How much does it cost to start a membership club?
About $84,100 all in for a small one, opened by one founder in an American city: $35,900 to open the doors and $48,200 to keep going for the 9 months it typically takes to pay its way. Below, every item at low, typical and high with where it comes from — and your own quote, for your country, your town, how you start and the money you have.
To open: $35,900
Venue fit-out: furnishing, lighting, décor: $15,000 ($5,000–$40,000). estimate (current template $15,000)
Equipment: AV, games, kitchen kit: $8,000 ($3,000–$20,000). estimate (current template $8,000)
Occupancy, food and event permits: $1,000 ($200–$5,000). Our estimate: occupancy permit plus food/temporary alcohol permits where served
Insurance, first year: $1,500 ($500–$3,000). Shopify 'Retail store monthly expenses' (2025), citing Insureon medians: general liability $42/mo, business owner's policy $95/mo, workers' comp $86/mo; liquor cover extra (estimate)
Website, membership pages and launch: $3,000 ($1,000–$8,000). SBA-style estimate in sim-launch-costs.ts header: small-business website $2,000–$10,000 by a freelancer (Clutch/UpCity surveys)
Forming the company: $800 ($150–$2,500). An LLC's state filing is $50–$500 (state fee schedules), plus an EIN (free) and a registered agent; the World Bank measured the procedures at about 1% of income per capita, about $850 (Doing Business 2020); a lawyer's formation package $500–$2,000.
Lease deposit: $4,400 ($1,500–$20,600). Two to three months' rent is usual for a first-time tenant (Aquila Commercial; REBusiness, restaurant lease counsel). 1,200 sq ft typical. Colliers US Retail Q3 2025: average asking rent $25.53/sq ft/yr (year-end 2025 $25.69); CBRE Q3 2025 neighbourhood/strip centres $24.92; Shopify cites malls ~$33 and general retail ~$25 (2024)
Rent while you fit out, before opening: $2,200 ($0–$20,600). Landlords often give a few months rent-free for a build-out, often used up by permits before work starts (NYC restaurant lease counsel, DHC Legal); none to three months paid.
To keep going until it pays its way: $48,200
Running costs while sales build: $6,300 ($893–$32,400). Membership and booking software, Electricity, heating, water, Event consumables and hosting, Marketing, Internet and music licence, until it breaks even; sales are taken to grow evenly to cover them, so about half is needed. Break-even: Our estimate: founding-member fees arrive up front; break-even depends on reaching a membership count that covers rent
Rent while sales build: $9,900 ($1,130–$61,900). The premises' monthly cost above, until it breaks even, half of it covered by sales as they grow.
Your own living costs until it can pay you: $32,000 ($10,700–$64,100). A one-person household spends about $3,560 a month in America (BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2021–22); nothing is paid to you until the business breaks even.
All in: $84,100
About $84,100 all in ($24,000–$278,000): $35,900 to open and $48,200 to keep going for the 9 months it typically takes to pay its way.
With $10,000 of your own you are $74,100 short: borrowed as an SBA 7(a) or bank loan at 11% over 5 years, about $1,610 a month.
The trade's published range, before the months it takes to pay its way: $20,000–$100,000. estimate: members' club with its own room $20k–$100k (Club Management Association guidance as cited in sim-launch-costs.ts; no published US startup survey found)
How much does it cost to start a membership club?
About $84,100 all in ($24,000–$278,000) for a small one, my own premises, in an American city. To open: Venue fit-out: furnishing, lighting, décor $15,000; Equipment: AV, games, kitchen kit $8,000; Occupancy, food and event permits $1,000; Insurance, first year $1,500; Website, membership pages and launch $3,000; Forming the company $800; Lease deposit $4,400; Rent while you fit out, before opening $2,200 — $35,900. To keep going for the 9 months it typically takes to break even: running costs while sales build $6,300; rent while sales build $9,900; your own living costs until it can pay you $32,000 — $48,200. The trade's published startup range is $20,000–$100,000 (estimate: members' club with its own room $20k–$100k (Club Management Association guidance as cited in sim-launch-costs.ts; no published US startup survey found)), which leaves the months before it pays its way out.
What does SparkTower's simulator pay to open it?
The simulator pays the one-off opening costs before the first customer — the running costs and the founder's living it plays month by month: Venue fit-out $15,000; Lease deposit (two months' rent) $1,500; Rent while you fit out, before opening (one month) $750; Equipment $8,000; Forming the club $1,500; Launch marketing $3,000. A members' club with its own room: $20k–$100k (Club Management Association guidance). Plus the lease: a deposit of about two months' rent (two to three is usual for a first US tenant, and restaurant landlords ask for at least two — Aquila Commercial; REBusiness, restaurant lease counsel), and rent through the fit-out before the doors open (restaurants usually win three to six months free during a build-out, often used up by permits before work starts — NYC restaurant lease counsel, DHC Legal).
How much of that do you keep?
$23,000 of it — the kit, fit-out or stock it bought — is still yours afterwards, something a buyer would pay for and a lender would lend against; the other $6,750 is spent.
What if my own money doesn't cover it?
With $10,000 of your own you would be about $74,100 short. Borrowed as an SBA 7(a) or bank loan at 11% over 5 years, that is about $1,610 a month. Most founders borrow the rest. A small-business term loan runs about 11% a year over 5 years (SBA 7(a) loans are the prime rate plus 3 to 6.5 points), repaid every month from the start — before the business has found its customers. In SparkTower's membership club simulator the founder starts with $46,000 of their own money; the launch costs come out of it and leave $16,250 to trade on, with nothing borrowed.
Can you start a membership club with no money?
Not in full: lenders want the owner to put in about 20% (the SBA's own floor for a start-up is 10%), and lend against the kit, fit-out and stock a launch buys, not its marketing or a software build. What a founder with nothing does is open smaller — a club meeting in rented rooms — on about $2,300 of essentials (equipment $2,000; forming the club $300), borrowed as a microloan (the SBA's are up to $50,000, at 8–13%) or, for a few thousand dollars, on a card at about 22%. The rest is bought once the business can afford it. Clubs that hire a hall by the session start on a few thousand dollars of equipment (Club Management Association guidance).
Will it earn the money back?
That depends on what you charge, how many customers you win and what your rivals do. The free membership club simulator pays these costs before it opens, borrows what the founder's cash doesn't cover, and plays the business forward against real rivals, so you can see whether it earns them back before you spend them.
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