Akron, OH Car Wash Market Analysis
Part of the Akron, OH MSA.
Data updated · May 22, 2026
A detailed read of the Akron car wash market built from 6,921 Google reviews across 31 locations. Covers format mix, operator dominance, geographic distribution, income demographics, and customer-experience signals at the metro, county, and ZIP level.
31 car wash locations in Akron, OH · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
Akron, OH hosts 31 car wash locations identified by the WashIndex format classifier within the broader Akron trade area. Operating-quality signals are derived from 6,921 Google reviews, with 2,133 reviews processed through structured LLM extraction across 55 dimensions. The weighted-average rating across all locations is 4.44★, with a reviewer-reported damage rate of 1.31% and a membership-cancellation friction rate of 23.8% of mem-discussing reviews.
Concentration in this city: 14 of 31 locations (45.2%) operate as independents or single-location operators; the top 10 chains together control 17 locations (54.8%). The largest single operator by location count is Sheetz with 3sites in Akron.
Across all 31 locations, the dominant concept is Detail Shop (11 sites), with secondary presence from Express Tunnel (6), Full Service (3), and Self-Serve Bay (0).
Published pricing across the 11 of 31 Akron locations with menus available: median single car wash $20 (range $10–$32), median unlimited membership $39.95/month (range $22–$60/mo). The cheapest unlimited membership in the city is $22/mo at Quality Scrub Car Wash (Express).
See the best-rated car washes in Akron, OH
Ranked by Google review rating
What does a car wash cost in Akron, OH?
Published menu pricing for car washes in Akron, captured from operator websites and the WashIndex AI calling agent. 11 of 31 tracked locations in the city have usable published pricing (35% coverage).
| Cheapest unlimited memberships in Akron | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quality Scrub Car Wash Express | $22/mo |
| 2 | Quality Scrub Car Wash Express | $22/mo |
| 3 | Quick N Clean Express Wash Wipe Out | $25/mo |
| 4 | Splash Car Wash of Green The Splash Unlimited (Coventry) | $28.99/mo |
| 5 | Quick Clean Car & Pet Wash Store, Ltd. PROTECT | $39.95/mo |
| Cheapest single car washes in Akron | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quality Scrub Car Wash Express | $10 |
| 2 | Quality Scrub Car Wash Express | $10 |
| 3 | Montrose Laserwash WASH & DRY | $12 |
| 4 | Soak City Car Wash Hurricane | $20 |
| 5 | Classic Choice Car Wash Hand Wash | $25 |
Pricing scraped from operator websites where published; the WashIndex AI calling agent rings up locations that don’t publish menus online to capture pricing directly.
About Akron, OH
How many car washes are in Akron, OH?
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What is the best-rated car wash in Akron, OH?
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Which car wash chains operate in Akron, OH?
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What is the median household income near Akron car washes?
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What is the average car wash rating in Akron, OH?
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How much does a car wash cost in Akron, OH?
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How much does an unlimited car wash membership cost in Akron, OH?
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What is the cheapest car wash in Akron, OH?
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What kinds of car washes does Akron have?
The Akron MSA contains a wide mix of car wash formats — from express tunnels and full-service operations to detail shops and self-serve bays. The bar chart below shows how many locations of each format have been formally classified by our LLM-based format classifier (which reads each operator's own website to determine the format), with the avg Google rating per format displayed alongside the count.
The format with the highest customer rating is Detail Shop at 4.86★ across 11 locations — typical of the format, which is staffed, hand-finished, and oriented toward customers who care more about wash result than throughput. The lowest-rated format is In-Bay Automatic at 3.75★ across 11 locations. Format-level rating gaps of this size are common — different formats serve different customer occasions and have inherently different expectations.
| Format | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage Rate | Cancel Friction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detail Shop | 11 | 35.5% | 841 | 4.86 | 0.18% | 0.0% |
| In-Bay Automatic | 11 | 35.5% | 1,553 | 3.75 | 0.75% | 50.0% |
| Express Tunnel | 6 | 19.4% | 4,086 | 4.65 | 1.60% | 22.1% |
| Full Service | 3 | 9.7% | 441 | 4.11 | 11.11% | 40.0% |
What is the typical household income near Akron car washes?
Each ZIP in the Akron MSA has been joined to IRS Statistics-of-Income data (tax year 2022, mean Adjusted Gross Income per return as the income proxy) and to the per-location Google rating dataset. The scatter below plots every car wash with at least 10 reviews against its ZIP-level income, with each dot colored by format and sized by review volume.
Across 31 qualifying locations the simple Pearson correlation between ZIP income and Google rating is -0.04 — effectively zero. Higher-income ZIPs in the MSA do not produce systematically better-rated car washes. Operating-quality signals are dominated by per-operator execution, not by neighborhood income. The mean-of-scatter location sits at $65K AGI/return and 4.28★.
Car wash count and quality by income tier
Grouping ZIPs by income tier shows how location count and average rating shift across the income distribution. The blue bars are location count per tier; the orange tick marks show the average Google rating across all car wash locations in that tier (scaled against the same y-axis).
| Income tier (mean AGI/return) | ZIPs | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Top Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $50K | 6 | 12 | 1,318 | 4.32 | Detail Shop (5) |
| $50K – $75K | 2 | 14 | 5,051 | 4.50 | In-Bay Automatic (7) |
| $75K – $100K | 1 | 1 | 218 | 4.00 | Full Service (1) |
| $100K – $150K | 1 | 1 | 60 | 5.00 | Detail Shop (1) |
| $150K+ | 1 | 3 | 274 | 4.11 | In-Bay Automatic (2) |
The highest-income tier ($150K+) contains 3 car washes across 1 ZIPs, with a weighted-average rating of 4.11★ — compared to 12 locations across 6 ZIPs averaging 4.32★ in the lowest-income tier (Under $50K). The middle-income tiers ($75K–$150K) tend to host the densest concentrations of express tunnels — the format that monetizes most effectively at suburban price points.
Who operates the most Akron car washes?
The Akron MSA hosts 10 different chains alongside 14 independent operators (single-location or unaffiliated sites). The table below ranks the top 25 chains by location count in the MSA, with each chain's per-MSA Google rating, reviewer-reported damage rate, and membership cancellation friction rate.
The top 10 chains together control 17 of 31 locations (54.8%) — meaning 45.2% of the MSA's car wash supply remains in the hands of smaller chains and independent operators. That fragmentation level is typical of large US metros and creates meaningful consolidation runway for active acquirers.
| # | Chain | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage | Cancel | Upsell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheetz | 3 | 538 | 3.26 | 0.00% | — | 0.00% |
| 2 | Quality Scrub Car Wash | 2 | 427 | 4.10 | — | — | — |
| 3 | Petit Auto Wash | 2 | 374 | 3.94 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Hometown Car Wash | 2 | 306 | 4.22 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Rubber Duck Auto Wash | 2 | 131 | 4.01 | — | — | — |
| 6 | bp | 2 | 110 | 3.86 | — | — | — |
| 7 | Blue Falls Car Wash | 1 | 53 | 3.10 | — | — | — |
| 8 | Soak City Car Wash | 1 | 474 | 4.30 | 4.50% | — | 1.80% |
| 9 | Splash Car Wash of Green | 1 | 552 | 4.00 | — | — | — |
| 10 | ModWash | 1 | 2,673 | 4.90 | 0.88% | 22.4% | 0.10% |
What do customers love and complain about at Akron car washes?
Aspect scores aggregate the per-review LLM extractions for 2,133 reviews across all 31 MSA locations. Each score is computed as (positive − negative) / (positive + negative + mixed) for that aspect, ranging from −1 (universally negative) to +1 (universally positive). Numbers above zero mean customers say more positive than negative things; below zero means the reverse.
Reading these together gives a quick read on where the metro's car wash industry stands operationally: which aspects of the experience are reliable strengths and which ones generate the most friction.
Where are the 31 car washes in Akron, OH?
The complete inventory of car wash locations in the Akron MSA, ranked by review volume. Each row shows the operator name, address, format classification (where determined), chain affiliation (when part of a multi-location operator), Google rating, total review count, county, and the IRS mean-AGI-per-return for the ZIP it sits in. Locations with fewer than 10 reviews on Google appear without a rating column populated.
We're showing the top 10 by review volume; the full set of 31 locations is available in the underlying dataset for users requesting a custom market study.
| Location | City | Format | Chain | Rating | Reviews | ZIP AGI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ModWash 3152 Manchester Rd | Akron, OH | Express Tunnel | ModWash | 4.9 | 2,673 | $74K |
| Splash Car Wash of Green 3405 S Arlington Rd | Akron, OH | Express Tunnel | Splash Car Wash of Green | 4.0 | 552 | $56K |
| Soak City Car Wash 2156 E Waterloo Rd | Akron, OH | Express Tunnel | Soak City Car Wash | 4.3 | 474 | $56K |
| Sheetz 20 W Waterloo Rd | Akron, OH | In-Bay Automatic | Sheetz | 3.0 | 306 | $74K |
| Quick Clean Car & Pet Wash Store, Ltd. 2500 Mayfair Rd | Akron, OH | In-Bay Automatic | Hometown Car Wash | 4.2 | 281 | $56K |
| Quick N Clean Express Wash 1645 Home Ave | Akron, OH | Express Tunnel | — | 4.4 | 256 | $37K |
| Quality Scrub Car Wash 30 Frank Blvd | Akron, OH | Full Service | Quality Scrub Car Wash | 4.0 | 218 | $77K |
| Petit Auto Wash 110 N Canton Rd | Akron, OH | In-Bay Automatic | Petit Auto Wash | 3.9 | 217 | $42K |
| Quality Scrub Car Wash 1668 S Hawkins Ave | Akron, OH | Full Service | Quality Scrub Car Wash | 4.2 | 209 | $44K |
| Shine N Drive Auto Detailing 123 E Waterloo Rd | Akron, OH | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 180 | $74K |
About this analysis
Car wash inventory for Akron, OH is sourced from the WashIndex national car-wash place index, filtered to places whose Google-Maps-reported city matches Akron, and further restricted to places whose format the WashIndex LLM classifier identified as a car wash (excluding dealerships, gas stations, and other auto-related businesses that don't primarily operate a car wash). Inclusion in the parent Akron MSA dataset is established by point-in-polygon against the official US Census county boundaries (TIGER/Line, 2024).
Operating-quality signals are derived from 2,133 customer reviews processed through WashIndex's 55-field LLM extraction pipeline. Format classification comes from a separate per-location website-reading classifier. ZIP-level income data is from the IRS Statistics of Income (tax year 2022) — mean Adjusted Gross Income per tax return, which is directionally aligned with ACS median household income but available without authentication.
See our full methodology for the extraction pipeline, validation samples, and aggregation logic.