What percentage of revenue should rent be?

Many wellness and fitness concepts aim to keep total occupancy cost (rent plus CAM) under roughly 10%–15% of revenue. The right ceiling depends on your margins and how much labor the concept requires.

What is CAM and why include it?

CAM is common area maintenance — your share of maintaining shared spaces in a retail center. It can add meaningfully to base rent, so include it when judging affordability.

Should I use projected or current revenue?

Use conservative stabilized revenue, and separately confirm you can cover rent during the ramp. A lease that only pencils at peak volume is a risk, not a deal.

Free calculator

Rent Affordability Calculator

Compare total occupancy cost to projected revenue and see the maximum rent that fits your target ratio before you sign a lease.

Your inputs

Projected Monthly Revenue

Base Rent

CAM and Pass-Throughs

Common area maintenance and other costs billed on top of base rent

Target Occupancy Ratio

Rent and CAM as a share of revenue — not physical space occupancy or vacancy

Your results

At target occupancy ratio

Total Occupancy Cost

$8,100/mo

Actual Occupancy Ratio

9.5%

Max Affordable Rent

$7,600/mo

Variance vs Target

-0.5%

Email these results

A copy of your inputs and numbers, so you can compare scenarios later.

How this is calculated

Rent load is one of the fastest sanity checks in franchise site selection. Compare the lease against your revenue pro forma, not the broker's flyer.

Total occupancy = base rent + CAM (common area maintenance) + any pass-through charges included in your lease.
Occupancy ratio = total occupancy ÷ projected monthly revenue × 100. Many wellness concepts target 8 to 12% (estimate); clinical or premium sites may run higher if ticket averages support it.
Max affordable total occupancy = projected revenue × target occupancy %.
Max affordable rent = max affordable total occupancy minus CAM. Use this as a ceiling when negotiating or comparing sites.

Worked example

At $85K projected revenue, $7,200 rent + $900 CAM = 9.5% occupancy vs a 10% target: essentially at your target, within half a point (estimate).

All outputs are planning estimates, not guarantees. Consult the brand FDD and your advisors for decisions.

Rent is a fixed cost you sign up for years in advance, which makes it one of the most consequential decisions in opening a location. Measured as occupancy cost — rent plus CAM as a percentage of revenue — it tells you whether a space is affordable at your realistic sales, not your best-case.

This calculator checks a lease against your projected revenue and a target occupancy ratio so you can walk away from a space that only works if everything goes right.

The formula

Occupancy cost % = (annual base rent + CAM) ÷ projected annual revenue × 100. Compare against your target ratio.

Related guide: Franchise site selection

Frequently asked questions

What percentage of revenue should rent be?: Many wellness and fitness concepts aim to keep total occupancy cost (rent plus CAM) under roughly 10%–15% of revenue. The right ceiling depends on your margins and how much labor the concept requires.
What is CAM and why include it?: CAM is common area maintenance — your share of maintaining shared spaces in a retail center. It can add meaningfully to base rent, so include it when judging affordability.
Should I use projected or current revenue?: Use conservative stabilized revenue, and separately confirm you can cover rent during the ramp. A lease that only pencils at peak volume is a risk, not a deal.