Physical Therapy Franchises: 2026 FDD Guide
Important note — please read before using this guide. The financial, fee, and outlet figures in this article are drawn from the most recent Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDDs) available at the time of writing — principally FYZICAL's 2026 registration-year filing, which reports its 2025 fiscal year. FDDs are re-filed by franchisors every year, so newer numbers may be available by the time you read this. This guide is editorial research and industry commentary — it is not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice and should not be treated as a recommendation to invest in any particular franchise. We focus exclusively on brands that make a Financial Performance Representation (FDD Item 19), because we favor transparency — physical therapy brands that decline to disclose franchisee earnings are not featured here. Always pull the current FDD for any brand you are seriously considering, and work with a qualified franchise attorney and an independent financial advisor before signing any franchise agreement.
| Brand | Focus | Initial Fee | Royalty | Total Investment | FPR? | Item 19 Highlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers | Physical therapy & balance/vestibular care | $49,000 | 6% | $125,392–$481,536 | Yes | Franchisee-owned centers averaged $522,212 in gross revenue (median $398,320) across 286 centers, FY2025 |
Investment range is for a standard new center; conversions of an existing clinic can run lower and larger build-outs higher. Royalty is the greater of 6% of gross revenue or $1,000 per month. FYZICAL is featured on its own because it is the only nationally franchised physical therapy brand in our transparency-first scope that currently discloses franchisee earnings; the one other franchised pure-play physical therapy concept in our library, Onward Physical Therapy, does not publish an Item 19 and so is not featured with performance figures.
Physical therapy sits on top of genuinely durable demand: an aging population that wants to stay mobile, a steady stream of post-surgical and orthopedic rehabilitation, sports and workplace injuries, and a long-run shift toward direct access, where patients can see a therapist without a physician referral in most states. That demand is why the clinics themselves are everywhere. Franchising, though, is a different question — most physical therapy practices are owned by independent clinicians or absorbed into hospital systems, and only a handful of brands franchise the model nationally.
That thin field gets thinner once you apply a transparency test. FranchiseClues covers only brands that make a Financial Performance Representation — the section of the FDD (Item 19) where a franchisor is permitted to state what its franchisees actually earn. Providing one is voluntary, and in physical therapy most brands decline. Among the franchised concepts in our library, FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers is the one that currently discloses franchisee earnings, which is why this guide is built around it. We reviewed FYZICAL's most recent FDD in full, checking every fee, investment, and revenue figure in this guide against the source document. We would rather show you one brand's disclosure in full than pad the page with concepts whose economics you cannot see. If you are shopping the wider recovery category, our chiropractic franchise guide and assisted stretching franchise guide apply the same transparency-first standard to those categories.
FYZICAL is one of the larger physical therapy franchise systems in the country, built around general physical therapy plus a balance-and-vestibular specialty that targets fall prevention in older adults. Its 2026 FDD carries an unusually layered Item 19 — nine revenue tables that slice the system by ownership (company-affiliated versus franchisee-owned) and by maturity. For a prospective franchisee, the figures that matter are the franchisee-owned centers, and within those, the split between established and newer locations.
Across the 286 franchisee-owned centers that operated for all of 2025 and reported full-year revenue, gross revenue averaged $522,212, with a median of $398,320. The gap between the two — the average sitting well above the median — tells you the system has a group of high performers pulling the average up, so the median is the more honest guide to a typical center. The single most useful cut is by tenure:
| Franchisee-owned cohort (FY2025) | Centers | Average gross revenue | Median gross revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mature (open 3+ years) | 159 | $626,845 | $510,872 |
| Newer (open under 3 years) | 127 | $391,215 | $329,696 |
| All qualifying franchisee-owned | 286 | $522,212 | $398,320 |
The ramp is the story. A mature FYZICAL franchise typically does about $511,000 in gross revenue at the median; a center still in its first three years typically does about $330,000. If you are underwriting a new location, the newer-center row — not the blended headline — is the number to build your first-year and second-year projections around. FYZICAL also discloses an average revenue per patient visit of roughly $89 for this group, which is a helpful sanity check when you model visit volume against local demand.
Two honest caveats belong next to these figures. First, the sample is the centers that reported a full year of revenue: 286 of the 489 franchisee-owned centers open at year-end. The franchisor excluded centers that opened partway through 2025 and a group that operated but did not report complete revenue — so the disclosed figures skew toward established, reporting locations. Second, FYZICAL's company-affiliated centers post higher averages (its 48 qualifying company-owned centers averaged $984,482), but those are corporate locations in established markets and are not a franchisee result; do not read them as what you would earn. Gross revenue is also not profit — FYZICAL does not disclose franchisee profit, so your margin will depend on rent, staffing, and payer mix in your market.
FYZICAL's 2026 FDD estimates a standard new center at $125,392 to $481,536 all in, on top of a $49,000 initial franchise fee for a single center. The wide range reflects how much clinic build-out, equipment, and market rent vary; a conversion of an existing therapy practice can land below the low end, while a larger, fully built-out balance-and-vestibular center can push toward the top. As with any Item 7, treat the low end as optimistic and budget working capital to carry the center to break-even.
| Fee | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $49,000 | For a single center. |
| Total investment | $125,392–$481,536 | Standard new center; conversions can run lower, larger formats higher. |
| Royalty | 6% of gross revenue | Or $1,000 per month, whichever is greater. |
| Brand marketing fund | Up to 2% | Of gross revenue. |
| Technology fee | Not currently charged | The FDD reserves the right to introduce one later. |
| Transfer / renewal fee | 10% | Each equals 10% of the then-current initial franchise fee. |
All in, the ongoing burden is a 6% royalty plus up to 2% for the brand fund — call it roughly 8% of gross revenue before you add local marketing and the usual clinic overhead. That is squarely in the normal range for a healthcare services franchise, and the technology fee sitting at zero for now is a modest plus.
This is where a prospective buyer should slow down. FYZICAL grew its franchised base through 2023 and 2024, then gave some of it back in 2025.
| Year-end | Franchised centers | Company-affiliated | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 494 | 60 | 554 |
| 2024 | 523 | 56 | 579 |
| 2025 | 489 | 50 | 539 |
Franchised centers rose from 494 at the end of 2023 to 523 at the end of 2024, then declined to 489 by the end of 2025 — a net loss of more than thirty franchised centers in a single year, with the total system down from 579 to 539. A one-year dip in a system this size is not automatically a red flag; mature systems routinely close or transfer underperforming locations, and a wave of openings from prior years can wash out. But it is the single most important thing to raise with the franchisor: ask how many centers closed versus transferred in 2025, why, and what the opening pipeline looks like now. The Item 19 revenue picture is healthy; the Item 20 trend is the question mark.
FYZICAL is best suited to an owner who wants a healthcare services business with a real clinical moat — the balance-and-vestibular specialty differentiates it from a generic PT clinic and leans into fall-prevention demand among older patients — and who can either bring a licensed physical therapist as the clinical operator or hire one. It is a full-time, owner-involved business, not a semi-absentee model, and success turns on the things the FDD cannot promise: a good therapist team, disciplined billing against a complex payer mix, and a location with the right demographics. The disclosed revenue is encouraging for established centers; the entry cost is moderate for healthcare; and the transparency of a full Item 19 is, in this category, the exception rather than the rule.
For FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers, the only nationally franchised physical therapy brand in our transparency-first scope that discloses earnings, a standard new center is estimated at $125,392 to $481,536, on a $49,000 initial franchise fee. Costs vary widely with build-out, equipment, and local rent.
FYZICAL's 2026 FDD reports that its 286 qualifying franchisee-owned centers averaged $522,212 in gross revenue in 2025, with a median of $398,320. Established centers (open three or more years) posted a median of $510,872, while newer centers posted a median of $329,696. These are gross revenue figures, not profit.
Because we cover only brands that publish an Item 19 Financial Performance Representation, and in physical therapy that is currently just FYZICAL. Providing an FPR is voluntary, and most physical therapy franchisors decline — which means they are legally barred from telling you what their franchisees earn. We would rather show one brand's disclosure in full than list brands whose economics are hidden.
Not necessarily as the owner, but the clinic needs a licensed physical therapist as its clinical lead, and state licensing rules govern who can deliver and bill for care. Confirm the owner-involvement and licensing expectations in Items 1 and 15 of the FDD before assuming a manager-run structure.
It grew in 2023 and 2024, then contracted in 2025: franchised centers ended the year at 489, down from 523 a year earlier, and the total system fell from 579 to 539. Ask the franchisor how much of that was closures versus transfers, and what the current opening pipeline looks like.
FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document). The document a franchisor must give you at least 14 days before you sign anything. It has 23 numbered Items; every figure in this guide comes from one of them.
Item 19 — Financial Performance Representation (FPR). The only place a franchisor may state what its franchisees earn. Providing one is voluntary — a brand with no Item 19 is legally barred from telling you what its franchisees make, which is why we cover only brands that publish one.
Gross revenue. Everything the clinic takes in before costs. It is not profit — FYZICAL, like most franchisors, does not disclose franchisee profit.
Median and average. The median is the middle center; the average is the arithmetic mean. When the average sits above the median — FYZICAL reports an average of $522,212 against a median of $398,320 — a group of high performers is pulling the average up, and the median is the better guide to a typical center.
Mature versus newer centers. FYZICAL splits its franchisee results into centers open three or more years and those open less than three years. The maturity split matters because a brand-new center typically earns well below the mature-center figure.
Item 5, 6 and 7. The initial franchise fee (Item 5), the ongoing fees such as royalty and marketing (Item 6), and the estimated total to open (Item 7).
Item 20 — Outlets. The three-year count of centers opened, closed, and transferred — the fastest way to see whether a system is growing or shrinking.
Physical therapy is a big, durable healthcare field but a narrow franchise category, and only FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers currently opens its books with a full Item 19. What it discloses is encouraging for established owners — a mature franchisee-owned center runs about $511,000 in gross revenue at the median — with a clear ramp from newer centers and a moderate cost of entry for healthcare. The open question is the 2025 dip in franchised centers, which any serious buyer should press on before signing. Pull FYZICAL's current FDD, read Item 19 and Item 20 in full, and talk with current and former franchisees before you commit. For the neighbouring categories, see our chiropractic franchise guide and assisted stretching franchise guide.
Javier is an experienced franchise industry professional with a focus on development, operations, and performance. With almost a decade of experience in the industry, he has witnessed both the successes and failures of franchise owners. Javier strongly believes that buying a franchise is not just an investment, but a life-changing event that presents a unique opportunity for personal and professional growth. He enjoys helping aspiring franchise owners navigate the decision-making process and increase their chances of success.
.svg)
.svg)
