Modesto Car Wash Market Analysis
Modesto, CA
Data updated · June 9, 2026
19,027 Google reviews across 320 car washes in 1 Modesto counties. Format mix, operator rank, geographic distribution, income overlay, customer-experience signals.
Snapshot
- Locations
- 320
- 92% independent
- Chains
- 8
- lead: Mister Car Wash (14 sites)
- Avg rating
- 4.36★
- -0.05 vs national MSA median
- Damage rate
- 2.2%
- 1.4× national MSA norm
- Cancel friction
- 9.4%
- Top format
- detail shop
- 41% of classified inventory
- Median single wash
- $10
- range $10–$23.50
- Median unlimited
- $22.99/mo
- cheapest $17/mo at Skylab Ceramic Details
Market Quality snapshot
- Population
- 552,250
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Households
- 176,457
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Residents per wash
- 1,726
- near the national MSA median
- Express tunnels per 10K households
- 1.1
- above ~1.0 — contested · classified sites
Key findings
- 320 car wash locations operated by 8 chains and 294 independents across 1 county.
- Weighted Google rating 4.36★ across the market; structural concentration and format mix sit near US-metro norms.
- Built from 19,027 Google reviews, 5,295 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.
320 car wash locations across 1 counties · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
Modesto's car wash market reads as US-metro-typical in shape; the distinctive cuts are at the format and aspect levels. 8 chains compete alongside 294 independents — typical mix for a market of 320 car washes. Customer-experience signals across 5,295 AI-extracted reviews produce the distinct read on this market.
Headline numbers sit near US-metro norms: rating 4.36★, damage 2.2%, cancel friction 9.4%. Equipment reliability runs as the sharpest friction (-0.43). Per-operator and per-format cuts below are more informative than the aggregates.
Published pricing across the 26 of 324 Modesto locations with menus available: median single car wash $10 (range $10–$23.50), median unlimited membership $22.99/month (range $17–$29/mo). The cheapest unlimited membership in the metro is $17/mo at Skylab Ceramic Details (GET A QUOTE).
See the top car wash chains in Modesto
Ranked by location count in the metro
What does a car wash cost in the Modesto metro?
Published menu pricing for car washes in the Modesto metropolitan area, captured from operator websites and the WashIndex AI calling agent. 26 of 324 tracked locations have usable published pricing (8% coverage).
| Cheapest unlimited memberships in Modesto | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Skylab Ceramic Details GET A QUOTE | $17 per mo |
| 2 | Fast Track Car Wash Good | $19.99 per mo |
| 3 | Fast Bay Car Wash GOOD | $19.99 per mo |
| 4 | Fast Track Car Wash Good | $19.99 per mo |
| 5 | Gateway Car Wash SILVER WASH | $21.99 per mo |
| Cheapest single car washes in Modesto | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mister Car Wash Base | $10 |
| 2 | Mister Car Wash Base | $10 |
| 3 | Mister Car Wash Base | $10 |
| 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.
The car wash industry in the Modesto metro, officially
the Modesto metro has 38 car-wash employer establishments employing about 484 people, at a $32,622 average annual wage.
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.
Car wash financing in the Modesto metro
Operations-heavySince 2012, the U.S. Small Business Administration has backed 10 car-wash loans in the Modesto metro worth $10.9M, at a $782,500 median per car wash. Early read: an outsized 20% of loans were for working capital rather than construction or acquisition (vs. 10% nationally), which can point to operators managing cash flow more than expanding.
- Stanislaus 10
- New build / open50% · $1.0M
- Acquisition10% · $1.4M
- Expansion / improvement20% · $970K
- Working capital20% · $15K
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 the Modesto car wash market
How many car washes are in the Modesto metro?
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What is the best-rated car wash in the Modesto metro?
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Which car wash chain has the most locations in Modesto?
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What is the average customer rating in the Modesto car wash market?
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What is the typical household income near car washes in Modesto?
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How much does a car wash cost in Modesto?
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How much does an unlimited car wash membership cost in Modesto?
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What is the cheapest car wash in Modesto?
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What kinds of car washes does Modesto have?
The format mix in Modesto 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 4.79★ across 20 locations. Lowest-rated: In-Bay Automatic at 3.81★ (4 locations).
| Format | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage Rate | Cancel Friction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detail Shop | 20 | 6.3% | 2,790 | 4.79 | 0.47% | 0.0% |
| Express Tunnel | 20 | 6.3% | 9,225 | 4.22 | 4.61% | 10.6% |
| In-Bay Automatic | 4 | 1.3% | 410 | 3.81 | 2.94% | 0.0% |
| Full Service | 4 | 1.3% | 1,454 | 3.98 | 5.56% | 0.0% |
| Self-Serve Bay | 1 | 0.3% | 18 | 4.50 | 0.00% | — |
What is the household income near Modesto car washes?
Read together with the format mix above, the income scatter below tells you whether car wash quality in Modesto tracks neighborhood income, format mix, or neither. Operating quality usually dominates this picture.
Pearson r between ZIP income and Google rating across 94 qualifying locations: -0.05 — effectively zero. Operating quality dominates over neighborhood income. Scatter mean: $70K AGI/return, 4.37★.
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 | 17 | 586 | 4.40 | Detail Shop (2) |
| $50K – $75K | 10 | 112 | 11,470 | 4.36 | Express Tunnel (14) |
| $75K – $100K | 5 | 26 | 3,477 | 4.16 | Express Tunnel (4) |
| $100K – $150K | 1 | 21 | 2,115 | 4.40 | Detail Shop (6) |
| $150K+ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
The highest-income tier ($150K+) contains 0 car washes across 0 ZIPs at 0.00★, against 17 sites across 1 ZIPs at 4.40★ 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 Modesto car washes?
8 chains alongside 294 independents make up Modesto'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 | Mister Car Wash | 14 | 6,279 | 4.06 | 7.82% | 11.4% | 0.80% |
| 2 | 76 | 4 | 410 | 3.81 | — | — | — |
| 3 | Five Minute Car Wash | 2 | 719 | 4.12 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Fast Track Car Wash | 2 | 693 | 4.36 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Chevron | 1 | 23 | 4.30 | — | — | — |
| 6 | So Fresh & So Clean Auto Detailing | 1 | 51 | 4.70 | — | — | — |
| 7 | Quality Auto Glass Tint | 1 | 579 | 4.90 | 0.34% | — | 0.00% |
| 8 | Ceramic Garage Inc | 1 | 500 | 5.00 | 0.30% | — | 0.30% |
| 9 | Quick Quack Car Wash | 1 | 1,148 | 4.80 | 1.09% | 7.5% | 0.41% |
Which counties have the most car washes in Modesto?
Modesto's 320 car washes distribute across 1 counties. Stanislaus County leads with 324 locations (101.3%). Cross-county rating dispersion is usually narrow at this scale.
| County | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanislaus County | 324 | 101.3% | 19,027 | 4.36 |
What do customers love and complain about in Modesto?
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 Modesto metro?
The complete inventory of car wash locations in the Modesto 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Quack Car Wash 2850 Service Rd | Ceres, CA | Express Tunnel | Quick Quack Car Wash | 4.8 | 1,148 | $56K |
| Mister Car Wash 448 McHenry Ave | Modesto, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.3 | 1,002 | $61K |
| Vintage Car Wash Inc 1801 Standiford Ave | Modesto, CA | Full Service | — | 3.8 | 692 | $64K |
| Mister Car Wash 1740 E Hatch Rd | Ceres, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.1 | 639 | $56K |
| Mister Car Wash 1736 Oakdale Rd | Modesto, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 3.8 | 610 | $77K |
| Mister Car Wash 980 W Monte Vista Ave | Turlock, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.1 | 583 | $91K |
| Mister Car Wash 4120 Dale Rd | Modesto, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 3.9 | 574 | $106K |
| TipTop Express Car Wash 1623 Yosemite Blvd | Modesto, CA | Express Tunnel | — | 4.7 | 560 | $61K |
| Ceramic Garage Inc 500 Glass Ln suite c-3, d-4 | Modesto, CA | Detail Shop | Ceramic Garage Inc | 5.0 | 500 | $106K |
| Mister Car Wash 526 E F St | Oakdale, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.0 | 483 | $92K |
| Mister Car Wash 2375 Patterson Rd | Riverbank, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.3 | 460 | $66K |
| Fast Track Car Wash 1020 Powers Ct | Turlock, CA | Express Tunnel | Fast Track Car Wash | 4.4 | 429 | $59K |
| Mister Car Wash 945 Sperry Ave | Patterson, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 3.8 | 419 | $66K |
| Five Minute Car Wash 1109 Oakdale Rd | Modesto, CA | Full Service | Five Minute Car Wash | 3.9 | 409 | $77K |
| Fast Bay Car Wash 2101 Sylvan Ave | Modesto, CA | Express Tunnel | — | 4.3 | 375 | $77K |
| Mister Car Wash 1800 Prescott Rd A | Modesto, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 3.9 | 360 | $64K |
| Paradise Tire Auto Services 725 McHenry Ave | Modesto, CA | — | — | 4.2 | 325 | $64K |
| Mister Car Wash 1400 Geer Rd | Turlock, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.1 | 316 | $59K |
| 76 4530 Kiernan Ave | Salida, CA | In-Bay Automatic | 76 | 3.8 | 314 | $75K |
| Mister Car Wash 3520 McHenry Ave | Modesto, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.1 | 313 | $106K |
| Five Minute Car Wash Express 800 N Carpenter Rd | Modesto, CA | Full Service | Five Minute Car Wash | 4.4 | 310 | $45K |
| Sunny Truck Wash 4415 Howard Rd | Westley, CA | Detail Shop | — | 4.2 | 310 | — |
| Mister Car Wash 2954 E Whitmore Ave | Ceres, CA | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 3.9 | 299 | $56K |
| Big Bear Car Wash Turlock 1075 N Golden State Blvd | Turlock, CA | — | — | 4.7 | 276 | $59K |
| Fast Track Car Wash 200 E Glenwood Ave | Turlock, CA | Express Tunnel | Fast Track Car Wash | 4.3 | 264 | $59K |
Compare Modesto 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). Modesto car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/modesto
WashIndex. "Modesto car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified June 9, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/modesto.
"Modesto car wash market analysis." WashIndex, Jun. 9, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/modesto.
@misc{washindex_car_wash_markets_modesto_2026,
title = {{Modesto car wash market analysis}},
author = {{WashIndex}},
year = {2026},
month = {Jun},
url = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/modesto},
urldate = {2026-06-09},
} About this analysis
Car wash inventory for the Modesto, 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 5,295 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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