How Much Does a HealthSource Chiropractic Franchise Owner Make?

The official 2025 measure for 68 full-year U.S. Participating Franchisees is Gross Profit, not annual owner income. Item 19 defines Gross Profit as Gross Revenues minus royalties, Ad Fund contributions, Technology Fees, non-owner employee wages, rent, utilities, and HSWorx software license fees. It expressly does not deduct franchise-owner compensation.

Item 19 reports average Gross Profit of $365,706, median Gross Profit of $314,834, and a range from $72,029 to $828,296 for fiscal 2025. Twenty-nine of the 68 clinics, or 42.6%, met or exceeded the average. The same cohort reported average Gross Revenues of $723,707, ranging from $193,930 to $1,681,383.

The Gross Profit sample is official but narrower than the full system. HealthSource reported 128 franchised outlets at the end of 2025 and no company-owned outlets. Of those, 116 were Qualifying Units with a full year of revenue and patient reporting. Only 68 supplied sufficient cost data to become Participating Franchisees for the Gross Profit study.

The FDD excluded clinics that opened during the year, expired, terminated, ceased operations, or operated only one day per week outside system standards. Those exclusions improve comparability for full-year clinics, but they also mean the results do not describe startup ramp-up, recently closed clinics, or every operating outlet.

The estimate starts with the same 68-clinic averages for Gross Revenues and FDD-defined Gross Profit, then applies transparent revenue and omitted-cost sensitivities. The result is estimated pre-tax operating cash available to an owner before personal taxes, financing interest and principal, depreciation, major capital expenditures, and owner-specific legal or tax structuring.

• Revenue and Gross Profit spreadConservative, Base, and Upside use 80%, 100%, and 120% of the 68-clinic average Gross Revenues and average Gross Profit. This spread is analytical, not FDD-reported.
• Omitted-cost reserveThe model deducts 22%, 18%, and 14% of modeled revenue, respectively. The reserve includes the required local marketing spend and other expenses absent from the FDD's Gross Profit definition.
• Manager-run sensitivityThe model then deducts $117,960, the May 2024 national median wage for Medical and Health Services Managers. This is a broad U.S. wage proxy and excludes employer benefits.
• No personal tax estimateEntity type, owner salary policy, state taxes, deductions, and individual circumstances make after-tax take-home pay too owner-specific to estimate responsibly.

For the 2025 full-year U.S. clinic model, active ownership can materially raise the estimated amount available to the owner, but the increase is compensation for labor as well as return on capital. Item 15 requires active participation by the owner or another approved person unless HealthSource approves an on-site general manager. The official franchise materials also state that both chiropractors and non-clinical investors may own a clinic, subject to applicable state professional-practice rules.

The model's owner-operator benefit includes residual operating cash plus the economic value of management work performed by the owner. If the owner also provides chiropractic services, the FDD does not disclose enough detail to isolate the clinical labor component from business profit. For that reason, the $165,000–$317,000 range should not be described as passive profit.

The $47,000–$199,000 manager-run range is a sensitivity after subtracting a national healthcare-manager wage proxy. It is before personal taxes, financing costs, depreciation, major capital expenditures, and owner distributions. It also assumes the full manager proxy is additional to the FDD wage base; actual treatment depends on whether the specific clinic's reported non-owner wages already include that role.

For a current U.S. Clinic franchise, the most material official recurring obligations are the Continuing Franchise Fee, Advertising Fee, Local Marketing Requirement, technology and data-security charges, HSWorx software costs, and required payroll or operating services. Item 19's 2025 average expense data for 68 Participating Franchisees cannot be substituted blindly for current contract terms because the population included legacy agreements and negotiated royalty arrangements.

• Continuing Franchise FeeItem 6 states 7% of Gross Revenues. Item 19 says the 68 participating clinics averaged 5.8%, reflecting the actual agreements in that historical sample.
• Advertising FeeUp to 2% of Gross Revenues under Item 6; the Item 19 population averaged 1.9%.
• Local Marketing RequirementThe greater of 5% of Gross Revenues or $3,000 per month. This material expense is not listed in Item 19's Gross Profit definition, so the scenario reserve includes it.
• Technology and required systemsItem 6 lists a $199 monthly Technology Fee and at least two $15-per-month email security charges. Item 19 reports $9,600 per year for Technology Fee and mandatory software fees across its historical sample.
• Debt service and taxesNeither is included in the scenario. Financing can reduce owner cash materially, while personal tax treatment depends on entity structure, jurisdiction, deductions, and owner circumstances.

Initial investment is not treated as an annual expense. Item 7 estimates $83,447–$400,005 for a conversion clinic and roughly $435,932–$635,078 for a new start-up clinic. Those amounts provide capitalization context but are not subtracted from one year of revenue.

For a buyer evaluating the 2026 U.S. offer, this is a verification framework, not an official forecast. The highest-value next step is to reconcile the 2025 Item 19 Gross Profit definition and 68-clinic population with actual profit-and-loss statements from clinics that match the proposed ownership model, market, age, and staffing structure.

• Request Item 19 substantiationAsk for the written support behind the 68-clinic Gross Profit study, including the cost questionnaire, line-item definitions, and treatment of payroll taxes, benefits, supplies, insurance, merchant fees, and local marketing.
• Separate owner labor from business returnFor each franchisee interview, identify whether the owner works clinically, manages the clinic, employs a general manager, or owns multiple units.
• Match the contract economicsUse the prospective buyer's actual 7% royalty, advertising obligations, required technology, and local marketing terms rather than the historical sample's average percentages.
• Review excluded and former outletsItem 20 showed 128 franchised outlets at year-end 2025, down from 132 at the start of the year, with openings, terminations, closures, and transfers. Interview both current and former franchisees where permitted.
• Build location-specific staffing and occupancyReplace the national manager proxy and system-average rent, utilities, and wages with local quotes and a state-compliant clinical ownership structure.
• Model financing separatelyCalculate interest and principal using the buyer's actual financed amount, rate, term, and collateral requirements; do not treat operating earnings as spendable cash before debt service.

The strongest defensible view is a scenario-based manager-run residual of roughly $47,000–$199,000 per full-year clinic, with a Base sensitivity near $117,000. An active owner-operator may realize approximately $165,000–$317,000 in combined pre-tax owner benefit, but that higher range includes the value of labor performed by the owner and is not pure business profit.

The most important earnings driver is the clinic's collected Gross Revenues relative to labor and occupancy. The largest unresolved uncertainty is owner-role mix: the 2026 FDD does not separate manager-run clinics from owner-operated clinics or quantify owner clinical compensation. A buyer should therefore verify the Item 19 substantiation, obtain role-matched clinic profit-and-loss statements, and test the scenario assumptions in interviews with current and former franchisees.