Burlington Car Wash Market Analysis
Burlington, NC
Data updated · June 9, 2026
12,275 Google reviews across 107 car washes in 1 Burlington counties. Format mix, operator rank, county breakdown, rating vs. income, aspect-level customer signals.
Snapshot
- Locations
- 107
- 86% independent
- Chains
- 9
- lead: Sheetz (4 sites)
- Avg rating
- 4.42★
- near national MSA median
- Damage rate
- 1.2%
- 1.4× below national norm
- Cancel friction
- 7.7%
- Top format
- express tunnel
- 33% of classified inventory
Market Quality snapshot
- Population
- 174,286
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Households
- 68,441
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Residents per wash
- 1,629
- 1.2× denser than the national MSA median
- Express tunnels per 10K households
- 0.7
- in the 0.5–1.0 filling band · classified sites
Key findings
- 107 car wash locations operated by 9 chains and 92 independents across 1 county.
- Weighted Google rating 4.42★ across the market; structural concentration and format mix sit near US-metro norms.
- Built from 12,275 Google reviews, 2,933 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.
107 car wash locations across 1 counties · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
Tracked at 107 car wash locations, Burlington matches the structural profile of the typical US metro of comparable size. 107 locations across 9 chains and 92 independents, distributed across 1 counties. Customer-experience signals across 2,933 AI-extracted reviews produce the distinct read on this market.
Average rating across the 107-location market weighs in at 4.42★; damage rate 1.2%; cancel friction 7.7%. Staff is the brightest aspect signal (0.83/+1). Per-operator and per-format cuts below are more informative than the aggregates.
See the top car wash chains in Burlington
Ranked by location count in the metro
The car wash industry in the Burlington metro, officially
Low-wageCar-wash wages in the Burlington metro run about 24% below the national average ($24,795 vs. $32,560), across 12 employer establishments and roughly 89 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 Burlington car wash market
How many car washes are in the Burlington metro?
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What is the best-rated car wash in the Burlington metro?
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Which car wash chain has the most locations in Burlington?
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What is the average customer rating in the Burlington car wash market?
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What is the typical household income near car washes in Burlington?
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What kinds of car washes does Burlington have?
The format mix in Burlington 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: Express Tunnel at 4.75★ across 5 locations. Lowest-rated: Full Service at 3.96★ (3 locations).
92 (86.0%) of 107 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 | 92 | 86.0% | 4,741 | 4.24 | 1.71% | 14.3% |
| Express Tunnel | 5 | 4.7% | 5,052 | 4.75 | 1.01% | 7.4% |
| Detail Shop | 5 | 4.7% | 590 | 4.63 | 0.65% | 0.0% |
| Full Service | 3 | 2.8% | 1,696 | 3.96 | 1.08% | 10.0% |
| In-Bay Automatic | 2 | 1.9% | 196 | 4.04 | 0.00% | — |
What is the household income near Burlington car washes?
Read together with the format mix above, the income scatter below tells you whether car wash quality in Burlington tracks neighborhood income, format mix, or neither. Operating quality usually dominates this picture.
Pearson r between ZIP income and Google rating across 43 qualifying locations: -0.32 — mild negative. Higher-income ZIPs in this market host slightly lower-rated washes on average, which is unusual. Scatter mean: $70K AGI/return, 4.27★.
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 | 1 | 13 | 590 | 4.66 | Detail Shop (1) |
| $50K – $75K | 3 | 23 | 2,343 | 4.33 | Detail Shop (1) |
| $75K – $100K | 3 | 33 | 8,930 | 4.41 | Express Tunnel (4) |
| $100K – $150K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
| $150K+ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
Top-tier 0 sites, 0.00★ avg; bottom-tier 13 sites, 4.66★. Across Burlington's 43 qualifying locations, the income gradient correlates only weakly with rating — operator execution dominates.
Who operates the most Burlington car washes?
9 chains run sites in Burlington; the top 25 are listed below by location count, with their per-chain operating-quality numbers next to them. Useful for narrowing competitive-set considerations or for M&A evaluation.
| # | Chain | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage | Cancel | Upsell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheetz | 4 | 2,310 | 4.10 | 0.00% | — | 0.55% |
| 2 | Autobell Car Wash | 2 | 833 | 3.81 | 1.55% | — | 0.52% |
| 3 | Whistle Express Car Wash | 2 | 2,051 | 4.64 | 1.70% | 11.6% | 0.00% |
| 4 | bp | 2 | 196 | 4.04 | — | — | — |
| 5 | New Glow Car Wash | 1 | 105 | 3.40 | — | — | — |
| 6 | Rocket Wash Express | 1 | 631 | 4.80 | 1.72% | 12.9% | 0.00% |
| 7 | ModWash | 1 | 2,265 | 4.90 | 0.59% | 3.0% | 0.39% |
| 8 | Blue Beacon | 1 | 863 | 4.10 | 0.56% | — | 1.12% |
| 9 | Shell | 1 | 60 | 4.10 | — | — | — |
Which counties have the most car washes in Burlington?
Burlington's 107 car washes distribute across 1 counties. Alamance County leads with 107 locations (100.0%). Cross-county rating dispersion is usually narrow at this scale.
| County | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alamance County | 107 | 100.0% | 12,275 | 4.42 |
What do customers love and complain about in Burlington?
Reading the aspect grid: numbers above 0.3 are strong positives; numbers below -0.1 indicate meaningful friction; in between is mixed signal. staff is the brightest spot here. equipment reliability is the pain point.
Where are all the car washes in the Burlington metro?
Top 25 car washes by review volume in Burlington. The full set of 107 is available in the underlying dataset.
| Location | City | Format | Chain | Rating | Reviews | ZIP AGI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ModWash 1354 Mebane Oaks Rd | Mebane, NC | Express Tunnel | ModWash | 4.9 | 2,265 | $76K |
| Sheetz 2628 Alamance Rd | Burlington, NC | — | Sheetz | 4.3 | 1,746 | $81K |
| Whistle Express Car Wash 3770 Kerney Dr | Burlington, NC | Express Tunnel | Whistle Express Car Wash | 4.6 | 1,294 | $81K |
| Blue Beacon Truck Wash of Haw River, NC Exit 150, 950 Jimmie Kerr Rd #40/85 | Haw River, NC | Full Service | Blue Beacon | 4.1 | 863 | $67K |
| Whistle Express Car Wash 918 S Main St | Graham, NC | Express Tunnel | Whistle Express Car Wash | 4.7 | 757 | $63K |
| Rocket Wash Express 211 Fieldale Rd | Mebane, NC | Express Tunnel | Rocket Wash Express | 4.8 | 631 | $76K |
| Autobell Car Wash 2090 S Church St | Burlington, NC | Full Service | Autobell Car Wash | 4.0 | 520 | $81K |
| Eastern Auto Spa 907 Mebane Oaks Rd | Mebane, NC | — | — | 4.1 | 492 | $76K |
| Autobell Car Wash 3420 S Church St | Burlington, NC | Full Service | Autobell Car Wash | 3.5 | 313 | $81K |
| Lil' Donnie Walker's Car Wash 1246 S Main St | Graham, NC | — | — | 4.4 | 276 | $63K |
| Lil' Donnie Walker's Car Wash 3804 S Mebane St | Burlington, NC | Detail Shop | — | 4.3 | 273 | $81K |
| Vivas Hand Car Wash 909 E Webb Ave | Burlington, NC | — | — | 4.6 | 261 | $48K |
| Sheetz 1237 Mebane Oaks Rd | Mebane, NC | — | Sheetz | 3.2 | 258 | $76K |
| James Mobile Detailing and Ceramic Coating 3667 Alamance Rd | Burlington, NC | Detail Shop | — | 4.9 | 187 | $81K |
| Andy's Mobile Detail LLC | , NC | — | — | 4.9 | 186 | — |
| Classic Collision 1238 Rauhut St | Burlington, NC | — | — | 4.8 | 163 | $48K |
| Sheetz 1138 S Main St | Graham, NC | — | Sheetz | 3.5 | 161 | $63K |
| bp 1103 Huffman Mill Rd | Burlington, NC | In-Bay Automatic | bp | 4.0 | 157 | $81K |
| Sheetz 2669 Maple Ave | Burlington, NC | — | Sheetz | 3.9 | 145 | $81K |
| Adams Auto Spa Plus 1505 E Webb Ave | Burlington, NC | — | — | 3.2 | 132 | $81K |
| Ivey Motorcars Inc 2508 S Church St | Burlington, NC | — | — | 4.7 | 106 | $81K |
| South Church Street Car Wash 2200 S Church St | Burlington, NC | Express Tunnel | New Glow Car Wash | 3.4 | 105 | $81K |
| Dash Detailing | , NC | — | — | 4.9 | 72 | — |
| Tommy's Car Wash 512 W Center St | Mebane, NC | — | — | 2.9 | 68 | $76K |
| First Class Auto Works 1130 Cherry Ln | Graham, NC | Detail Shop | — | 4.9 | 68 | $63K |
Compare Burlington to other NC 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). Burlington car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/burlington
WashIndex. "Burlington car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified June 9, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/burlington.
"Burlington car wash market analysis." WashIndex, Jun. 9, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/burlington.
@misc{washindex_car_wash_markets_burlington_2026,
title = {{Burlington car wash market analysis}},
author = {{WashIndex}},
year = {2026},
month = {Jun},
url = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/burlington},
urldate = {2026-06-09},
} About this analysis
Car wash inventory for the Burlington, NC CBSA is determined by point-in-polygon test against the official US Census county boundaries (TIGER/Line, 2024) for the 1 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 2,933 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
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