Pressure washing industry statistics
A citation-ready reference for the U.S. pressure washing market: how many businesses operate, how fast the count is growing, what the industry earns, and how small the typical firm is. Every number is sourced and dated. Lift a sentence, keep the citation.
Last reviewed July 2026. Latest available data covers 2022 to 2024.The numbers, ready to cite
Grab a stat and go. Each card copies the full sentence, its source, and a link back to this page, so the attribution travels with the number.
There were 32,193 pressure-washing businesses operating in the United States as of 2024, up 5.2% from 2023, according to IBISWorld's Pressure Washing Services industry report.
The number of U.S. pressure-washing businesses grew by an average of 5.8% per year between 2019 and 2024, per IBISWorld.
The U.S. pressure-washing services industry generated an estimated $1.2 billion in revenue in 2024, according to IBISWorld.
The U.S. had 17,574 employer establishments in NAICS 561790, "Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings" — the Census category that houses building-exterior (pressure- and soft-wash) cleaning alongside pool, gutter, chimney and duct cleaning — in 2022, per the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns. (This is a broader proxy category, not a pressure-washing-only count.)
Establishments in NAICS 561790 ("Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings," the Census bucket that includes exterior building/pressure washing plus pool, gutter, chimney and duct cleaning) employed 87,422 paid workers in 2022, according to Census County Business Patterns.
NAICS 561790 establishments paid roughly $4.07 billion in total annual payroll in 2022, according to Census County Business Patterns.
Micro-businesses dominate the category: of the 17,574 employer establishments in NAICS 561790 in 2022, 12,919 — about 73% — had fewer than five employees, and roughly 88% had fewer than ten, per Census County Business Patterns.
How we sourced this
These figures are aggregated from public and secondary sources, each labeled with its source and year on the card above. Business counts, growth, and revenue come from IBISWorld’s Pressure Washing Services industry report (2024). Establishment, employment, and payroll figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 County Business Patterns.
One caveat we state plainly: the Census figures sit in NAICS 561790, a broader proxy category. It bundles exterior building and pressure washing together with pool, gutter, chimney, and duct cleaning, so those counts are a directional read on the trade, not a pressure-washing-only tally. The IBISWorld numbers are the pressure-washing-specific ones.
Maxx Effect has not run its own owner survey yet. A primary survey of pressure washing operators is planned. It has not been conducted. Until it runs, nothing on this page is presented as our own first-party data.
The market at a glance
Two views built straight from the sourced numbers above. No figure is added, smoothed, or projected.
A trade of very small firms
Share of the 17,574 NAICS 561790 employer establishments by size band, 2022.
12,919 of 17,574 establishments had fewer than five employees. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 County Business Patterns (NAICS 561790), a broader proxy category.
A steadily growing operator base
Growth in the number of U.S. pressure-washing businesses, per IBISWorld.
Source: IBISWorld, Pressure Washing Services in the US (Number of Businesses), 2024.
What the data means for your route
Read the numbers together and a picture forms. The operator base is growing, the count of businesses climbed at an average of 5.8% a year from 2019 to 2024, and the category is overwhelmingly made up of very small firms. Most of your competitors run with fewer than five people. That is your opening.
When almost everyone is small, the equipment is not the differentiator. How you get found and how fast you book the job is. The channels that do that, ranked by what each costs per booked job, are the subject of our guide to getting pressure washing leads. A one-truck operator with a site that ranks in the map pack and a quote that lands the same day beats a bigger crew that is invisible online. See how we build that system on the pressure washing marketing hub, and how it played out in the Pepper’s Pressure Washing case study.
Put a number to your own jobs
Industry averages set the backdrop. Your pricing sets the outcome. Run your own figures with the free calculators: the soft-wash mix calculator, the job cost calculator, and the pricing calculator. They turn a market you now understand into a quote you can stand behind.
Questions about the numbers
How many pressure washing businesses are there in the US?
IBISWorld counted 32,193 pressure-washing businesses operating in the United States as of 2024, up 5.2% from 2023. Over the longer run, the number of U.S. pressure-washing businesses grew by an average of 5.8% per year between 2019 and 2024. That is a market adding operators steadily, not a niche.
How big is the US pressure washing industry?
IBISWorld estimates the U.S. pressure-washing services industry generated about $1.2 billion in revenue in 2024. A broader Census category gives a sense of the payroll behind building-exterior cleaning: NAICS 561790, which bundles pressure and soft washing with pool, gutter, chimney, and duct cleaning, reported roughly $4.07 billion in total annual payroll across 17,574 employer establishments in 2022. The Census figure is a wider proxy, not a pressure-washing-only number, so treat the two figures as different lenses rather than one total.
Are most pressure washing businesses small?
Yes. Using the closest Census proxy, NAICS 561790, of the 17,574 employer establishments in 2022, 12,919 (about 73%) had fewer than five employees, and roughly 88% had fewer than ten. Those employer counts also sit alongside a large base of nonemployer sole operators that the business count captures. The category is dominated by very small firms, which is why a booking and marketing edge tends to matter more than raw equipment.
Where do these pressure washing statistics come from?
Every figure on this page is aggregated from public and secondary sources and labeled with its source and year: IBISWorld's Pressure Washing Services industry report for 2024 business counts, growth, and revenue, and the U.S. Census Bureau's 2022 County Business Patterns for the NAICS 561790 establishment, employment, and payroll figures. Maxx Effect has not run its own owner survey yet. A primary survey of pressure washing operators is planned, and until it runs, nothing here is presented as our own first-party data.
Built by the team behind
Pepper’s Pressure Washing’s marketing
We build the websites, local SEO, and lead tracking that turn a pressure washing route into booked jobs. See the pressure washing marketing system, or read the Pepper’s case study.
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