Franchises · 2026 FDD · Wisconsin DFI filing 640986
McDonald's franchise cost, unit revenue and closures
Opening a McDonald's cost $1,472,000 to $2,807,000 in the 2026 FDD; the median unit sold $3,887,000 in the franchisor's calendar 2025 figures; 1.5% of franchised units closed over three years.
Franchisor: McDonald's USA, LLC. FDD issued 2026-05-01, amended 2026-07-01. Fiscal year end 2025-12-31. Figures re-found on the cited page 2026-11-03.
What a unit costs to open
traditional restaurant column; the table also gives $1,015,500 to $1,864,500 (format 2) and $701,000 to $1,411,500 (format 3). Excludes land and building, which McDonald's owns or leases and charges as rent.
Largest line: Signs, Seating, Equipment, and Decor, $1,100,000 to $1,850,000 (Item 7, p. 16).
What a unit pays the franchisor
| Initial franchise fee | $45,000 | Item 5, p. 9 |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 5% or 4% of Gross Sales depending on the circumstances, monthly | Item 6, p. 10 |
| Advertising fund | not less than 4% of Gross Sales | Item 6, p. 10 |
lump sum on opening; prorated for terms of 10 years or less; $22,500 and $0 to $500 for the two smaller formats (Item 7 columns 2 and 3).
rent to McDonald's is separate and sales-based (base rent plus percentage rent); effective rent in 2025 ranged 0.00% to 33.37% (Item 19 Note 3, p.36).
What a unit sells
Item 19 is optional and is the franchisor's own representation. It is shown here as filed, with the franchisor's measure, sample and period, and nothing is estimated where it is missing.
| Measure | annual sales volume | |
|---|---|---|
| Sample | 12,212 units: domestic traditional franchised restaurants open at least 1 year as of 2025-12-31 (approximate count as stated) | |
| Period | calendar 2025 | |
| High / low | $20,421,000 / $1,063,000 | |
Revenue to investment
Formula: Item 19 franchised traditional median / Item 7 traditional total (midpoint, low, high); investment excludes real estate. A ratio of 1.00 means one year of median unit revenue equals the investment; it says nothing about profit.
How many units open and close
| Franchised units | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of year | 12,764 | 12,772 | 12,887 |
| Opened | 128 | 167 | 221 |
| Terminated | 73 | 29 | 0 |
| Not renewed | 33 | 15 | 46 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 13 | 8 | 0 |
| Ceased, other reasons | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| End of year | 12,772 | 12,887 | 13,062 |
| Company-owned, end of year | 685 | 672 | 644 |
Item 20, Table 1 p. 37; Table 3 totals p. 43.
Closures are the franchisor's Item 20 counts of units terminated, not renewed, or ceased for other reasons, summed over 2023–2025 and divided by franchised units at the start of 2023. Units the franchisor reacquired are not closures. This is an Item 20 count, not a failure rate.
all three rows sum; columns carry footnotes (1)-(4) defining each category.
Source and method
Every figure above comes from the McDonald's Franchise Disclosure Document issued 2026-05-01 and amended 2026-07-01, as filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (filing 640986, registry record). The PDF is the franchisor's and is not hosted here; the item and page beside each figure is where to check it. Item 7 and Item 20 tables were read cell by cell; Item 19 was read by hand; each Item 20 year was checked to sum (start + opened − exits = end) before it was recorded.
Informational only, not professional, legal or investment advice. Unitnomics computes from the filing and does not advise on, rank, or refer to any franchise. Last reviewed: November 2026.