Market Analysis · CBSA 45300

Tampa Car Wash Market Analysis

Name: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Car Wash Market Dataset
Creator: WashIndex
License: https://washindex.com/terms

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

Data updated · September 26, 2026

342,793 Google reviews across 2,433 car washes in 4 Tampa counties. Format mix, operator rank, county breakdown, rating vs. income, aspect-level customer signals.

Snapshot

Locations: 2,433; 91% independent
Chains: 48; lead: Circle K (34 sites)
Avg rating: 4.66★; +0.25 vs national MSA median
Damage rate: 1.0%; 1.6× below national norm
Cancel friction: 12.4%
Top format: detail shop; 49% of classified inventory
Median single wash: $15; range $5–$50
Median unlimited: $24.99/mo; cheapest $10/mo at Soundwaves

Market Quality snapshot

Population: 3,240,469; ACS 2023 5-year
Households: 1,303,644; ACS 2023 5-year
Residents per wash: 1,332; 1.5× denser than the national MSA median
Express tunnels per 10K households: 0.8; in the 0.5–1.0 filling band · classified sites

Key findings

2,433 car wash locations operated by 48 chains and 2,224 independents across 4 counties.
Weighted Google rating 4.66★ across the market; structural concentration and format mix sit near US-metro norms.
Built from 342,793 Google reviews, 123,976 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.

2,433 car wash locations across 4 counties · dots colored by format · sized by review volume

Locations

2,433

Chains

+ 2,224 independents

Reviews

343K

Avg Rating

4.66

Damage Rate

0.96%

Median AGI/return

$69K

location-weighted

Executive Read

Tampa sits near the center of the US-metro distribution on concentration, format mix, and rating. 48 chains compete alongside 2,224 independents — typical mix for a market of 2,433 car washes. Customer-experience signals across 123,976 AI-extracted reviews produce the distinct read on this market.

Weighted rating 4.66★; damage 1.0%; membership-cancel friction 12.4%. Staff is the brightest aspect signal (0.91/+1). 342,793 Google reviews drive the analysis, 123,976 of them processed through the WashIndex LLM extractor.

Published pricing across the 135 of 2468 Tampa locations with menus available: median single car wash $15 (range $5–$50), median unlimited membership $24.99/month (range $10–$100/mo). The cheapest unlimited membership in the metro is $10/mo at Soundwaves (Everything in Entrepreneur Plan +).

Top operators

See the top car wash chains in Tampa

Ranked by location count in the metro

→

$$ Pricing

What does a car wash cost in the Tampa metro?

Published menu pricing for car washes in the Tampa metropolitan area, captured from operator websites and the WashIndex AI calling agent. 135 of 2468 tracked locations have usable published pricing (5% coverage).

Single Wash

$15

median · range $5–$50 · 102 locations tracked

Unlimited Membership

$24.99 per month

median · range $10–$100 per month · 87 programs tracked

Cheapest unlimited memberships in Tampa
1	Soundwaves Everything in Entrepreneur Plan +	$10 per mo
2	JD Car Detailing Upgrade	$10 per mo
3	Clean Freak Car Wash CLASSIC	$11 per mo
4	Clean Freak Car Wash CLASSIC	$11 per mo
5	Jammin Car Wash Basic	$13 per mo

Cheapest single car washes in Tampa
1	Cars by Carlos Windows	$5
2	Lutz Clean Car Wash Basic Wash	$6
3	AXIShine Automotive Preservation Starter	$6
4	Victory Car Wash Basic	$8
5	Bay Wash Rip Tide	$8

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.

Official industry footprint · BLS QCEW 2024

The car wash industry in the Tampa metro, officially

the Tampa metro has 249 car-wash employer establishments employing about 1,842 people, at a $33,721 average annual wage.

Employer establishments

249

NAICS 811192 · 2024

Industry jobs

1,842

private, annual avg

Avg annual wage

$33,721

per employee

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.

SBA Lending · FY2010–present

Car wash financing in the Tampa metro

Build-out market

Since 2010, the U.S. Small Business Administration has backed 75 car-wash loans in the Tampa metro worth $100M, at a $1,206,000 median per car wash and a 0.0% charge-off rate. The mix tilts toward new construction — 49% of loans funded brand-new washes, above the 33% national norm — pointing to a market where operators are still adding supply.

SBA loans

FY2010–2026

Total approved

$100M

7(a) + 504

Median loan

$1.2M

per car wash

Charge-off rate

0.0%

of 37 resolved

SBA car-wash loans approved per fiscal year

FY2026 annualized from its first 6 months.

Loans by county

Hillsborough 30
Pasco 20
Pinellas 15
Hernando 10

What the loans fund · estimated from loan terms

New build / open49% · $1.6M
Acquisition5% · $936K
Expansion / improvement41% · $953K
Working capital3% · $88K
Unclassified1% · $280K

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

About the Tampa car wash market

How many car washes are in the Tampa metro?

There are 2,433 car wash locations across the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL CBSA, spanning 4 counties.

What is the best-rated car wash in the Tampa metro?

Woodie's Wash Shack - Gibsonton in Gibsonton, FL is the highest-rated car wash in the Tampa metro at 5.0★ across 4,977 Google reviews (filtering to locations with at least 100 reviews).

Which car wash chain has the most locations in Tampa?

Circle K has the most locations in the Tampa metro with 34 sites, followed by Mister Car Wash (14 sites). The metro has 48 multi-location operators in total, alongside 2,224 independent or single-location sites.

What is the average customer rating in the Tampa car wash market?

The review-weighted average rating across all 2,433 car washes in the Tampa metro is 4.66★, based on 342,793 Google reviews processed through WashIndex's customer-experience pipeline.

What is the typical household income near car washes in Tampa?

Across the ZIP codes containing the Tampa metro's car washes, the location-weighted median IRS-reported AGI per tax return is $69K (tax year 2022) — a rough proxy for trade-area household income.

How much does a car wash cost in Tampa?

Single-wash prices across the Tampa car wash market range from $5 to $50, with a median of $15 across 102 locations that publish their pricing. The cheapest single car wash in the metro is $5 at Cars by Carlos (Windows). Pricing data is captured from operator websites and the WashIndex AI calling agent.

How much does an unlimited car wash membership cost in Tampa?

Unlimited car wash memberships in the Tampa metro range from $10/month to $100/month, with a median of $24.99/month across 87 programs tracked. The cheapest unlimited membership is $10/month at Soundwaves (Everything in Entrepreneur Plan +); the most expensive tracked is $100/month at Troy's Mobile Detailing (Bronze Monthly 2-Door).

What is the cheapest car wash in Tampa?

The cheapest single car wash in the Tampa metro is $5 at Cars by Carlos (Windows tier). For ongoing customers, the cheapest unlimited membership is $10/month at Soundwaves (Everything in Entrepreneur Plan +) — a break-even of roughly 0.7 washes per month at the metro's median single-wash price of $15.

01 Format Mix

What kinds of car washes does Tampa have?

The format mix in Tampa 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 4.87★ across 184 locations. Lowest-rated: In-Bay Automatic at 3.76★ (53 locations).

2,058 (84.6%) of 2,433 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	2,058	84.6%	188,924	4.73	0.58%	6.3%
Detail Shop	184	7.6%	19,313	4.87	0.39%	3.6%
Express Tunnel	110	4.5%	119,410	4.60	1.48%	15.2%
In-Bay Automatic	53	2.2%	3,969	3.76	0.94%	0.0%
Full Service	15	0.6%	7,602	4.28	1.58%	2.3%
Self-Serve Bay	13	0.5%	3,575	3.99	1.98%	0.0%

02 Income & Demographics

What is the household income near Tampa car washes?

Read together with the format mix above, the income scatter below tells you whether car wash quality in Tampa tracks neighborhood income, format mix, or neither. Operating quality usually dominates this picture.

Pearson r between ZIP income and Google rating across 696 qualifying locations: -0.11 — mild negative. Higher-income ZIPs in this market host slightly lower-rated washes on average, which is unusual. Scatter mean: $83K AGI/return, 4.51★.

Detail Shop Express Tunnel In-Bay Automatic Full Service Self-Serve Bay

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	9	121	28,044	4.59	Express Tunnel (12)
$50K – $75K	53	559	173,998	4.66	Detail Shop (97)
$75K – $100K	30	267	69,414	4.64	Detail Shop (41)
$100K – $150K	20	150	46,605	4.73	Detail Shop (26)
$150K+	12	71	8,665	4.36	Detail Shop (9)

Income band spread: 71/4.36★ at the highest tier; 121/4.59★ 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.

03 Dominant Chains

Who operates the most Tampa car washes?

The table below ranks the top 25 chains operating in Tampa 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	Circle K	34	2,434	3.45	0.74%	—	0.00%
2	Mister Car Wash	14	10,338	3.97	3.31%	9.4%	3.31%
3	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	14	92,018	4.91	0.28%	2.8%	0.10%
4	bp	14	339	3.75	—	—	—
5	ModWash	11	28,962	4.82	0.63%	16.1%	0.44%
6	Tidal Wave Auto Spa \| Car Wash	10	7,205	4.63	1.71%	23.0%	0.95%
7	Tommy's Express® Car Wash	8	9,507	4.56	1.99%	9.5%	0.52%
8	Radiant Express Car Wash	8	1,167	4.28	7.57%	27.1%	1.23%
9	Links Car Wash	8	2,987	4.52	2.62%	18.6%	0.54%
10	Take 5 Car Wash	8	13,797	4.50	2.68%	25.5%	0.72%
11	Bubble Down Car Wash	7	7,174	4.67	2.64%	8.5%	0.58%
12	Big Dan's Car Wash	5	2,767	4.65	2.81%	11.2%	0.78%
13	Squeeky's Car Wash Tampa	4	3,386	4.46	1.32%	18.9%	0.15%
14	Sunshine Car Wash - Fowler	4	13,563	4.74	0.27%	6.7%	0.15%
15	Baywash Car Wash	3	558	3.97	—	—	—
16	Victory Car Wash	3	2,172	4.29	1.85%	23.4%	0.55%
17	Trademark Car Wash	3	8,270	4.78	0.24%	11.0%	0.42%
18	Dirty Dog's Car Wash Tampa	3	3,385	4.78	2.21%	13.4%	0.72%
19	Top Edge Car Wash Tampa	3	2,901	4.66	1.95%	12.6%	0.50%
20	Jules Car Wash - Brandon	3	1,957	4.06	4.68%	10.3%	0.00%
21	Washed Up Brandon	3	2,521	4.62	0.73%	9.1%	0.07%
22	CarWash Points - Hollywood	3	628	4.90	0.42%	—	0.84%
23	Shell	3	142	4.05	—	—	—
24	Jallo Car Wash	2	601	4.12	0.76%	30.0%	1.15%
25	Jammin Carwash	2	887	4.68	1.29%	2.9%	0.43%

04 County Breakdown

Which counties have the most car washes in Tampa?

The table below splits the metro's car wash inventory across the 4 counties of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL CBSA, with location count, total reviews, and weighted-average rating per county.

Cross-county rating dispersion: 0.23★ between the highest- and lowest-rated counties with meaningful sample size.

County	Locations	% of MSA	Reviews	Avg Rating
Hillsborough County	1,412	58.0%	132,408	4.66
Pinellas County	563	23.1%	129,089	4.73
Pasco County	338	13.9%	65,427	4.60
Hernando County	120	4.9%	15,869	4.49

05 Customer Experience Signals

What do customers love and complain about in Tampa?

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.

Staff +0.91

Wash Quality +0.82

Facility Cleanliness +0.71

Wait Time +0.59

Per-Wash Price +0.39

Membership Value +0.23

Equipment Working -0.29

06 All Locations

Where are all the car washes in the Tampa metro?

2,433 car washes are tracked in Tampa; 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
Woodie's Wash Shack - 66th Street 5601 66th St N	St. Petersburg, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	4.9	12,324	$53K
Woodie's Wash Shack - 4th Street N 7141 4th St N	St. Petersburg, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	4.9	10,935	$83K
Ken Ganley Kia New Port Richey 5819 US-19	New Port Richey, FL	—	—	4.7	10,834	$66K
Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway 3401 34th St S	St. Petersburg, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	4.9	9,986	$74K
Woodie's Wash Shack - Gandy-Westshore 4545 W Gandy Blvd	Tampa, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	4.9	9,494	$137K
Woodie's Wash Shack - Ulmerton 7601 Ulmerton Rd	Largo, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	4.9	7,845	$51K
Woodie's Wash Shack - Park Blvd 8680 Park Blvd	Seminole, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	4.9	7,641	$104K
Dimmitt Chevrolet 25485 US Hwy 19 N	Clearwater, FL	—	—	4.6	7,357	$62K
Woodie's Wash Shack - Cypress Creek 24749 FL-54	Lutz, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	4.9	7,304	$81K
Woodie's Wash Shack - N. Dale Mabry 8935 N Dale Mabry Hwy	Tampa, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	4.9	5,131	$41K
Woodie's Wash Shack - Gibsonton 9350 Theater Dr	Gibsonton, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	5.0	4,977	$53K
Sunshine Car Wash - Fowler 5202 E Fowler Ave	Temple Terrace, FL	Express Tunnel	Sunshine Car Wash - Fowler	4.7	4,934	$57K
Woodie's Wash Shack - Sun City 4927 FL-674	Wimauma, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	4.9	4,905	$70K
ModWash 2511 James L Redman Pkwy	Plant City, FL	Express Tunnel	ModWash	4.9	4,670	$70K
ModWash 407 E Bloomingdale Ave	Brandon, FL	Express Tunnel	ModWash	4.9	4,666	$68K
Trademark Car Wash 12855 Walsingham Rd	Largo, FL	Express Tunnel	Trademark Car Wash	4.9	4,636	$85K
Woodie's Wash Shack - Ballantrae 17322 FL-54	Lutz, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	4.9	4,389	$139K
Maus Nissan of New Port Richey 3939 US-19	New Port Richey, FL	—	—	4.3	4,336	$66K
Maus Acura North Tampa 11025 N Florida Ave	Tampa, FL	—	—	4.7	4,169	$50K
ModWash 2900 22nd Ave N	St. Petersburg, FL	Express Tunnel	ModWash	4.7	4,122	$71K
ModWash 6875 49th Street N	Pinellas Park, FL	Express Tunnel	ModWash	4.8	3,952	$51K
Woodie's Wash Shack - Gandy-Bayshore 3011 W Gandy Blvd	Tampa, FL	—	Woodie's Wash Shack - Skyway	5.0	3,755	$137K
Sunshine Car Wash - Court St 1175 Court St	Clearwater, FL	Express Tunnel	Sunshine Car Wash - Fowler	4.7	3,695	$109K
Trademark Car Wash 1255 Belcher Rd	Dunedin, FL	Express Tunnel	Trademark Car Wash	4.8	3,213	$98K
Sunshine Car Wash - Missouri Ave 1430 S Missouri Ave	Clearwater, FL	Express Tunnel	Sunshine Car Wash - Fowler	4.9	2,671	$109K

Nearby Other FL metros

Compare Tampa to other FL car wash markets

Each link drills into a full per-metro analysis — operator concentration, format mix, and customer-experience signals against the same methodology.

Miami 4,627 Orlando 2,329 Jacksonville 1,118 North Port 632 Cape Coral 629 Lakeland 520

Cite this page

Data as of 2026-09-26. Pick a format and click Copy.

APA

WashIndex. (2026, September 26). Tampa car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/tampa

Chicago

WashIndex. "Tampa car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified September 26, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/tampa.

MLA

"Tampa car wash market analysis." WashIndex, Sep. 26, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/tampa.

BibTeX

@misc{washindex_car_wash_markets_tampa_2026,
  title  = {{Tampa car wash market analysis}},
  author = {{WashIndex}},
  year   = {2026},
  month  = {Sep},
  url    = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/tampa},
  urldate = {2026-09-26},
}

About this analysis

Car wash inventory for the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL CBSA is determined by point-in-polygon test against the official US Census county boundaries (TIGER/Line, 2024) for the 4 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 123,976 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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