Ames Car Wash Market Analysis
Ames, IA
Data updated · June 9, 2026
3,045 Google reviews across 88 car washes in 2 Ames counties. Format mix, operator rank, geographic distribution, income overlay, customer-experience signals.
Snapshot
- Locations
- 88
- 90% independent
- Chains
- 6
- lead: Phillips 66 (2 sites)
- Avg rating
- 4.37★
- near national MSA median
- Damage rate
- 1.8%
- near national MSA norm
- Cancel friction
- 21.1%
- Top format
- detail shop
- 38% of classified inventory
Market Quality snapshot
- Population
- 125,261
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Households
- 49,643
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Residents per wash
- 1,423
- 1.4× denser than the national MSA median
- Express tunnels per 10K households
- 0.4
- below the ~0.5 expandable band · classified sites
Key findings
- 88 car wash locations operated by 6 chains and 79 independents across 2 counties.
- Weighted Google rating 4.37★ across the market; structural concentration and format mix sit near US-metro norms.
- Built from 3,045 Google reviews, 552 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.
88 car wash locations across 2 counties · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
Tracked at 88 car wash locations, Ames matches the structural profile of the typical US metro of comparable size. 88 locations across 6 chains and 79 independents, distributed across 2 counties. Distinctive patterns show up below at the format and aspect levels.
Weighted rating 4.37★; damage 1.8%; membership-cancel friction 21.1%. Equipment reliability runs as the sharpest friction (-0.59). 3,045 Google reviews drive the analysis, 552 of them processed through the WashIndex LLM extractor.
See the top car wash chains in Ames
Ranked by location count in the metro
The car wash industry in the Ames metro, officially
Low-wageCar-wash wages in the Ames metro run about 100% below the national average ($0 vs. $32,560), across 9 employer establishments and roughly 0 jobs.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW (private, NAICS 811192). Counts car-wash employer establishments, a narrower universe than all physical wash locations — see methodology.
About the Ames car wash market
How many car washes are in the Ames metro?
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What is the best-rated car wash in the Ames metro?
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Which car wash chain has the most locations in Ames?
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What is the average customer rating in the Ames car wash market?
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What is the typical household income near car washes in Ames?
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What kinds of car washes does Ames have?
The format mix in Ames reads as a typical mid-market US metro — express tunnels and detail shops carrying the bulk of supply, with full-service and self-serve layered in. The bar chart pairs location count with per-format average rating.
Highest-rated format: Detail Shop at 4.95★ across 5 locations. Lowest-rated: In-Bay Automatic at 3.82★ (3 locations).
75 (85.2%) of 88 locations are unclassified — small independents whose websites don't surface enough signal for format assignment. Format-level statistics describe the classified subset only.
| Format | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage Rate | Cancel Friction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unclassified | 75 | 85.2% | 1,728 | 4.47 | 0.50% | 0.0% |
| Detail Shop | 5 | 5.7% | 149 | 4.95 | 0.00% | — |
| In-Bay Automatic | 3 | 3.4% | 191 | 3.82 | 0.00% | — |
| Self-Serve Bay | 3 | 3.4% | 531 | 3.90 | 2.56% | 20.0% |
| Express Tunnel | 2 | 2.3% | 446 | 4.57 | 12.28% | 25.0% |
What is the household income near Ames car washes?
Read together with the format mix above, the income scatter below tells you whether car wash quality in Ames tracks neighborhood income, format mix, or neither. Operating quality usually dominates this picture.
Pearson r between ZIP income and Google rating across 33 qualifying locations: 0.01 — effectively zero. Operating quality dominates over neighborhood income. Scatter mean: $85K AGI/return, 4.25★.
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 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
| $50K – $75K | 3 | 11 | 224 | 3.94 | Detail Shop (1) |
| $75K – $100K | 8 | 34 | 2,589 | 4.37 | Detail Shop (4) |
| $100K – $150K | 3 | 3 | 63 | 3.87 | — |
| $150K+ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
The highest-income tier ($150K+) contains 0 car washes across 0 ZIPs at 0.00★, against 0 sites across 0 ZIPs at 0.00★ in the lowest. Middle-income tiers typically host the densest express-tunnel concentrations — the part of the income curve where that format's unit economics are strongest.
Who operates the most Ames car washes?
The table below ranks the top 25 chains operating in Ames by location count. Each row shows per-chain Google rating, damage rate, and cancel friction — the cleanest side-by-side cut on operator quality in the market.
| # | Chain | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage | Cancel | Upsell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phillips 66 | 2 | 174 | 4.27 | — | — | — |
| 2 | Kwik Trip | 2 | 392 | 4.50 | 0.00% | — | 0.00% |
| 3 | Varsity Carwash | 2 | 446 | 4.57 | — | — | — |
| 4 | bp | 1 | 18 | 2.70 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Super Shine Car Wash | 1 | 92 | 3.80 | — | — | — |
| 6 | Wild Water Car Wash Fort Dodge | 1 | 429 | 3.90 | — | — | — |
Which counties have the most car washes in Ames?
The table below splits the metro's car wash inventory across the 2 counties of the Ames, IA CBSA, with location count, total reviews, and weighted-average rating per county.
Cross-county rating dispersion: 0.32★ between the highest- and lowest-rated counties with meaningful sample size.
| County | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Story County | 70 | 79.5% | 2,771 | 4.39 |
| Boone County | 18 | 20.5% | 274 | 4.08 |
What do customers love and complain about in Ames?
Reading the aspect grid: numbers above 0.3 are strong positives; numbers below -0.1 indicate meaningful friction; in between is mixed signal. wait time is the brightest spot here. equipment reliability is the pain point.
Where are all the car washes in the Ames metro?
88 car washes are tracked in Ames; below is the top of the list by Google review count. Locations with fewer than 10 reviews are excluded from the rating column.
| Location | City | Format | Chain | Rating | Reviews | ZIP AGI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Water Car Wash & Pet Wash 204 Clark Ave | Ames, IA | Self-Serve Bay | Wild Water Car Wash Fort Dodge | 3.9 | 429 | $83K |
| Varsity Carwash 3705 Lincoln Way | Ames, IA | Express Tunnel | Varsity Carwash | 4.6 | 304 | $94K |
| Shaffer's Auto Body and Mechanical Repair 1712 E Lincoln Wy | Ames, IA | — | — | 4.7 | 237 | $83K |
| Kwik Star 1704 Broad St | Story City, IA | — | Kwik Trip | 4.5 | 201 | $87K |
| Kwik Star 1910 Isaac Newton Dr | Ames, IA | — | Kwik Trip | 4.5 | 191 | $83K |
| Don & Sons Body Shop 1003 E Lincoln Wy | Ames, IA | — | — | 4.9 | 151 | $83K |
| Phillips 66 2400 S University Blvd | Ames, IA | — | Phillips 66 | 4.3 | 147 | $83K |
| Boone Laser Wash 921 Mamie Eisenhower Ave | Boone, IA | In-Bay Automatic | — | 3.9 | 146 | $75K |
| Varsity Carwash 1016 S Duff Ave | Ames, IA | Express Tunnel | Varsity Carwash | 4.5 | 142 | $83K |
| Nevada Auto Wash 1120 15th St | Nevada, IA | — | — | 4.2 | 114 | $89K |
| Super Shine Car Wash 3706 Stange Rd | Ames, IA | Self-Serve Bay | Super Shine Car Wash | 3.8 | 92 | $83K |
| Success Auto Wash and Detail 608 Douglas Ave | Ames, IA | — | — | 4.9 | 78 | $83K |
| Hansen Automotive Ames Towing 402 E Lincoln Wy | Ames, IA | — | — | 4.7 | 72 | $83K |
| Details Auto Appearance Center 504 E Lincoln Wy | Ames, IA | Detail Shop | — | 4.9 | 66 | $83K |
| Tornado Wash 220 S Duff Ave #3 | Ames, IA | — | — | 3.0 | 65 | $83K |
| Kwik Connection 116 Beedle Dr | Ames, IA | — | — | 4.1 | 50 | $94K |
| M.J Mobile Detailing | , IA | — | — | 5.0 | 49 | — |
| ABC Detailing LLC 615 S Dayton Ave #129 | Ames, IA | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 49 | $83K |
| Hales Interior Shine | , IA | — | — | 5.0 | 29 | — |
| R&G Detailing | , IA | — | — | 5.0 | 29 | — |
| Phillips 66 Touch Free Car Wash 110 Airport Rd | Ames, IA | In-Bay Automatic | Phillips 66 | 4.1 | 27 | $83K |
| Touchless Laser Car Wash II Gilchrist St | Ames, IA | — | — | 4.3 | 27 | $83K |
| Gilbert Car Wash 109 Main St | Gilbert, IA | — | — | 4.8 | 27 | $106K |
| Madrid Power Wash 202 N Kennedy Ave | Madrid, IA | — | — | 4.5 | 26 | $84K |
| Huxley Car Wash 204 US-69 | Huxley, IA | — | — | 2.6 | 25 | $102K |
Compare Ames to other IA car wash markets
Each link drills into a full per-metro analysis — operator concentration, format mix, and customer-experience signals against the same methodology.
Data as of 2026-06-09. Pick a format and click Copy.
WashIndex. (2026, June 9). Ames car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/ames
WashIndex. "Ames car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified June 9, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/ames.
"Ames car wash market analysis." WashIndex, Jun. 9, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/ames.
@misc{washindex_car_wash_markets_ames_2026,
title = {{Ames car wash market analysis}},
author = {{WashIndex}},
year = {2026},
month = {Jun},
url = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/ames},
urldate = {2026-06-09},
} About this analysis
Car wash inventory for the Ames, IA CBSA is determined by point-in-polygon test against the official US Census county boundaries (TIGER/Line, 2024) for the 2 counties that make up the MSA. Each location was verified to fall inside one of those county polygons; lat/lng comes from Google Maps metadata.
Operating-quality signals are derived from 552 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.
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