Chico Car Wash Market Analysis
Chico, CA
Data updated · June 9, 2026
6,801 Google reviews across 105 car washes in 1 Chico counties. Format mix, operator rank, county breakdown, rating vs. income, aspect-level customer signals.
Snapshot
- Locations
- 105
- 90% independent
- Chains
- 8
- lead: Surf Thru Express Car Wash (3 sites)
- Avg rating
- 4.35★
- -0.06 vs national MSA median
- Damage rate
- 1.6%
- near national MSA norm
- Cancel friction
- 18.8%
- Top format
- detail shop
- 53% of classified inventory
- Median single wash
- $20
- range $4–$22
- Median unlimited
- $16/mo
- cheapest $12/mo at Scrubbs Inc
Market Quality snapshot
- Population
- 209,470
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Households
- 82,345
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Residents per wash
- 1,995
- near the national MSA median
- Express tunnels per 10K households
- 0.5
- below the ~0.5 expandable band · classified sites
Key findings
- 105 car wash locations operated by 8 chains and 95 independents across 1 county.
- Weighted Google rating 4.35★ across the market; structural concentration and format mix sit near US-metro norms.
- Built from 6,801 Google reviews, 1,643 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.
105 car wash locations across 1 counties · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
Chico sits near the center of the US-metro distribution on concentration, format mix, and rating. 105 locations across 8 chains and 95 independents, distributed across 1 counties. Distinctive patterns show up below at the format and aspect levels.
Headline numbers sit near US-metro norms: rating 4.35★, damage 1.6%, cancel friction 18.8%. Staff strong (0.81); equipment reliability weak (-0.61). 6,801 Google reviews drive the analysis, 1,643 of them processed through the WashIndex LLM extractor.
Published pricing across the 6 of 106 Chico locations with menus available: median single car wash $20 (range $4–$22), median unlimited membership $16/month (range $12–$18/mo). The cheapest unlimited membership in the metro is $12/mo at Scrubbs Inc (MAT CLEANING).
See the top car wash chains in Chico
Ranked by location count in the metro
What does a car wash cost in the Chico metro?
Published menu pricing for car washes in the Chico metropolitan area, captured from operator websites and the WashIndex AI calling agent. 6 of 106 tracked locations have usable published pricing (6% coverage).
| Cheapest unlimited memberships in Chico | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scrubbs Inc MAT CLEANING | $12 per mo |
| 2 | Surf Thru Express Car Wash Good Auto-Recharge | $16 per mo |
| 3 | Surf Thru Express Car Wash Good Auto-Recharge | $16 per mo |
| 4 | Surf Thru Express Car Wash Good Auto-Recharge | $18 per mo |
| Cheapest single car washes in Chico | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scrubbs Inc MAT CLEANING | $4 |
| 2 | Surf Thru Express Car Wash Good Wash | $18 |
| 3 | GT Detailing Kids car seat cleaning | $20 |
| 4 | Surf Thru Express Car Wash Ceramic Wash | $22 |
| 5 | Surf Thru Express Car Wash Ceramic Wash | $22 |
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.
The car wash industry in the Chico metro, officially
Low-wageCar-wash wages in the Chico metro run about 14% below the national average ($27,900 vs. $32,560), across 9 employer establishments and roughly 85 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 Chico car wash market
How many car washes are in the Chico metro?
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What is the best-rated car wash in the Chico metro?
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Which car wash chain has the most locations in Chico?
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What is the average customer rating in the Chico car wash market?
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What is the typical household income near car washes in Chico?
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How much does a car wash cost in Chico?
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How much does an unlimited car wash membership cost in Chico?
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What is the cheapest car wash in Chico?
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What kinds of car washes does Chico have?
The format mix in Chico 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 4.92★ across 8 locations. Lowest-rated: In-Bay Automatic at 3.94★ (3 locations).
| Format | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage Rate | Cancel Friction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detail Shop | 8 | 7.6% | 882 | 4.92 | 0.32% | — |
| Express Tunnel | 4 | 3.8% | 1,672 | 3.99 | 6.67% | 22.2% |
| In-Bay Automatic | 3 | 2.9% | 216 | 3.94 | 0.00% | — |
What is the household income near Chico car washes?
Read together with the format mix above, the income scatter below tells you whether car wash quality in Chico tracks neighborhood income, format mix, or neither. Operating quality usually dominates this picture.
Pearson r between ZIP income and Google rating across 42 qualifying locations: 0.15 — mild positive. Higher-income ZIPs host slightly better-rated washes, but operator execution still dominates. Scatter mean: $77K AGI/return, 4.35★.
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 | 4 | 27 | 1,502 | 4.27 | Detail Shop (3) |
| $75K – $100K | 3 | 34 | 4,669 | 4.33 | Detail Shop (6) |
| $100K – $150K | 1 | 1 | 13 | 5.00 | — |
| $150K+ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
Income band spread: 0/0.00★ at the highest tier; 0/0.00★ at the lowest. In a balanced market, the per-tier read is most useful as a sanity check on whether the operating quality is income-uniform or income-stratified.
Who operates the most Chico car washes?
The table below ranks the top 25 chains operating in Chico 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 | Surf Thru Express Car Wash | 3 | 1,162 | 4.03 | 8.24% | 22.2% | 0.00% |
| 2 | Spotless Reflections | 1 | 30 | 5.00 | — | — | — |
| 3 | Circle K | 1 | 13 | 4.10 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Valero | 1 | 124 | 4.10 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Power Market | 1 | 191 | 4.00 | — | — | — |
| 6 | Chevron | 1 | 50 | 4.10 | — | — | — |
| 7 | Oil Changers & Car Wash | 1 | 877 | 4.60 | 0.79% | — | 0.52% |
| 8 | Sinclair | 1 | 12 | 2.80 | — | — | — |
| 9 | Stealth Window Tint In Chico | 1 | 321 | 4.90 | — | — | — |
Which counties have the most car washes in Chico?
Counties of the Chico CBSA are listed below by car wash count. Butte County is the most density-concentrated. Reading the rating column tells you whether quality is uniform across the metro or whether specific counties pull in either direction.
| County | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butte County | 106 | 101.0% | 6,801 | 4.35 |
What do customers love and complain about in Chico?
The aspect grid below summarizes 1,643 AI-extracted reviews across 105 Chico car wash locations. Each aspect lands on a -1…+1 scale (negative = customers complain more than they praise; positive = the reverse).
Where are all the car washes in the Chico metro?
The complete inventory of car wash locations in the Chico MSA is captured in the underlying dataset; the table below shows the highest-review-volume sites for at-a-glance comparison. Each row shows operator, address, format, chain affiliation, rating, review count, and the IRS mean AGI for the ZIP.
| Location | City | Format | Chain | Rating | Reviews | ZIP AGI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oil Changers & Car Wash 2485 Notre Dame Blvd Ste 600 | Chico, CA | — | Oil Changers & Car Wash | 4.6 | 877 | $82K |
| Surf Thru Express Car Wash 2470 Forest Ave | Chico, CA | Express Tunnel | Surf Thru Express Car Wash | 4.0 | 700 | $82K |
| Oroville Car Wash 2535 Feather River Blvd | Oroville, CA | — | — | 4.5 | 566 | $60K |
| California Car Wash 150 Commercial Ave | Chico, CA | — | — | 4.3 | 551 | $91K |
| Scrubbs Inc 1020 Skyway | Chico, CA | Express Tunnel | — | 3.9 | 510 | $82K |
| Surf Thru Express Car Wash 2573 Esplanade | Chico, CA | Express Tunnel | Surf Thru Express Car Wash | 4.1 | 442 | $91K |
| Pastime Auto Wash Express 2610 Olive Hwy | Oroville, CA | — | — | 4.1 | 331 | $63K |
| Top Tier Auto Detailing & Window Tinting 11 Commerce Ct #6 | Chico, CA | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 286 | $82K |
| Nick's Mobile Detailing | , CA | — | — | 4.9 | 243 | — |
| Power Market 710 E Lassen Ave | Chico, CA | In-Bay Automatic | Power Market | 4.0 | 191 | $91K |
| Campus Car Wash 1110 W 6th St | Chico, CA | — | — | 3.6 | 130 | $82K |
| Sam's Gas and Go 1295 E 8th St | Chico, CA | — | Valero | 4.1 | 124 | $82K |
| Vinces Mobile Auto Detailing | , CA | — | — | 4.8 | 123 | — |
| Orange Ave Car Wash 3440 Orange Ave | Oroville, CA | — | — | 4.1 | 123 | $63K |
| Chico Carwash 1625 Mangrove Ave | Chico, CA | — | — | 3.4 | 110 | $72K |
| Car wash 104-100 E 13th St | Chico, CA | — | — | 4.3 | 109 | $82K |
| S&P Details & Ceramic Coatings 451 Grand Ave | Oroville, CA | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 67 | $60K |
| Henri's Auto Detailing 13303 Cabin Hollow Ct | Chico, CA | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 62 | $91K |
| Thornton's Chevron 360 East Ave | Chico, CA | — | Chevron | 4.1 | 50 | $72K |
| Masters Auto Detail 636 Nord Ave Ste A | Chico, CA | Detail Shop | — | 4.8 | 48 | $82K |
| Papaz Detailing 1340 Bille Rd SPC 60 | Paradise, CA | — | — | 4.9 | 47 | $87K |
| David's Automotive Detailing by Ceramic Pro 2684 CA-32 unit 160 | Chico, CA | — | — | 4.5 | 46 | $91K |
| UHD Auto Detailing | , CA | — | — | 5.0 | 45 | — |
| Gridley Car Wash | Gridley, CA | — | — | 2.2 | 42 | — |
| Advanced Car Care 2290 Ivy St #100 | Chico, CA | — | — | 4.7 | 39 | $82K |
Compare Chico to other CA 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). Chico car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/chico
WashIndex. "Chico car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified June 9, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/chico.
"Chico car wash market analysis." WashIndex, Jun. 9, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/chico.
@misc{washindex_car_wash_markets_chico_2026,
title = {{Chico car wash market analysis}},
author = {{WashIndex}},
year = {2026},
month = {Jun},
url = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/chico},
urldate = {2026-06-09},
} About this analysis
Car wash inventory for the Chico, CA 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 1,643 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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