Senior Care
BrightStar Care Franchise
A home care franchise distinguished from most peers in this dataset by offering both non-medical personal care and skilled medical/nursing care, plus supplemental healthcare staffing to institutional clients like hospitals and nursing homes -- a broader clinical scope than a typical companionship-focused home care brand. Organized in Illinois in 2005. Franchised unit count held flat in the FDD's first reporting year before two straight years of real growth.
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 BrightStar Care'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
$50,000
Total to open
$101,464–$217,486
Ongoing royalty
5.25% 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 senior care industry average, not a figure from BrightStar Care's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$285,214 – $401,236
Startup investment
$101,464–$217,486
Royalty per year (5.25%)
$36,750
Total royalty, 5yr
$183,750
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. BrightStar Care's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical senior care profit margin (~12%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general senior care industry benchmark, not a figure from BrightStar Care'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
1.2–2.6 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: BrightStar Care is opening more locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is BrightStar Care 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
GrowingFrom Item 20 of BrightStar Care's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 347 | 347 | +0 |
| 2024 | 347 | 373 | +26 |
| 2025 | 373 | 396 | +23 |
Most recent year (2025): gained 23 franchised units, ending the year at 396 total.
How BrightStar Care compares to other Senior Care franchises
Across the 7 senior care franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $112,135–$249,899, with royalties averaging around 4.8% of gross sales (based on the 7 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
BrightStar Care Franchise FAQ
How much does it cost to franchise a BrightStar Care?
Based on BrightStar Care's own FDD, total initial investment to open one location runs $101,464–$217,486, including the $50,000 franchise fee. BrightStar Care only files a Net Worth/Experience Exemption notice with California DFPI (DFPI Regulated Entity ID 387903, all filings are exemption notices, no full registration/marked-FDD on file), so this entry is sourced from Minnesota's CARDS registry instead, matching this dataset's established practice for exemption-only franchisors: Clean FDD, Issuance Date April 1, 2026, as amended August 24, 2026 (MN File No. 5177, document 37183-202608-03, filed 8/25/2026). Item 5: $50,000 initial franchise fee for a standard territory (200,000-300,000 population, plus $100 per additional 1,000 over 300,000) or $25,000 for a Medium Density Market/Small territory. Item 6: royalty is 5.25% of monthly Net Billings from non-National-Account clients, 6.25% from National Account clients, subject to a Minimum Monthly Royalty Fee floor. Item 7 TOTAL: $101,464-$217,486 for a standard/Small territory ($95,164-$178,386 for a Medium Density Market territory). Item 20 Table No. 1, fiscal years 2023-2025 -- fetched directly from cards.commerce.state.mn.us and read from the PDF; company-owned outlets grew from 20 to 35 before dipping to 31 in 2025.
What is the BrightStar Care franchise fee and royalty rate?
The initial franchise fee is $50,000, and the ongoing royalty is 5.25% of gross sales, per the filing on record.
Is the BrightStar Care franchise growing or shrinking?
Growing. Across 2023–2025, BrightStar Care added a net 49 franchised locations, per its own annual FDD filings.
Keep going
- BrightStar Care and Right at Home are both senior care franchises; Right at Home's total investment starts about $7,134 lower than BrightStar Care's. Right at Home Franchise
- BrightStar Care and Home Instead are both senior care franchises; Home Instead's total investment starts about $8,824 lower than BrightStar Care's. Home Instead Franchise
Where this came from: BrightStar Care only files a Net Worth/Experience Exemption notice with California DFPI (DFPI Regulated Entity ID 387903, all filings are exemption notices, no full registration/marked-FDD on file), so this entry is sourced from Minnesota's CARDS registry instead, matching this dataset's established practice for exemption-only franchisors: Clean FDD, Issuance Date April 1, 2026, as amended August 24, 2026 (MN File No. 5177, document 37183-202608-03, filed 8/25/2026). Item 5: $50,000 initial franchise fee for a standard territory (200,000-300,000 population, plus $100 per additional 1,000 over 300,000) or $25,000 for a Medium Density Market/Small territory. Item 6: royalty is 5.25% of monthly Net Billings from non-National-Account clients, 6.25% from National Account clients, subject to a Minimum Monthly Royalty Fee floor. Item 7 TOTAL: $101,464-$217,486 for a standard/Small territory ($95,164-$178,386 for a Medium Density Market territory). Item 20 Table No. 1, fiscal years 2023-2025 -- fetched directly from cards.commerce.state.mn.us and read from the PDF; company-owned outlets grew from 20 to 35 before dipping to 31 in 2025. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-04-01. 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.