS 713940 definition places in the same industry as gyms.

The franchise share of sales has grown faster than the share of locations. Franchise establishments held 28.5% of NAICS 713940 establishments in 2007, 24.6% in 2012 and 26.6% in 2017, while their share of receipts rose from 9.1% to 10.7% to 18.2%. Average receipts per franchise establishment rose from $215,000 in 2007 to $617,000 in 2017 (nominal dollars).

Inside franchising, fitness is small. The 9,757 fitness franchise establishments were 2.0% of the 498,234 franchise establishments Census counted across 286 industries in 2017, and 0.35% of franchise receipts. By establishment count, fitness still ranked 10th of those 286 industries.

Franchise share of recreation firms, 2019 to 2023

The Annual Business Survey asks employer firms whether they operate all or part of the business as a franchise. It counts firms, not locations, and it publishes recreation only down to NAICS 7139 (other amusement and recreation industries), a group that also holds golf courses, marinas, bowling centers and skiing. Fitness dominates its franchised part: in 2017, NAICS 713940 held 88.7% of the franchise establishments Census counted in NAICS 7139.

The franchise share of NAICS 7139 firms was 19.7% in reference year 2020 (2021 ABS), 16.6% in 2021, 15.8% in 2022 and 14.9% in 2023 (2024 ABS), a drop of 4.8 points. The standard errors are 1.7 and 1.0 points, so the decline is about 2.4 standard errors: likely real, but measured with wide error bars. The count of franchise firms fell from 4,607 to 3,666. Fewer franchise firms can also mean consolidation into multi-unit owners, which a firm count cannot separate from closures.

For context, 4.7% of responding employer firms in all sectors operated as franchises in 2023. Recreation franchise firms are a larger share of their industry than the economy-wide average, and in 2023 they employed 18.5% of NAICS 7139 workers at responding firms.

SBA lending to fitness franchises, FY2010 to June 2026

SBA loan files show gym lending fell hard in the pandemic and has since passed its earlier peak, while the franchise-coded part has only partly recovered. The SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA files (as of 2026-06-30) list 1,243 7(a) approvals to NAICS 713940 businesses in FY2019, 786 in FY2021 (down 36.8%), and 1,607 in FY2025, the most in any fiscal year from FY2010 on (29.3% above FY2019).

Franchise-coded fitness loans peaked at 751 in FY2019, fell to 462 in FY2021 (down 38.5%) and stood at 545 in FY2025. Fitness took 10.9% of all franchise-coded 7(a) loans in FY2019, 5.7% in FY2021 and 8.3% in FY2026 through June 30. By dollars the share moved from 5.9% to 2.7% to 5.3%.

Loan sizes rose. The median franchise-coded fitness 7(a) loan was $275,000 in FY2019 and $448,000 in FY2026 to date (62.9% higher, nominal), above the $394,000 median for all franchise-coded loans. From FY2020 to June 30, 2026, SBA approved 3,560 franchise-coded 7(a) loans to fitness centers worth $1.54 billion, under 245 franchise codes; 75.3% funded startups, against 54.0% of all franchise-coded loans. The 504 program adds little: 65 franchise-coded fitness loans ($77.7 million SBA/CDC portion) in the same period. Cross-sector detail is in the SBA franchise loans study.

How gyms came through the pandemic

Gyms lost almost a third of their private jobs in 2020 and did not regain them until 2025. BLS QCEW annual averages put private NAICS 713940 employment at 664,318 in 2019 and 457,886 in 2020 (down 31.1%). It first passed the 2019 level in 2025, at 679,921 (2.3% above 2019). Establishment counts kept rising through the period, from 39,272 to 46,015. QCEW has no franchise flag, so these numbers cover all gyms.

Franchise gyms show up clearly in the PPP loan data. Of 61,272 PPP loans to NAICS 713940 businesses, 6,893 (11.2%) named a franchise, against 1.31% of all PPP loans. The flag rate was 6.7% in the first draw and 20.0% in the second. Flagged fitness loans had a median of $34,145 against $18,285 for other fitness borrowers, and 98.0% of flagged dollars were forgiven. Fitness accounted for 4.6% of all franchise-flagged PPP loans. Most franchisees left the field blank, so treat these as floors; the cross-industry analysis is in the franchise pandemic relief study.

What 18 fitness FDDs charge and require

Fitness FDDs put more of the start-up budget into leased space than other sectors, and all of them promise a protected area. The site’s sample holds 259 FDDs filed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce and issued in 2025 or 2026; 18 are fitness brands, issued 2025-04-17 to 2026-05-13.

Item 7. The median fitness FDD estimates $319,510 to $746,562, against $265,372 to $573,000 across all 259 FDDs. Individual fitness totals run from $145,350 to $5,162,000 for a full-size health club. Real estate and build-out lines make up 53.0% of the median fitness high-end total, against 36.2% for all sectors. All 18 fitness FDDs assume a leased site. See the franchise initial investment study for line-by-line definitions.

Items 5 and 6. The median initial fee is $53,800 ($49,500 for all). All 18 fitness royalties are a percentage of sales, median 7.0% (6.0% for all), and 11 of 18 add a minimum dollar royalty. The median brand fund is 2.0% of sales.

Item 12. All 18 fitness FDDs promise that no other same-brand studio will open inside a defined area, against 73.7% of all sample FDDs. 15 of the 18 still print the rule’s sentence “You will not receive an exclusive territory”, and all 18 reserve internet sales. Territories are small: where a population is stated, the median minimum is 30,000 people against 100,000 for all sectors. The franchise territory rights fact sheet explains the categories.

Items 11, 15 and 19. The median fitness FDD expects 10.5 months from signing to opening (7.5 for all). 10 of 18 let a manager run the studio without the owner taking part, and 1 requires the owner full time. 14 of 18 include an Item 19 financial performance representation; this page reports presence only.

Fitness franchise outlet turnover in Item 20

Pooled across systems, fitness opens and loses outlets faster than the sample average. In each FDD’s latest fiscal year the 18 fitness systems started with 2,511 franchised outlets, opened 397 and recorded 189 exits (terminations, non-renewals, reacquisitions and closures): a pooled exit rate of 7.5% against 6.2% for all 259 systems, and an opening rate of 15.8% against 8.6%. The median fitness system’s exit rate was lower, 4.0%, and 7 systems had no exits.

Exits concentrate: the two systems with the most exits account for 55.0% of fitness exits. Systems under 100 outlets (11) had a pooled exit rate of 11.4%, systems with 100 or more (7) 7.3%. These are associations in 18 systems, not causes; years in franchising and exit rates show a weak, non-significant correlation (rho 0.36). Over the three years each FDD shows, the pooled exit rate was 6.0% a year against 5.8%. Sector comparisons across all 14 sectors are in the franchise closure rates index.

What the data supports, and what it does not

The planned angle holds in two parts and fails in one.

• Small share of franchise establishments: supported. Fitness was 2.0% of U.S. franchise establishments in 2017.
• Fast-growing share of SBA franchise lending after 2021: not supported as stated. The fitness share of franchise-coded 7(a) loans recovered from 5.7% (FY2021) to 8.3% (FY2026 to June 30) but stays below 10.9% in FY2019. What did grow is all gym lending (1,607 loans in FY2025, a series high) and loan size ($448,000 median). The franchise flag gap from 2023 to 2025 limits any finer reading.
• High build-out costs with near-universal territory protection: supported in the sample. Site costs are 53.0% of the median high-end Item 7 total (Mann-Whitney p = 0.003 against other sectors) and all 18 FDDs promise a protected area (Fisher p = 0.005), although 15 of them also print the no-exclusive-territory sentence.

Fitness franchise buyer checklist

1. Read Item 7 line by line: in the median fitness FDD, real estate and build-out are 53.0% of the high-end total; check whether the estimate assumes a landlord tenant improvement allowance.
2. Check whether the royalty has a minimum dollar amount (11 of 18 fitness FDDs do) and what it costs before members arrive.
3. Read Item 12 for the protected area’s definition, the reserved channels, and whether the FDD prints the no-exclusive sentence.
4. Plan for the Item 11 timeline: the median fitness FDD expects 10.5 months to open, with rent and loan payments possible before revenue.
5. Compare Item 20 openings with exits and transfers for three years, and call former owners listed in the FDD.
6. If an Item 19 exists, read its basis, the subset of outlets it covers and the time period, and check it with your own accountant.
7. Ask a lender how the SBA franchise code and NAICS code will be recorded for your loan.

Cost context for first-time buyers is in the franchise costs and funding guide and the buying a franchise guide.