Fitness
Anytime Fitness Franchise
A 24-hour, key-card-access gym franchise with small-footprint clubs, the largest fitness franchise in the world by unit count. Founded in Minnesota in 2002 and owned by Purpose Brands (formerly Self Esteem Brands) alongside Orangetheory, The Bar Method and Waxing the City. The current franchisor entity was formed in 2021; US franchised club count has been slowly declining since 2023.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from Anytime Fitness's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
$42,500
Total to open
$539,329–$905,482
Ongoing royalty
8% of gross sales
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough fitness industry average, not a figure from Anytime Fitness's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$819,329 – $1,185,482
Startup investment
$539,329–$905,482
Royalty per year (8%)
$56,000
Total royalty, 5yr
$280,000
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Anytime Fitness's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical fitness profit margin (~15%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general fitness industry benchmark, not a figure from Anytime Fitness's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
5.1–8.6 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Anytime Fitness is currently losing locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is Anytime Fitness actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
ShrinkingFrom Item 20 of Anytime Fitness's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2,318 | 2,298 | -20 |
| 2024 | 2,298 | 2,290 | -8 |
| 2025 | 2,290 | 2,271 | -19 |
Most recent year (2025): lost 19 franchised units, ending the year at 2,271 total.
How Anytime Fitness compares to other Fitness franchises
Across the 6 fitness franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $452,446–$878,146, with royalties averaging around 7.5% of gross sales (based on the 6 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
Where this came from: California DFPI Registration Renewal, App ID APP00004641, filed 3/31/2026, effective 5/19/2026. FDD issued March 31, 2026. Item 5: standard initial fee $42,500 (veteran and existing-franchisee pricing available). Item 6: the royalty is a fixed monthly fee plus a percentage-based monthly royalty of up to 8% of gross revenue (Note 4); the general advertising and marketing fee is currently $900 per month per center. Item 7: start-up fitness center total $539,329-$905,482. Item 20 Table 1 franchised outlets. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-03-31. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.