How Much Does It Cost to Buy a Yoga Studio and What an Existing Studio Sells For

An existing US dance, yoga or Pilates studio cost a median $135,000 to buy across 2021 to 2025, based on closed BizBuySell sales, on median revenue of $281,709 and median owner earnings of $77,500. Financed with an SBA 7(a) loan at 10 percent down, the cash you bring to that purchase is about $15,566 for the equity injection and the SBA guaranty fee, plus the lease deposit, insurance and a few weeks of instructor pay. At the median price the loan leaves room for an owner draw of about $52,908 a year, 1.12 times the $47,160 BLS median wage for fitness trainers and instructors.

Most pages that answer this question price opening a studio: a lease deposit, flooring, mirrors, props, reformers and months of building a class schedule. Buying one is a different purchase. You pay for members already on the books, teachers already on the schedule and a fitted room with its lease. The price is set by earnings. Whether it is a good buy is set by whether the instructors stay and whether the income behind those earnings is on the tax returns. BizBuySell reports yoga and Pilates inside one studio category, so every figure here is for the group, not for yoga alone. The full sold-price distribution is on our yoga studio valuation page. This article is the buyer's version, with the cash and the salary worked out.

How much does it cost to buy a yoga studio?

The median studio sold for $135,000, which is 1.74 times its $77,500 of seller discretionary earnings and 0.48 times its revenue. The published median multiple is 1.96x earnings, and half of all sales landed between 1.33x and 2.51x. Sellers asked a median $150,000, 11.1 percent above the sale, and sold studios closed at an average 0.88 of their asking price.

How much cash do you need to buy a yoga studio?

About $15,566 at the median price, before working capital. A $135,000 purchase with 10 percent down is a $13,500 injection and a $121,500 loan. Loans of $150,000 or less carry an 85 percent guaranty, so the guaranteed portion is $103,275 and the FY2026 upfront fee of 2 percent is $2,066. Add the lease deposit, insurance, the first month of instructor pay and a cushion for slow weeks, and a buyer should plan on more than the injection alone. Cash purchases and seller notes change the arithmetic, and a seller note is common in studio sales because it keeps the seller invested in the handover.

At 10.5 percent over 10 years, the debt service on $121,500 is about $19,673 a year, which the median earnings cover 3.94 times. That leaves $57,827 before the owner is paid, and a buyer who needs the lender's 1.25x cushion can draw up to about $52,908. The same earnings at a $60,000 draw support only $96,069, below the median price, so a buyer who wants that salary at the median price needs about $84,591 of earnings or a seller note.

The binding constraint is not the price. It is what the lender can verify. A lender underwrites tax returns and bank deposits, and cash income that never reached the books is not in the earnings the bank will use, so you should not pay a multiple on it. Because almost every studio sells for under $350,000, the lender may value the business in house when buyer and seller are not closely related. Our guide to the SBA loan to buy a business covers the down payment rules, seller notes and what the lender will ask for.

Is buying a yoga studio a good investment?

On the sold record it is a reasonable one for a working instructor, and a poor one for a buyer who will not teach. The median fitness trainer or instructor on payroll earns $47,160 a year (BLS, May 2025). An instructor who buys the median studio and keeps teaching can draw about $52,908 while the loan is repaid, and owns the equity at the end.

The numbers change when the owner steps back. Replace the owner with a hired instructor at the BLS median plus payroll tax, $50,768, and $26,732 of the $77,500 is left. The $135,000 price becomes 5.05 times earnings, far above the upper quartile of 2.51x, and the owner draw at that price is about $2,141 a year. An experienced teacher with a following will cost more than the median, so the real figure is lower. Studios earn a 27.5 percent median margin, but most of that margin is the owner's own labor.

What should I look for when buying a yoga or Pilates studio?

Start with the instructors and the booking data, then the books and the lease. A studio's value is the teachers on the schedule and the members who keep coming. These checks take a week of document requests and screen out most of the bad deals.

• Instructor roster. Tenure, pay model, contractor or employee status, classes per week and share of attendance for each teacher, and how many left in the last two years. If two people fill most of the classes, your price depends on them staying.
• Membership data. Active members, monthly churn, class pack balances, drop-in volume and the split of revenue among the three. Recurring memberships are worth more than packs and drop-ins that have to be re-earned every month.
• Deposits against the reports. Twelve months of bank statements against the booking and card reports, month by month. Any gap is revenue the lender will not count.
• Prepaid liabilities. Every class pack, annual membership, gift card and workshop deposit is a class you will deliver for no new cash. Get the outstanding balance and agree a credit at closing.
• The lease and the fit-out. Remaining term, renewal options, rent as a share of revenue and the assignment clause. For a Pilates studio, also the age and condition of the reformers, which resell for a fraction of new.
• Franchise terms. BizBuySell notes franchise brands operate in this category. If the studio is one, read the transfer approval, fees and remodel requirements before you price it.

How do you know if the asking price is fair?

Compare the asking price with three numbers: the multiple of owner earnings it implies, the sold range for studios of that size, and what an SBA loan will cover at the salary you need. A studio asking 2.4 times earnings on $77,500 of SDE is asking $186,000, which is above the median sold price by 37.8 percent and sits between the median and upper quartile multiple. Current listings ask a median 2.40 times earnings against 1.96 times paid, so most asking prices have room to come down. BizBuySell also says that a smaller studio with sales near $150,000 may sell at an earnings multiple closer to 1.3 or less, and one with sales near $500,000 at 2.5 or more, so size matters as much as the headline median.

What happens after you close?

The first ninety days decide whether the members stay. Introduce yourself to the longest-standing members, keep the instructors' schedules and pay unchanged until you understand them, and change one thing at a time. Keep the booking system, the phone number and the name. Your accountant will also want the studio's history, and if the seller's bank statements arrive as PDFs, you can convert a PDF bank statement to a QBO file for QuickBooks and start the books with the real deposits instead of retyping them. Keep the studio's bank account separate from your own from day one, so the second year's lender or buyer can verify the books as easily as you did.

Before you sign a letter of intent, run the studio's revenue and owner earnings through the estimator on our yoga studio valuation page. It returns a value range against what studios actually sold for and shows how much of it an SBA loan will cover at the salary you need, so you go into the negotiation with a number you can defend. If you are weighing a studio against a bigger fitness business, the gym valuation page runs the same numbers for gyms and fitness centers.