Employment
172,644
Total employees (Census CBP)
Other Services (except Public Administration) ·NAICS 811192
NAICS 811192 · IRS SOI (C corp) · Census CBP 2023
Car Washes - Industry Benchmarks
$29,378/yr average annual pay, with 2,322 SBA loans on record for NAICS 811192.
- 4.0%
- Other Services (except Public Administration) sector margin
- 173K
- Workers employed
- $29,378/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $3.2B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Data updated August 2026
The verdict · NAICS 811192
California leads Car Washes activity nationally. IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at this NAICS level, but the broader Other Services (except Public Administration) sector runs a 4.0% net margin.
- 4.0%
- Other Services (except Public Administration) sector margin (IRS SOI)
- 173K
- Workers employed (Census CBP)
- $29,378/yr
- Avg payroll / employee
- $3.2B
- SBA lending, FY20–26
Use Car Washes's NAICS benchmark as a comparison point, not a forecast for one business.
Car Washes is reported here with financial measures from IRS Statistics of Income and workforce measures from Census County Business Patterns. The page keeps those source systems distinct, shows unavailable fields rather than estimating them, and links the underlying industry context so readers can compare the same NAICS activity before interpreting a margin or payroll figure.
Source: IRS SOI (C corporation headline) and Census County Business Patterns 2023
Benchmarking Insights for Car Washes
Car Washes sits inside Other Services (except Public Administration), a sector that runs a 4.0% net margin overall.
19,807 establishments employ 172,644 workers (8.7/location) at $29,378/yr average annual pay. California leads employment, followed by Texas and Florida.
Car Washes sits in the 83rd percentile for employment among 6-digit NAICS industries with reported data.
Avg Payroll / Employee
$29,378/yr
Annual compensation
Establishments
19,807
Business locations
Release-over-release change
What changed from Census CBP 2022 to 2023
Employment increased by 6,276; establishment count increased by 344. This comparison uses two published national Census County Business Patterns releases; suppressed fields are omitted rather than estimated.
Subscribe to this industry's release updates (RSS)Workforce scale
Financial Detail
- Annual Payroll (Total)
- $5.1B
- Avg Employees per Establishment
- 8.7
Top States by Employment
| State | Employment |
|---|---|
| California | 23,493 |
| Texas | 21,902 |
| Florida | 12,138 |
| New York | 7,890 |
| Georgia | 6,318 |
| Illinois | 6,215 |
| New Jersey | 6,073 |
| Ohio | 5,733 |
| Michigan | 5,290 |
| Arizona | 5,068 |
Showing top 10 of 51 states
SBA Lending Activity
SBA FY2020–2026SBA Loans Approved
2,322
Total Loan Volume
$3.2B
Avg Loan Size
$1386K
Jobs Supported
18,797
Program Breakdown
7(a) 1,670 (72%)
504 652 (28%)
Top SBA Lender
Celtic Bank Corporation
117 loans in this industry
New Business Share
48.7% of borrowers were new/startup businesses
Annual Lending Trend (7 yrs)
2020 339
2021 502
2022 395
2023 326
2024 380
2025 342
2026 38
Frequently Asked Questions
How profitable is Car Washes?
IRS SOI doesn't publish margin data at the NAICS 811192 level. California leads this industry nationally. The broader Other Services (except Public Administration) sector runs a 4.0% net margin (IRS SOI 2013 C corp).
How many businesses are in Car Washes?
19,807 business establishments. Together they employ 172,644 workers.
What is the average payroll per employee in Car Washes?
$29,378/yr average annual pay per employee. Businesses average 8.7 employees per establishment.
Which states have the most Car Washes employment?
California leads with 23,493 workers. Texas (21,902) and Florida (12,138) round out the top three.
How much SBA lending does Car Washes receive?
Car Washes businesses received 2,322 SBA loans totaling $3.2 billion between FY2020 and FY2026. The average loan size was $1386K. These loans supported 18,797 jobs at origination. Most lending (72%) came through the SBA 7(a) program.
Nationwide industries with similar benchmark drivers
Two IRS/Census peer sets for Car Washes, both at NAICS level 6 and excluding this code so the neighborhoods are not self-links.
According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Car Washes ranks #137 of 801 U.S. industries at the 6-digit NAICS level by total employment.
Similar workforce scale
Nearest peer industries by ABS(Census employment) (172,644 here).
Read with this industry: Industry employment trends · Other Services (except Public Administration) · Rankings
Disclaimer: Public IRS/Census data, not financial or tax advice. See our full disclaimer.
Sources: IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) Business Tax Statistics · Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023
NAICS 811192 · CBP 2023 · IRS SOI
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, which released its 2023 County Business Patterns dataset in June 2025, PlainBizBench benchmarks 2,002 U.S. industries against Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income data. See our methodology for the full compilation process.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns / SUSB Industry employment scale, payroll, and firm-size benchmarks · 2023
Every figure on PlainBizBench is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates profit-margin, payroll, entity-type, and SBA-lending benchmarks for this industry, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.
Disclaimer: Public IRS/Census data, not financial or tax advice. See our full disclaimer.