To view our entire 2025 Franchise 500 list, including category rankings, click HERE
What do the best franchises in America look like?
Here are a few answers, based on our latest Franchise 500.
Age: The best franchises can be as old as A&W, which started franchising in 1925 and is the oldest in our ranking. Or they can be as young as Spark by Hilton and Lawn Pride, both of which saw their first franchise in 2023 and are the list’s newest entrants. Our ranked brands are truly all ages, with eight that began franchising before 1955, and 92 that started since 2015.
Cost: The best franchises can be started for as little as $1,945 — which is the most affordable franchise investment in our ranking, from Cruise Planners. (In fact, eight of the ranked franchises can be started for less than $10,000. That includes five commercial cleaning brands, two travel agencies, and one fitness brand.) Or they can cost as much as $190.9 million to start, which is the highest investment in our ranking, for Hilton Hotels and Resorts. (On the high end, 62 of our top franchises have a minimum startup cost of $1 million or more — the majority of which are hotels and restaurants.)
Units: The best franchises can have fewer than 100 total units open (like 85 companies in this year’s ranking) or more than 10,000 units open (like 11 of the selected brands). In franchising, biggest does not automatically mean best — as evidenced by our No. 1 company, Taco Bell, which is not one of those brands with 10,000 or more units! (It had 8,565 as of mid-2024.)
Actually, let’s spend another moment on size: If you looked purely at the average of all of the companies in our ranking, the average franchise would have 1,269 open units, and would be opening 33 new units a year. But that number is skewed by massive brands like 7-Eleven and McDonald’s. When you look at the median number of units for franchises in the ranking, you see something much more realistic: just 269.
All of which is to say: The best franchises don’t look like any one thing. They are young and old, affordable and expensive, large and small. The only consistency is their relevancy: They all deliver value to their customers and franchisees — building systems that are strong enough to replicate in dozens or thousands of units, but nimble enough to adapt to changing times. That’s why we publish our Franchise 500 ranking every year.
Here’s how it works: We collected data as of July 31, 2024, and spent half a year analyzing it for trends and movement. All of the numbers are specific to that date — so when we say a brand grew “in the past year,” we’re talking about between July 2023 and July 2024.
Each year brings familiar names and new surprises. This year, for example, we saw a continued rise in quick-service food brands: There were 104 of them in last year’s ranking and 111 in this one, including 32 in the top 100. That won’t come as a shock, but the nuance is important: There’s unique growth among better-for-you products like acai bowls and Mediterranean food, as well as beverages (coffee, smoothies/juices, teas) and desserts.
We also saw growth in the Health & Wellness category, with 34 franchises ranked this year (versus 31 last year). This includes brands that provide autism treatment services — a relatively new franchise offering, which joins other new entrants in the mental health space.
At Entrepreneur, we take great pride in producing this list. We offer it as a resource for anyone in franchising, especially those who are considering buying a franchise for the first time (like maybe you?). So what do the best franchises in America look like? In truth, the answer is simple: It’s whatever brands are best for you.
