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Intelligence / Franchisor Intelligence

Who’s winning the home care franchise race

Across 23 systems, home care franchisees opened 787 locations last year and 190 left — a net gain of 597, or +11.0% on the locations they started with. Twenty-one of the 23 grew.

From 23 systems’ 2026 FDDsStatisticsMethod

The 20 systems with a three-year record, and the stage each one is in

Every mark is a system. The bands are the stage rule, drawn.

EARLY · 2EMERGING SYSTEM · 3MATURE SYSTEM · 2SCALING SYSTEM · 130%+100%+200%+300%25501002505001000franchised locations →three-year growth →HomeWell Care Services — 201 locations, +63.4% over three years (scaling system)Amada Senior Care — 261 locations, +63.1% over three years (scaling system)Assisting Hands Home Care — 232 locations, +36.5% over three years (scaling system)Seniors Helping Seniors — 224 locations, +85.1% over three years (scaling system)FirstLight Home Care — 238 locations, +30.1% over three years (scaling system)Griswold — 198 locations, +21.5% over three years (scaling system)ComForCare — 271 locations, +24.3% over three years (scaling system)Homewatch CareGivers — 260 locations, +17.1% over three years (scaling system)Senior Helpers — 394 locations, +25.5% over three years (scaling system)BrightStar Care — 396 locations, +14.1% over three years (scaling system)Nurse Next Door — 71 locations, +42.0% over three years (emerging system)SYNERGY HomeCare — 626 locations, +37.9% over three years (scaling system)Right at Home — 566 locations, +14.1% over three years (scaling system)Visiting Angels — 541 locations, +1.7% over three years (mature system)Comfort Keepers — 619 locations, +15.7% over three years (scaling system)Home Instead — 626 locations, +2.0% over three years (mature system)A Place At Home — 50 locations, +163.2% over three years (emerging system)CareBuilders at Home — 28 locations, +75.0% over three years (early system)One You Love Homecare — 24 locations, +71.4% over three years (early system)One You Love HomecareExecutive Home Care — 79 locations, +338.9% over three years (emerging system)Executive Home Care
Source: Item 20 outlet counts, 2026 filingsHomecareHQ Intelligence · 2026 FDDs
View data & method
Franchised locations and three-year growth by system
SystemLocationsThree-year growthStage
HomeWell Care Services201+63.4%scaling system
Amada Senior Care261+63.1%scaling system
Assisting Hands Home Care232+36.5%scaling system
Seniors Helping Seniors224+85.1%scaling system
FirstLight Home Care238+30.1%scaling system
Griswold198+21.5%scaling system
ComForCare271+24.3%scaling system
Homewatch CareGivers260+17.1%scaling system
Senior Helpers394+25.5%scaling system
BrightStar Care396+14.1%scaling system
Nurse Next Door71+42.0%emerging system
SYNERGY HomeCare626+37.9%scaling system
Right at Home566+14.1%scaling system
Visiting Angels541+1.7%mature system
Comfort Keepers619+15.7%scaling system
Home Instead626+2.0%mature system
A Place At Home50+163.2%emerging system
CareBuilders at Home28+75.0%early system
One You Love Homecare24+71.4%early system
Executive Home Care79+338.9%emerging system
Hallmark HomecareNot disclosed
HomeCare Advocacy NetworkNot disclosed
Home Matters CaregivingNot disclosed

Stage is a rule over two numbers, not a judgement: under 30 franchised locations a system is early, because rates move on single openings; at 150 or more it is mature below 5% three-year growth and scaling above it. The bands on the chart are those thresholds, so the rule can be checked against the marks. Size is on a log scale — the field runs from single digits to several hundred locations, and on a straight scale most systems would pile into the left-hand edge.

Executive Home Care grew +338.9% over three years on 79 locations — further from the rest of the field than any other system here. One You Love Homecare is the next furthest out, at +71.4% on 24.

Not on this chart: Hallmark Homecare (no three-year growth rate in its filing) · HomeCare Advocacy Network (no three-year growth rate in its filing) · Home Matters Caregiving (no three-year growth rate in its filing).

Who added locations, and who lost them

SYNERGY HomeCare added the most locations last year; 2 of the 23 lost ground

Openings right, exits left, from a shared centre. Sorted by net change.

locations openedexits
SYNERGY HomeCare: 102 opened, 26 exited, net +76. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingSYNERGY HomeCare+76Amada Senior Care: 83 opened, 18 exited, net +65. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingAmada Senior Care+65Executive Home Care: 60 opened, 2 exited, net +58. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingExecutive Home Care+58Seniors Helping Seniors: 54 opened, 10 exited, net +44. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingSeniors Helping Senio…+44Comfort Keepers: 45 opened, 4 exited, net +41. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingComfort Keepers+41Senior Helpers: 49 opened, 10 exited, net +39. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingSenior Helpers+39FirstLight Home Care: 39 opened, 4 exited, net +35. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingFirstLight Home Care+35Assisting Hands: 37 opened, 7 exited, net +30. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingAssisting Hands+30Homewatch CareGivers: 42 opened, 13 exited, net +29. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingHomewatch CareGivers+29Right at Home: 29 opened, 2 exited, net +27. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingRight at Home+27BrightStar Care: 34 opened, 11 exited, net +23. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingBrightStar Care+23ComForCare: 29 opened, 6 exited, net +23. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingComForCare+23Hallmark Homecare: 32 opened, 9 exited, net +23. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingHallmark Homecare+23HomeWell Care Services: 43 opened, 22 exited, net +21. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingHomeWell Care Services+21Griswold Home Care: 22 opened, 6 exited, net +16. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingGriswold Home Care+16Home Matters Caregiving: 15 opened, 0 exited, net +15. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingHome Matters Caregivi…+15A Place At Home: 16 opened, 2 exited, net +14. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingA Place At Home+14One You Love Home Care: 11 opened, 1 exited, net +10. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingOne You Love Home Care+10Home Instead: 17 opened, 10 exited, net +7. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingHome Instead+7CareBuilders at Home: 6 opened, 0 exited, net +6. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingCareBuilders at Home+6Visiting Angels: 11 opened, 9 exited, net +2. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingVisiting Angels+2Nurse Next Door: 10 opened, 12 exited, net -2. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingNurse Next Door-2Homecare Advocacy Network: 1 opened, 6 exited, net -5. Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operatingHomecare Advocacy Net…-5← exitsopenings →
Source: Item 20 Tables 1–3, franchised locations, latest year each system filedHomecareHQ Intelligence · 2026 FDDs
View data & method
Openings, exits and net change across every system
SystemOpenedExitsNetNet growth
SYNERGY HomeCare10226+76+13.8%
Amada Senior Care8318+65+33.2%
Executive Home Care602+58+276.2%
Seniors Helping Seniors5410+44+24.4%
Comfort Keepers454+41+7.1%
Senior Helpers4910+39+11.0%
FirstLight Home Care394+35+17.2%
Assisting Hands377+30+14.9%
Homewatch CareGivers4213+29+12.6%
Right at Home292+27+5.0%
BrightStar Care3411+23+6.2%
ComForCare296+23+9.3%
Hallmark Homecare329+23+63.9%
HomeWell Care Services4322+21+11.7%
Griswold Home Care226+16+8.8%
Home Matters Caregiving150+15+93.8%
A Place At Home162+14+38.9%
One You Love Home Care111+10+71.4%
Home Instead1710+7+1.1%
CareBuilders at Home60+6+27.3%
Visiting Angels119+2+0.4%
Nurse Next Door1012-2−2.7%
Homecare Advocacy Network16-5−41.7%

Exits count terminations, non-renewals, locations the franchisor bought back, and locations that ceased operating. Systems are grouped by stage: a rule over the location count and the three-year growth rate, not a judgement. Growth rates are not published below ten franchised locations at the start of the year, so the early tab shows counts only.

What stands out in this year’s filings

Economics

One system earns more from running care than from franchising it.

Griswold takes $13.6M from agencies it operates itself against $10.3M from royalties, brand fund and franchise fees — a franchisor whose own operations are the larger half of the business.

Which franchisors live on royalties rather than new sales?
Fees

Four of the 21 systems that state a base charge their royalty on net billings rather than a gross figure.

The same percentage collects fewer dollars at those systems than at the rest of the field.

What does 5% really collect?

HomecareHQ analysis of the 2026 disclosure documents behind every system on this page.

Four ways these systems differ

Where the systems are

22 of these systems operate in FL — more than anywhere else

HomecareHQ Intelligence
systems present422

Counted from open franchised office addresses, which undercount owners running more than one territory — each state's tooltip carries the systems' own location counts beside the address count.

Source: HomecareHQ analysis of 2026 FDDs and Census ACS

What gets disputed

Most disputes in this industry are the franchisor and its owners suing each other, not anything to do with care.

60% of disclosed cases are between a system and its own franchisees — territory, renewal, what was promised at the sale, and what happens when an owner leaves.

  • Franchisees suing the franchisor11 systems

    Owners bringing claims against the system — territory, renewal, representations made during the sale.

    26
  • The franchisor suing an owner9 systems

    Systems enforcing the agreement — unpaid royalties, terminations, non-competes after an owner leaves.

    24
  • Regulators8 systems

    State or federal agencies: registration, licensing, wage and hour, healthcare rules.

    13
  • Client injury and negligence6 systems

    Claims arising from care delivered to a client.

    10
  • Trademarks and intellectual property4 systems

    Marks, trade dress and confidential material, usually against former owners or competitors.

    6
  • Employment and wages2 systems

    Claims by employees of the franchisor or of an owner's business.

    3
  • Commercial and vendor2 systems

    Ordinary business disputes with suppliers and landlords.

    2
77 proceedings disclosed by 15 of 23 systems8 state they have none25 settled, 15 still open, 11 resolved by consent order
What does an owner sign up to, and what happens when it ends?

The typical home care franchise

The middle system on each measure. This is the baseline every brand page is read against — here is normal, and a brand page tells you where a system departs from it.

Browse all 23 systemsname · stage · locations

Every system side by side → sorts and filters the whole field on any measure.

How to read this data

  • These are each system's own disclosures, not our opinion of them. Every number on this page comes out of a filing the system published itself. Where we calculate something — an effective royalty, a fee load, a growth rate — we show the inputs and the formula alongside it.
  • A blank means the filing did not say, never zero. Systems disclose different things, so most measures are filed by some of the field and not all of it. Where a figure rests on part of the field, we say how much of it.
  • Nothing here is a ranking. Most of these measures have no better direction: a lower royalty is not automatically a better system, and a bigger territory is not automatically a better deal. We show where a system sits and leave the judgement to you.
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