McDonald’s had over 150,000 company employees at the end of 2025, in its offices and the 2,039 restaurants it runs itself, its 10-K says; about 70% were based outside the U.S. More than two million people work in the 43,317 franchised restaurants, but they are employed by franchisees, not McDonald’s. The company figure was about 200,000 at the end of 2021.
How we source: the figures in the boxes and charts on this page come from McDonald's’s own annual filing, with the period stated next to each number. Data checked 9 November 2026. The original article below may quote earlier periods. Our methodology.
Key figures · fiscal 2025 (year to 31 December 2025)
Correction (11 Oct 2026): the earlier headcount table on this page shifted McDonald’s reported figures by one year (it listed 210,000 for 2019, 205,000 for 2020 and 200,000 for 2022). The 10-K filings report about 210,000 at year-end 2018, 205,000 at 2019, 200,000 at 2020 and 2021, and over 150,000 from 2022 onwards (2022 10-K, 2019 10-K).
McDonald’s employees: 150K on the books. Source: McDonald’s Form 10-K 2025 (year to 31 Dec 2025), SEC EDGAR: Human capital (over 150,000 employees, ~70% outside the U.S., over two million in franchised restaurants), restaurant ownership; earlier 10-Ks for 2016–2024 employee counts. Ratios approximate, calculated from “over” figures. Areas and columns to scale. Analysis by The Business Engineer.
Source: McDonald’s Form 10-K for each year (linked), Item 1 and restaurant counts (SEC EDGAR). Company employees include corporate and other offices and company-owned and operated restaurants.
Company staff vs franchise workforce
Franchisees employ about 93% of everyone working at McDonald's. Source: McDonald's Form 10-K for 2025 (SEC EDGAR), Item 1 and restaurant counts. Shares calculated from the reported floors. Analysis by The Business Engineer.
Franchisees operated 43,317 of McDonald’s 45,356 restaurants at the end of 2025 (95%), and the people who work in them are employed by those franchisees, not by McDonald’s. On the reported floors, company employees are about 7% of the roughly 2.15 million people working across the system (calculated).
What drives McDonald’s headcount
Refranchising. McDonald’s sold or transferred thousands of its own restaurants to franchisees: company-operated restaurants fell from 5,669 at the end of 2016 to 3,133 a year later, while the system grew from 36,899 to 45,356 restaurants by 2025. Company headcount followed, from about 375,000 to about 235,000 in that one year.
A landlord-and-royalty model. In 2025 McDonald’s earned $16.5B from franchised restaurants (rent, royalties and fees) against $9.7B of sales at its own restaurants, where payroll and employee benefits cost $2.9B (10-K).
What to watch
The next 10-K. McDonald’s has reported “over 150,000” company employees for four years running; the 2026 figure comes with the annual report in February 2027.
Growth through franchisees. Systemwide sales were about $37B in Q2 2026, up 5%, with global comparable sales up 1.3% (Q2 2026 release).
Company-operated mix. 2,039 company-run restaurants at the end of 2025, down from 2,142 two years earlier.
Earlier analysis and background (pre-2026 figures)
The text below is the earlier version of this page. Its figures refer to earlier periods and some were corrected above; the current, sourced figures are in the sections above.
McDonald’s had 150,000 employees in 2023, compared to 150,000 employees in 2022, 200,000 employees in 2021, and the same in 2020. The company runs a heavily franchised business model, where most stores are franchised restaurants vs. owned ones. In 2022, McDonald’s franchised locations employed over two million individuals.
The major institutional shareholders comprise The Vanguard Group (8.83%) and BlackRock (7.1%). Major individual shareholders include Kevin Ozan (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer), Stephen Easterbrook (President and CEO), and John Rogers, Jr., an investor, philanthropist, and Ariel Capital Management founder. And a few other individual shareholders.
McDonald’s is a heavily franchised businessmodel. In 2023, 61% of the total revenues came from franchised restaurants. The company’s long-term goal is to transition toward 95% of franchised restaurants (by 2023, franchised restaurants were 94.9% of the total restaurants). The company generated over $25 billion in revenues in 2023, of which $9.74 billion was from owned restaurants and $15.43 billion from franchised restaurants.
Of over $25 billion in revenues for 2023, $9.74 billion came from company-operated stores, while $15.43 billion came from franchised restaurants compared to $23 billion in revenue in 2022, of which $8.74 came from company-operated stores, while $14.1 billion came from franchised restaurants. And over $23 billion in revenue in 2021, McDonald’s generated almost ten billion dollars from company-operated restaurants, while it generated $13 billion from franchised restaurants.
In 2023, McDonald’s generated $8.47 billion in net profits compared to $6.18 billion in net profits for 2022, and $7.54 billion in 2021. The company runs a heavily franchised businessmodel, where it has reached its target of nearly 95% franchised restaurants worldwide.
In 2023, McDonald’s generated $8.47 billion in net profits compared to $6.18 billion in net profits for 2022, and $7.54 billion in 2021. The company runs a heavily franchised businessmodel, where it has reached its target of nearly 95% franchised restaurants worldwide.
McDonald’s had 150,000 employees in 2023, compared to 150,000 employees in 2022, 200,000 employees in 2021, and the same in 2020. The company runs a heavily franchised businessmodel, where most stores are franchised restaurants vs. owned ones. In 2022, McDonald’s franchised locations employed over two million individuals.
McDonald’s runs a heavy franchisebusinessmodel, where it has been substantially increasing its franchised restaurants while reducing its company-operated ones. For instance, by 2023, McDonald’s had 39,680 franchised restaurants vs. 2,142 owned and operated ones.
McDonald’s runs a heavily franchised businessmodel, where most of its margins come from franchised restaurants vs. operated ones. For instance, in 2023, $1.52 billion came from owned restaurants whereas $12.96 came from franchised restaurants.
Burger King is an American multinational chain of fast-food restaurants that is headquartered in Miami, Florida. The first Burger King restaurant, then known as Insta-Burger King, was opened in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1953 by Keith Cramer and his stepfather Matthew Burns. Burger King Worldwide merged with the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons in 2014. This precipitated the formation of parent company Restaurant Brands International, which is part-owned by former Burger King owner 3G Capital.
McDonald’s has a divisional organizational structure where each division – based on geographical location – is assigned operational responsibilities and strategic objectives. The main geographical divisions are the US, internationally operated markets, and international developmental licensed markets. And on the other hand, the hierarchical leadershipstructure is organized around regional and functional divisions.
Franchising is a business model where the owner (franchisor) of a product, service, or method utilizes the distribution services of an affiliated dealer (franchisee). Usually, the franchisee pays a royalty to the franchisor to be using the brand, process, and product. And the franchisor instead supports the franchisee in starting up the activity and providing a set of services as part of the franchising agreement. Franchising models can be heavy-franchised, heavy-chained, or hybrid (franchained).
Coca-Cola follows a business strategy (implemented since 2006) where through its operating arm – the Bottling Investment Group – it invests initially in bottling partners operations. As they take off, Coca-Cola divests its equity stakes, and it establishes a franchisingmodel, as long-term growth and distributionstrategy.
Coca-Cola’s Purpose is to “refresh the world. make a difference.” Its vision and mission are to “craft the brands and choice of drinks that people love, to refresh them in body & spirit. And done in ways that create a more sustainable business and better-shared future that makes a difference in people’s lives, communities, and our planet.”
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
