States where car wash businesses are growing the fastest
Have you ever driven past an empty lot one day, only to find a car wash the next time you pass it? It isn’t surprising, knowing that the car wash market size was estimated at $15.28 billion in 2025 and that number is just going to keep on climbing. It’s expected to reach $17.01 billion by 2033, according to current market projections.
Lee McCabe, the founder of Claymore Partners, summed up why this is happening in a LinkedIn post: private equity firms consider car washes to be the next gold rush. According to McCabe, car washes are always going to be in demand, revenue is predictable, memberships feel like SaaS subscriptions, and there is very little labor involved.
Eric Wulf, the CEO of the International Carwash Association, backs up the idea that the industry is not slowing down. ICA’s Pulse survey shows that 60% of the people say that car wash subscriptions are something they would like to keep.
Wulf also made a valuable point about how geography plays an important role. This is where state-by-state data is crucial because not every U.S. state is seeing the same car wash growth for the same reasons. To explore this further, Way pulled establishment counts by state from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) and filtered for private car wash establishments for every Q1 from 2021 through 2026.
The top 10 states with the most car wash growth
Note: These states already had at least 200 car washes in 2021, i.e., they’re large enough that the percentage means something.
1. Tennessee: +29.9% (361 → 469 establishments)
Tennessee has a total area of 42,144 square miles and 469 car washes as of March 2026. If you were to spread it evenly across the state, that works out to roughly one car wash for every 90 square miles. Of course, that’s not how they’re actually distributed, but it gives you an idea of the scale.
Car washes in Tennessee have caught the attention of private equity firms, which have been investing more in the industry. At the same time, larger operators have been buying and rebranding many independent washes across the Southeast and Midwest.
2.Utah: +29.3% (242 → 313 establishments)
Looking at the metro level, Provo ranks seventh among the fastest-growing car wash markets, with a 29% increase. At the state level, 71 car washes have been added within five years.
Utah has seen plenty of activity from the big car wash chains, with national express operators acquiring multi-site locations. So, this growth doesn’t seem to be coming out of nowhere.
3.South Carolina: +27.5% (244 → 311 establishments)
South Carolina’s establishment count is up 27.5% since 2021, increasing from 244 to 311. Most of the growth happened almost entirely in 2023-2024. Nonetheless, three South Carolina metros, Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville, rank among the 25 fastest-growing car wash markets in the country.
4.Ohio: +26.9% (620 → 787 establishments)
In Ohio, the #1 mode of transportation is the car. As people drive through the bad winter weather and all that road salt, they need to take their cars in for a wash regularly. Ohio’s car wash count increased every single year: 620, 654, 692, 755, 772, and 787.
In certain smaller towns, local city councils and municipal governments imposed a temporary pause on building new car washes to slow down the growth. Patrick Sisson, a Bloomberg contributor, mentioned that in 2024, Streetsboro, Ohio, had around three car washes within two miles of each other.
5.Texas: +26.0% (1,520 → 1,915 establishments)
Texas was one of the biggest car wash markets in the country in 2021, and the number kept growing every year. In 2025, there was about one car wash for every 16,554 people. In cities like Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, several independent washes have been acquired by larger regional chains.
6.Alabama: +24.1% (266 → 330 establishments)
In Alabama, the car wash count has been moving up, but the state doesn’t get nearly as much attention as other states. The number of establishments grew every year apart from a brief standstill in 2023 and 2024.
7.Virginia: +22.7% (361 → 443 establishments)
Virginia has added more than 80 car washes since 2021. One of the reasons for this growth is the increase in apartment and multi-family housing developments in places like Richmond. Since many residents do not have access to private driveways, commercial car washes have become a convenient option for vehicle cleaning.
8.Pennsylvania: +22.0% (551 → 672 establishments)
When you look at states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, the growth of the car wash industry is not limited to warm southern states (the Sun Belt). Colder states are also adding more car washes, likely because winter driving and road salt create a stronger need for regular washes.
9.California: +21.9% (1,909 → 2,327 establishments)
Considering how big California is, having 1,909 car washes in 2021 isn’t a shocking number at all. What makes the state worth taking notice of is what happened after. Within five years, that number climbed to 2,327. That’s 418 new car washes!
California has been dealing with tighter rules around water use. So, car wash businesses are increasingly interested in water-reclaim systems and newer, more water-efficient tunnel washes. That said, the upgrades aren’t cheap, so larger car wash companies are better equipped to afford these facilities.
10.Florida: +20.4% (1,400 → 1,685 establishments)
Florida’s car wash industry has generally been growing, even though there were some ups and downs. The state’s warm weather and year-round tourism create a strong demand for car washes. The number of car washes increased considerably in 2022, then remained steady through 2024. There was a drop in 2025, but the number increased again in 2026.
Georgia, and North Carolina: the Southeast story
If you’ve been seeing headlines about how quickly car washes are growing in Southeast metros, there’s more to the story. At the state level, a lot of that growth had already happened by 2024.
Georgia went from having 644 establishments in 2021 to 790 in 2024, but it then declined for two consecutive years, first to 771 and then to 735. North Carolina peaked at 724 in 2024 and has pulled back since, ending at 708.
Between 2019 and 2024, rapid development across the Sun Belt, including Georgia, led to a corridor-level oversupply. This meant that several locations were shut down or changed owners.
But that doesn’t mean the Southeast boom wasn’t happening because Columbia had the highest growth rate of any metro nationally.
Colorado: the anomaly
If you only looked at the most recent year, Colorado would be the fastest-growing state in the country by a wide margin. Mister Car Wash opened its first Denver location. Club Car Wash entered the Denver market for the first time. Whistle Express chose Colorado as the first place to relaunch 20 locations after acquiring Take 5.
But if you look at the full five-year period, you’ll see that Colorado had a rough 2025 and grew only 10.8% overall.
Final thoughts
In several of the states mentioned, you’ll see something common: private equity firms and larger operators buying up independent, family-run washes and rebranding them, which supports McCabe’s claim.
It’s also worth saying that a state can be adding car washes and still be a riskier place to open one. Colorado remains a cautionary tale in this regard. Before you think about opening a new location or pitching a new car wash, look up the overall trend, not just last quarter’s numbers.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics – Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (Q1 2021)
Bureau of Labor Statistics – Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (Q1 2022)
Bureau of Labor Statistics – Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (Q1 2023)
Bureau of Labor Statistics – Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (Q1 2024)
Bureau of Labor Statistics – Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (Q1 2025)
Bureau of Labor Statistics – Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (Q1 2026)
Grand View Research – U.S. Car Wash Services Market (2026 – 2033)
WashIndex – Fastest-Growing Car Wash Markets (2022–2024)
Lee McCabe – Why car washes are the next gold rush for private equity
Carwash.com – The Car Wash Show™ 2026: growth, saturation and the local-business reality
NPR – Car washes are proliferating across the U.S. Here’s why
