Grand Island Car Wash Market Analysis
Grand Island, NE
Data updated · June 9, 2026
3,917 Google reviews across 62 car washes in 3 Grand Island counties. Format mix, operator rank, county breakdown, rating vs. income, aspect-level customer signals.
Snapshot
- Locations
- 62
- 89% independent
- Chains
- 4
- lead: Bubbles Car Wash (3 sites)
- Avg rating
- 4.36★
- -0.05 vs national MSA median
- Damage rate
- 1.0%
- 1.6× below national norm
- Cancel friction
- 0.0%
- Top format
- express tunnel
- 64% of classified inventory
Market Quality snapshot
- Population
- 76,619
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Households
- 30,110
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Residents per wash
- 1,236
- 1.6× denser than the national MSA median
- Express tunnels per 10K households
- 2.3
- above ~1.5 — heavily built · classified sites
Key findings
- 62 car wash locations operated by 4 chains and 55 independents across 3 counties.
- Weighted Google rating 4.36★ across the market; structural concentration and format mix sit near US-metro norms.
- Built from 3,917 Google reviews, 998 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.
62 car wash locations across 3 counties · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
Grand Island sits near the center of the US-metro distribution on concentration, format mix, and rating. 62 locations across 4 chains and 55 independents, distributed across 3 counties. Distinctive patterns show up below at the format and aspect levels.
Weighted rating 4.36★; damage 1.0%; membership-cancel friction 0.0%. Equipment reliability runs as the sharpest friction (-0.63). 3,917 Google reviews drive the analysis, 998 of them processed through the WashIndex LLM extractor.
See the top car wash chains in Grand Island
Ranked by location count in the metro
The car wash industry in the Grand Island metro, officially
Low-wageCar-wash wages in the Grand Island 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 Grand Island car wash market
How many car washes are in the Grand Island metro?
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What is the best-rated car wash in the Grand Island metro?
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Which car wash chain has the most locations in Grand Island?
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What is the average customer rating in the Grand Island car wash market?
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What is the typical household income near car washes in Grand Island?
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What kinds of car washes does Grand Island have?
The table below lists every operating format we classify, with locations, reviews, average rating, damage rate, and membership-cancel friction broken out per format. Grand Island's mix sits close to the US-metro median shape.
Highest-rated format: Detail Shop at 4.92★ across 2 locations. Lowest-rated: Full Service at 4.24★ (2 locations).
| Format | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage Rate | Cancel Friction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Express Tunnel | 7 | 11.3% | 2,058 | 4.47 | 0.99% | 0.0% |
| Detail Shop | 2 | 3.2% | 131 | 4.92 | 0.00% | 0.0% |
| Full Service | 2 | 3.2% | 429 | 4.24 | 2.11% | — |
What is the household income near Grand Island car washes?
Each ZIP in Grand Island is joined to IRS Statistics-of-Income (tax year 2022) and to the per-location Google rating dataset. The scatter below sizes dots by review volume and colors them by format.
Pearson r between ZIP income and Google rating across 27 qualifying locations: 0.12 — mild positive. Higher-income ZIPs host slightly better-rated washes, but operator execution still dominates. Scatter mean: $71K AGI/return, 4.21★.
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 | 46 | 3,731 | 4.34 | Express Tunnel (7) |
| $75K – $100K | 2 | 3 | 141 | 4.48 | Detail Shop (1) |
| $100K – $150K | 1 | 1 | 20 | 4.80 | — |
| $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 Grand Island car washes?
4 chains alongside 55 independents make up Grand Island's car wash supply. The chain rank below shows the multi-location operators' position; the per-location detail near the bottom of the page captures the independent layer.
| # | Chain | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage | Cancel | Upsell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bubbles Car Wash | 3 | 331 | 3.78 | — | — | — |
| 2 | Kermit's Super Wash | 2 | 498 | 4.40 | — | — | — |
| 3 | Tommy's Express® Car Wash | 1 | 1,190 | 4.70 | 0.75% | 0.0% | 0.00% |
| 4 | Phillips 66 | 1 | 124 | 4.20 | — | — | — |
Which counties have the most car washes in Grand Island?
Counties of the Grand Island CBSA are listed below by car wash count. Hall 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.
Cross-county rating dispersion: 0.21★ between the highest- and lowest-rated counties with meaningful sample size.
| County | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hall County | 53 | 85.5% | 3,650 | 4.36 |
| Howard County | 7 | 11.3% | 125 | 4.24 |
| Merrick County | 3 | 4.8% | 142 | 4.46 |
What do customers love and complain about in Grand Island?
The aspect grid below summarizes 998 AI-extracted reviews across 62 Grand Island 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 Grand Island metro?
62 car washes are tracked in Grand Island; 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tommy's Express® Car Wash 710 Allen Dr | Grand Island, NE | Express Tunnel | Tommy's Express® Car Wash | 4.7 | 1,190 | $75K |
| Diamond Truck Wash 6499 US-281 | Grand Island, NE | — | — | 4.1 | 493 | $62K |
| Speed Clean Truck Wash 3404 W Wood River Rd | Grand Island, NE | Full Service | — | 4.2 | 342 | $75K |
| Kermit’s Super Wash 1708 Diers Ave | Grand Island, NE | Express Tunnel | Kermit's Super Wash | 4.5 | 251 | $75K |
| Kermit's Super Wash 1304 W 2nd St | Grand Island, NE | Express Tunnel | Kermit's Super Wash | 4.3 | 247 | $62K |
| Bubbles Car Wash 905 S Locust St | Grand Island, NE | Express Tunnel | Bubbles Car Wash | 3.8 | 200 | $62K |
| 5 Points Car Wash 1815 N Eddy St | Grand Island, NE | — | — | 3.9 | 134 | $62K |
| Phillips 66 1904 Diers Ave | Grand Island, NE | — | Phillips 66 | 4.2 | 124 | $75K |
| Bubbles Car Wash - 2151 N Diers 2151 Diers Ave | Grand Island, NE | Express Tunnel | Bubbles Car Wash | 3.9 | 111 | $75K |
| Central Nebraska Truck Wash 2030 US-30 | Grand Island, NE | Full Service | — | 4.4 | 87 | $62K |
| Mr G's Car Care Center 623 S Locust St | Grand Island, NE | — | — | 4.5 | 83 | $62K |
| Hermsmeyer Detailing 800 16th St Suite A | Central City, NE | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 80 | $86K |
| Central Car Wash 910 G St | Central City, NE | — | — | 3.8 | 61 | $86K |
| Mr G's Car Care Center 3005 Frontage Rd | Grand Island, NE | — | — | 4.3 | 60 | $75K |
| Capital Carwash 1827 W Capital Ave | Grand Island, NE | — | — | 3.3 | 58 | $75K |
| C & C Power Washing, Detail, & Polishing Inc. 308 Willow St | Grand Island, NE | Detail Shop | — | 4.8 | 51 | $62K |
| U-Betcha Auto 414 2nd St | St Paul, NE | — | — | 4.6 | 49 | $74K |
| GI Truck Wash 432 S Stuhr Rd | Grand Island, NE | Express Tunnel | — | 4.4 | 39 | $62K |
| AJDetails 1037 N Hancock Ave | Grand Island, NE | — | — | 5.0 | 34 | $75K |
| River Valley Auto 964 NE-92 | St Paul, NE | — | — | 4.5 | 31 | $74K |
| Classy Chassy 913 2nd St | St Paul, NE | — | — | 4.3 | 23 | $74K |
| Floyd's Auto Detailing 3638 S Locust St #3 | Grand Island, NE | — | — | 4.6 | 21 | $62K |
| Bubbles Car Wash NE 2nd Street 2215 W 2nd St | Grand Island, NE | Express Tunnel | Bubbles Car Wash | 2.9 | 20 | $75K |
| Cardinal Splash and Dash 104 E Plum St | Doniphan, NE | — | — | 4.8 | 20 | $110K |
| Maximus Car Audio & Rims 416 W 3rd St | Grand Island, NE | — | — | 3.9 | 14 | $62K |
Compare Grand Island to other NE 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). Grand Island car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/grand-island
WashIndex. "Grand Island car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified June 9, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/grand-island.
"Grand Island car wash market analysis." WashIndex, Jun. 9, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/grand-island.
@misc{washindex_car_wash_markets_grand_island_2026,
title = {{Grand Island car wash market analysis}},
author = {{WashIndex}},
year = {2026},
month = {Jun},
url = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/grand-island},
urldate = {2026-06-09},
} About this analysis
Car wash inventory for the Grand Island, NE CBSA is determined by point-in-polygon test against the official US Census county boundaries (TIGER/Line, 2024) for the 3 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 998 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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