Board members often ask how your dues compare with other clubs. It's a fair question, and a dues average gives useful context. It can also mislead. Two clubs with the same dues can offer very different things and fund very different costs. This guide lists the questions to ask before you compare, then shows how to build dues from your own budget.
Where averages come from
Published dues figures usually come from surveys or from clubs sharing numbers informally. For example, according to CMAA's 2022 Finance and Operations Report, as summarized in its March/April 2023 Board Brief, the median annual dues for a full family membership was $8,191 for all responding clubs, with higher medians for golf and country clubs (source, PDF). A survey median describes the clubs that answered, in that year. It isn't a target for your club.
Questions to ask before you compare
- Same membership class? You can't compare full family, individual, social and non-resident dues with each other.
- What's included? Some clubs bundle cart fees, range, locker or fitness access into dues. Others charge for them separately.
- Is there a food minimum? For many members, an F&B minimum works much like dues. See the country club food minimum guide.
- Capital dues and assessments: are they separate charges, included in dues, or absent because the club has a large reserve or debt?
- Initiation fees: a club with high initiation may fund capital from them and charge lower dues.
- Size and facilities: holes, acres, clubhouse size and the number of operated departments all drive the fixed cost that dues fund.
- Member count: spread the same cost over more members and dues per member fall.
- Year and region: labor and property costs differ by market and change year to year.
- Ownership: equity, non-equity and owner-operated clubs price dues on different principles.
If you can't answer most of these for a peer club, treat its dues as background, not a benchmark.
Build dues from your own costs
The comparison that matters most is between your dues and the cost of the club your members want. A simple build:
- Budget the net cost of operated departments, cost centers and undistributed expenses, less non-dues income.
- Add the annual capital funding the board has approved from dues.
- Divide by full member equivalents (members weighted by class).
Fictional example. Sample Club needs $5,760,000 to cover operations after departmental income, plus $720,000 of capital funding, for a total of $6,480,000. It has 600 full member equivalents, so full member dues are $6,480,000 ÷ 600 = $10,800 a year, or $900 a month. If that's well above a peer club's dues, the questions above show where to look: more facilities, fewer members, or capital the peer funds another way.
Test the increase, not the level
Once you've set the level from costs, the board's harder question is usually the increase and its effect on resignations. The club dues increase calculator guide covers the formulas. The club capital assessment calculation guide covers capital funding.
Presenting benchmarks to the board
- Name each source and its year, and link to it when it's public.
- Compare like with like: the same class, and dues plus minimums plus capital charges.
- Put your cost-based dues next to the benchmark and explain the main differences.