Milwaukee, WI Car Wash Market Analysis
Part of the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI MSA.
Data updated · June 9, 2026
54 car washes, 8 chains, 2,466 AI-extracted reviews — concentrated more than the typical US market. Operator concentration, per-chain quality, format mix, customer-experience signals.
Snapshot
- Locations
- 54
- Chains
- 8
- lead: bp (14)
- Avg rating
- 4.26★
- -0.15 vs MSA median
- Damage rate
- 2.6%
- 1.7× MSA norm
- Top format
- detail shop
- 33% of classified
- Median single wash
- $10
- range $7–$50
- Median unlimited
- $17/mo
- cheapest $15/mo at Mister Car Wash
Market Quality snapshot
- Population
- 569,756
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Households
- 231,084
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Residents per wash
- 10,551
- 5.5× the national MSA median — lighter supply
- Express tunnels per 10K households
- 0.7
- in the 0.5–1.0 filling band · classified sites
Key findings
- 54 car wash locations operated by 8 chains and 21 independents.
- Top 10 chains control 61.1% of locations — above the 11.4% US-market median, led by bp (14 sites).
- Built from 12,695 Google reviews, 2,466 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.
54 car wash locations in Milwaukee, WI · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
This is one of the more roll-up-shaped car wash markets in the WashIndex national index. Across 54 tracked locations, the top ten operators control 61.1% of supply — above the 11.4% US-market median, with bp the largest at 14 sites. The headline averages below behave like chain averages — the per-chain table is the right cut to read.
Operating-quality aggregates: rating 4.26★, damage 2.6%, membership-cancel friction 11.4%. Aspect spread: Facility cleanliness (0.80) on the positive side, equipment reliability (-0.48) on the friction side. Because the operator mix is concentrated, those numbers behave more like chain averages than market averages.
Published pricing across the 10 of 55 Milwaukee locations with menus available: median single car wash $10 (range $7–$50), median unlimited membership $17/month (range $15–$34.99/mo). The cheapest unlimited membership in the city is $15/mo at Mister Car Wash (Base Plus).
See the best-rated car washes in Milwaukee, WI
Ranked by Google review rating
What does a car wash cost in Milwaukee, WI?
Published menu pricing for car washes in Milwaukee, captured from operator websites and the WashIndex AI calling agent. 10 of 55 tracked locations in the city have usable published pricing (18% coverage).
| Cheapest unlimited memberships in Milwaukee | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mister Car Wash Base Plus | $15/mo |
| 2 | Mister Car Wash Base Plus | $15/mo |
| 3 | Mister Car Wash Base Plus | $15/mo |
| 4 | Mister Car Wash Base Plus | $15/mo |
| 5 | Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash xpress | $17/mo |
| Cheapest single car washes in Milwaukee | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash xpress | $7 |
| 2 | Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash Xpress | $7 |
| 3 | Jetz Convenience Center MKE on 70th Self-Serve Pet Wash | $7 |
| 4 | Mister Car Wash Base | $10 |
| 5 | Mister Car Wash Base | $10 |
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.
Car wash financing in Milwaukee, WI
Since 2010, the U.S. Small Business Administration has backed 10 car-wash loans in Milwaukee, WI worth $9.3M, at a median of $899,100 per car wash and a 0.0% charge-off rate. About 10% funded brand-new or startup car washes.
- New build / open10% · $1.0M
- Acquisition10% · $214K
- Expansion / improvement80% · $957K
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) & 504 FOIA datasets (NAICS 811192), data through 2026-03-31. See the Car Wash Lending Tracker for national figures and methodology.
About Milwaukee, WI
How many car washes are in Milwaukee, WI?
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What is the best-rated car wash in Milwaukee, WI?
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Which car wash chains operate in Milwaukee, WI?
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What is the median household income near Milwaukee car washes?
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What is the average car wash rating in Milwaukee, WI?
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How much does a car wash cost in Milwaukee, WI?
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How much does an unlimited car wash membership cost in Milwaukee, WI?
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What is the cheapest car wash in Milwaukee, WI?
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What kinds of car washes does Milwaukee have?
In a market where 61.1% of locations sit inside a top-10 chain, the format breakdown reflects what those chains bought. Lower-throughput formats (detail shop, full service) generally cluster outside the rolled-up operator set.
Highest-rated format in this market: Detail Shop at 4.71★ (18 locations). Lowest: In-Bay Automatic at 3.69★ (18 locations).
| Format | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage Rate | Cancel Friction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detail Shop | 18 | 33.3% | 2,280 | 4.71 | 0.48% | 0.0% |
| In-Bay Automatic | 18 | 33.3% | 1,594 | 3.69 | 0.39% | 0.0% |
| Express Tunnel | 16 | 29.6% | 8,417 | 4.23 | 5.29% | 11.9% |
| Full Service | 2 | 3.7% | 404 | 4.43 | 1.43% | — |
What is the typical household income near Milwaukee car washes?
54 Milwaukee locations with at least 10 Google reviews are plotted below against ZIP-level mean IRS AGI. The income picture in a consolidated market mostly reflects where the dominant operators saw the strongest unit economics.
Pearson r between ZIP income and rating across 54 qualifying locations: 0.06 — effectively zero. Operating quality dominates over neighborhood income here. Scatter mean: $60K AGI/return, 4.09★.
Car wash count and quality by income tier
Blue bars: location count per tier. Orange tick marks: average Google rating (same y-axis).
| Income tier (mean AGI/return) | ZIPs | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Top Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $50K | 8 | 15 | 3,355 | 4.15 | Express Tunnel (6) |
| $50K – $75K | 10 | 35 | 8,541 | 4.28 | Detail Shop (12) |
| $75K – $100K | 1 | 1 | 87 | 2.70 | In-Bay Automatic (1) |
| $100K – $150K | 2 | 3 | 693 | 4.73 | Detail Shop (2) |
| $150K+ | 1 | 1 | 19 | 4.20 | Detail Shop (1) |
The highest-income tier ($150K+) holds 1 car washes across 1 ZIPs at 4.20★; the lowest-income tier (Under $50K) holds 15 across 8 ZIPs at 4.15★. In a chain-consolidated market like Milwaukee, the income mix mostly reads as a record of where the top operators chose to deploy — middle-income ZIPs typically anchor the densest rollouts.
Who operates the most Milwaukee car washes?
8 chains operate in Milwaukee, with the top ten holding 61.1% of supply. Damage rate, cancel friction, and per-aspect ratings are broken out per chain — useful for understanding which operators drive the metro's headline numbers.
| # | Chain | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage | Cancel | Upsell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bp | 14 | 1,064 | 3.53 | 0.50% | — | 0.00% |
| 2 | Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash | 8 | 4,771 | 4.35 | 4.48% | 10.3% | 2.24% |
| 3 | Mister Car Wash | 4 | 2,794 | 3.98 | 7.25% | 7.0% | 0.43% |
| 4 | Zippy's Car Wash | 2 | 646 | 4.41 | 2.27% | — | 0.76% |
| 5 | Pit Stop Touch Free Car Wash | 2 | 333 | 4.35 | — | — | — |
| 6 | North Shore's Finest Auto Detailing | 1 | 19 | 4.20 | — | — | — |
| 7 | R-Store | 1 | 50 | 2.90 | — | — | — |
| 8 | Shell | 1 | 147 | 3.70 | — | — | — |
What do customers love and complain about at Milwaukee car washes?
Facility cleanliness is the strongest signal here (0.80); equipment reliability runs as the sharpest pain (-0.48). Useful as a quick check on which aspects Milwaukee's consolidated supply does well at vs. poorly.
Where are the 54 car washes in Milwaukee, WI?
54 car washes in the Milwaukee city; the top of the list (ranked by review volume) is shown below. Most high-volume sites here belong to a top-10 chain.
| Location | City | Format | Chain | Rating | Reviews | ZIP AGI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mister Car Wash 2260 Miller Park Way | Milwaukee, WI | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.1 | 1,612 | $56K |
| Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash & Oil Change 555 S 84th St | Milwaukee, WI | Express Tunnel | Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash | 4.5 | 1,121 | $53K |
| Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash & Oil Change 4240 S 27th St | Milwaukee, WI | Express Tunnel | Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash | 4.4 | 950 | $56K |
| Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash & Oil Change 6231 S Howell Ave | Milwaukee, WI | Express Tunnel | Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash | 4.5 | 626 | $71K |
| Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash 7315 W Appleton Ave | Milwaukee, WI | Express Tunnel | Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash | 4.1 | 611 | $41K |
| Zippy's Car Wash 1129 W Walnut St | Milwaukee, WI | Express Tunnel | Zippy's Car Wash | 4.4 | 564 | $36K |
| Metro Car Wash & Detailing Centre 1510 N Van Buren St | Milwaukee, WI | Detail Shop | — | 4.7 | 554 | $116K |
| Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash 1635 S 1st St | Milwaukee, WI | Express Tunnel | Scrub-A-Dub Car Wash | 4.3 | 504 | $52K |
| Detail Doctors 646 S 2nd St | Milwaukee, WI | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 498 | $52K |
| Mister Car Wash 2006 W Oklahoma Ave | Milwaukee, WI | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 3.6 | 471 | $40K |
Compare Milwaukee to other car wash markets in the Milwaukee metro
Cities in the same metro, ordered by closest comparable size. Each link runs the same operator concentration, format mix, and customer-experience analysis.
Data as of 2026-06-09. Pick a format and click Copy.
WashIndex. (2026, June 9). Milwaukee, WI car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-cities/milwaukee-wi
WashIndex. "Milwaukee, WI car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified June 9, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-cities/milwaukee-wi.
"Milwaukee, WI car wash market analysis." WashIndex, Jun. 9, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-cities/milwaukee-wi.
@misc{washindex_car_wash_cities_milwaukee_wi_2026,
title = {{Milwaukee, WI car wash market analysis}},
author = {{WashIndex}},
year = {2026},
month = {Jun},
url = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-cities/milwaukee-wi},
urldate = {2026-06-09},
} About this analysis
Car wash inventory for Milwaukee, WI is sourced from the WashIndex national car-wash place index, filtered to places whose Google-Maps-reported city matches Milwaukee, 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 Milwaukee MSA dataset is established by point-in-polygon against the official US Census county boundaries (TIGER/Line, 2024).
Operating-quality signals are derived from 2,466 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. Term definitions in the glossary.
Machine-readable: JSON ↓ · API root
Free tools: membership break-even · site opportunity · ROI calculator