Childcare Franchises · Ranked Purely by Money

Which one makes the most?

Side-by-side of the top 8 childcare franchises on the only thing that matters here: money. All figures are for a mature, single, leased center, semi-absentee (a paid director is already in every P&L, so none of these require you to work the floor).

Most money you can trust

The Goddard School

~$350K-$420K/yr take-home

~$522K-$547K after-rent EBITDA on the category's best Item 19 (596 mature schools). Semi-absentee. The default money pick.

Best return on capital

Kiddie Academy

~55% unlevered ROI

~$560K gross on a $405K-$915K build, roughly HALF Goddard's ticket. Fewer absolute dollars, best money per dollar invested and easiest to scale.

The one-line answer: Goddard makes the most money you can trust; Kiddie makes the best money per dollar invested. Goddard also posts the #2 ROI (~45%), so it's the strongest all-around pick. Two brands (KLA, Tierra Encantada) show bigger paper profits but rest on stale or thin data, verify before believing.

Estimated owner take-home per year

Mature single leased center, after royalty/ad load + debt service, before tax

Midpoint of estimated range. Semi-absentee (director already paid). Solid = trustworthy disclosure; hatched = weak/stale data, discount heavily.

KLA Schools ⚠

~$425K (weak data)

Goddard School 🏆

~$385K

Tierra Encantada ⚠

~$375K (thin)

Primrose Schools

~$300K

Kiddie Academy (best ROI)

~$280K

Children's Lighthouse

~$250K

Lightbridge Academy

~$240K

The Learning Experience ⚠

~$225K (before-rent)

Trustworthy disclosure (after-rent) Weak / stale / before-rent, verify

Full side-by-side

Brand	Avg AUV	Profit (metric)	Invest (leased)	Fee	Load	Take-home/yr*	ROI**	Ages	Item 19
Goddard School 🏆	$2.42M	EBITDA $522K (~22%)	$0.95-1.36M	$135K	11%	$350-420K	~45%	6wk-6	Robust
KLA Schools ⚠	~$2.4-2.5M	EBITDA $626K (2021)	$1.12-2.35M	$78.5K	~7.5%	$300-550K	~36%	6wk-6	Stale/partial
Tierra Encantada ⚠	$2.65M	EBITDA $546K (~21%)	$1.54-3.66M	$60K	~8%	$300-450K	~21%	6wk-6	Thin (~2 fr.)
Kiddie Academy (ROI)	$2.19M	Gross profit $560K (before load)	$0.41-0.92M	$70-150K	~9%	$230-330K	~55%	6wk-12	Robust
Primrose Schools	$2.73M	EBITDAR $509K (before rent)	$0.74-1.53M	$50-80K	~10%	$250-350K	~26%	6wk-12	Robust
Children's Lighthouse	$1.94M	EBITDA ~$290-390K (est)	$0.97-1.24M	$60K	~8%	$200-300K	~31%	6wk-12	Robust
Lightbridge Academy	~$2.39M	EBITDA $353K (~15%)	$1.04-2.69M	$50K	~9%	$180-300K	~19%	6wk-SA	Yes
The Learning Experience ⚠	$2.16M	EBITDAR $707K (before rent, co-owned)	$0.78-1.48M	$60K	8%	$150-300K	~31%	6wk-6	Weak

*After ~8-11% load and debt service on a financed leased build-out; a cash buyer keeps more. **Unlevered ROI = mature profit ÷ midpoint leased investment (return on capital, not levered cash-on-cash). Profit metrics are NOT apples-to-apples, see the reality check.

The royalty drag (the quiet tax)

The ongoing load runs 7-11% of gross revenue, off the top, in good years and bad. On a ~$2.4M center that's $170K-$270K/yr gone before you see a dollar.

Goddard carries the heaviest load at 11% (7% royalty + 4% marketing), ~$265K/yr. It still wins on take-home because its AUV and discipline absorb it, but that 4% ad fund is a real ~$95K/yr drag vs peers.
KLA has the lightest (~7.5%, the only 6% royalty), worth ~$85K/yr more to the owner at equal revenue, a genuine structural edge (if its volume were proven).
An independent (non-franchise) center skips the load entirely - that 7-11% drops straight to your earnings. The franchise trade: you pay the tax for brand-driven enrollment and a faster ramp. The honest money question is whether the brand adds more than ~$200K/yr of enrollment you couldn't win yourself. At Goddard/Primrose AUVs it probably does; at a weak location it does not.

Reality check (read before believing any number)

The "$2.4M AUV" is a mature average, not a starting point. Goddard's cutoff is 18+ months open, TLE's is 48 months. These describe schools that already survived the ramp and filled classrooms. Your center will not look like this in year one.

A first center loses money for 12-24 months. Enrollment builds classroom-by-classroom on word-of-mouth. Kiddie's own data shows ramping units' bottom quartile at negative gross profit (-$53,634). Fund 18-24 months of losses plus debt before break-even; full payback is 6-11 years.
Averages hide brutal dispersion. Goddard's disclosed AUV range is $574K to $6.4M. A top-quartile site in a "weaker" brand out-earns a below-median site in the "best" brand. Your location moves your income more than the brand does.
Metric mismatch inflates three brands. TLE ($707K) and Primrose ($509K) are EBITDAR - before rent; a 10,000 sq ft childcare building carries $180K-$450K/yr of rent those numbers ignore. Kiddie's $560K is before the 9% load. Only Goddard's headline EBITDA is genuinely after-rent - which is exactly why its smaller-looking number is actually the strongest.
Survivorship bias: Item 19 reports centers still open and reporting; closures quietly drop out, inflating the average.
All take-home figures are before income tax and assume semi-absentee. An owner who also personally directs adds back ~$50-90K.

Top 3 for maximum money + next step

1The Goddard School

Best absolute money you can trust + #2 ROI. Highest-quality disclosure, after-rent EBITDA ~$522-547K, semi-absentee, moderate leased ticket. The default money pick.

Next: request the current FDD (Items 7 + 19) and ask for the median and bottom-quartile AUV for your target metro - you're buying a location, not an average.

2Kiddie Academy

Best return on capital / lowest cash at risk. ~55% unlevered ROI on a $405-915K build. The smart pick to finance efficiently and scale to multiple units.

Next: get the FDD, compare your metro's mature vs ramping quartiles, and model a 2-3 unit build-out (the low ticket is the whole advantage).

3Primrose Schools

Highest AUV ($2.73M) and top-quartile EBITDA ~$769K give the highest ceiling; the ~10% load + slow ramp + capital intensity cap the floor.

Next: pull the FDD and ask for the top-quartile-by-occupancy figures and the real rent assumption (its number is before-rent).

The single best next step overall: get on the phone with 3-4 current franchisees each at Goddard and Kiddie (validation calls - the franchisor must provide the list) and ask one question: "What did your center actually net, after rent, royalty, and debt, in years 1, 2, and 3?" Every number here is an average; those calls tell you what a real owner in a real building actually banked. The location decision will move your income more than the brand decision.

Sources: 2024-2026 FDD Item 19 disclosures via Franchise Chatter, Sharpsheets, VettedBiz, 1851 Franchise, and each brand's franchising site. Confidence: Goddard / Kiddie / Primrose / Children's Lighthouse / Lightbridge = sourced; KLA / Tierra Encantada / TLE-franchised-profit = partial/estimated. All figures are mature averages, not first-year, and pre-income-tax. Own-the-building path excluded per your direction (leased figures used throughout). Strategic research, not licensed financial or legal advice. Compiled 2026-07-28.