Census CBP 2023 · NAICS 561790
How many pressure washing companies are there in the US?
Pressure washing has no NAICS code of its own. This is the code it sits in, with an honest account of what else is in there.
- With employees18,069establishments
- Without employees142,112businesses
- Employees90,169in the employer half
- Annual payroll$4.4 billionemployer half
Do not quote 18,069 as the number of pressure washing companies, because gutter, chimney and pool cleaners are in it. Quote it as the employer count for exterior building services, which is what Census actually measured, and say so.
Businesses with staff, and businesses without
These are two different federal surveys covering two different universes, and adding them together without saying so is the most common way this data gets misquoted. They are kept separate here on purpose.
| Measure | Employer | Nonemployer |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses | 18,069 | 142,112 |
| People employed | 90,169 | None, by definition |
| Average staff each | 5.0 | Zero |
| Payroll and receipts | $4.4 billion | $5.8 billion |
| Source | Census CBP 2023 | Census NES 2023 |
exterior cleaning businesses with employees are 0.216 per cent of all 8,361,342 US establishments with employees
The five states with the most exterior cleaning businesses
| State | Establishments with employees |
|---|---|
| Florida | 3,260 |
| California | 2,198 |
| Texas | 1,621 |
| Arizona | 879 |
| New York | 871 |
Employer establishments only. The nonemployer side is not published by state at this level of detail, and in most of these trades it is the larger half, so treat this table as a ranking rather than a census of the trade.
Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings
Counted here
Power washing and building exterior cleaning, chimney cleaning, gutter cleaning, duct cleaning, swimming pool cleaning and pest control adjacent building services.
Counted somewhere else
Window cleaning and interior cleaning, both of which Census codes to Janitorial Services under 561720.
NAICS 561790 · 1 August 2026
What these figures actually say about exterior cleaning businesses
Do not quote this establishment count as the number of pressure washing companies, because gutter, chimney and pool cleaners are inside it.
Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings is the code Census uses for power washing and building exterior cleaning, and it also carries chimney cleaning, gutter cleaning, duct cleaning and swimming pool cleaning. The honest way to quote it is as the employer count for exterior building services, which is what was actually measured. Quoted as a pressure washing count it overstates the trade by an unknown amount.
The shape is still readable. Employer businesses average around five staff, the nonemployer side is roughly eight times larger by business count, and payroll per employee runs higher than the interior cleaning codes. That describes a seasonal, equipment led, largely owner operated trade, which matches what the trade press says about it.
The state distribution is the most geographically skewed in the dataset. The leading state has more employer businesses in this code than the largest state in the country does, and the five leaders hold close to half the national total. Exterior cleaning follows climate rather than population, and this is that fact in federal data.
The trade with the highest satisfying content ceiling on this site also has the widest gap between audience and customer. The half done shot with a hard line down the middle of a surface is the best content it has, and the local tag is the only part of the post that can turn a view into a job.
Every figure quoted above appears in the tables on this page or is arithmetic on them. Nothing here forecasts, values a business or suggests a price, because none of the three is measurable from a business count.
Where these numbers came from
Public domain US federal statistics, fetched by hand and baked into this site rather than called at build time. If you quote a figure from this page, cite the agency rather than this site, and use the wording below.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023, United States, NAICS 561790 Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings. Accessed 2026-08-01.
Counts establishments with at least one paid employee, measured in the week of 12 March 2023. A business with no employees is counted by Nonemployer Statistics instead, not here.
US Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, 2023, United States, NAICS 561790. Accessed 2026-08-01.
Counts businesses with no paid employees and at least $1,000 in annual receipts. Sole traders, single-van operators and self-employed contractors land here.
What these workers are paid
Marketing the trade
All the numbers
Common questions
- How many pressure washing companies are there in the US?
- Census County Business Patterns counted 18,069 exterior cleaning businesses with at least one paid employee in 2023, employing 90,169 people on a payroll of $4.4 billion. Nonemployer Statistics counted a further 142,112 businesses with no employees, turning over $5.8 billion. NAICS code 561790.
- Why are there two different numbers?
- Because they measure two different universes. County Business Patterns counts establishments with at least one paid employee. Nonemployer Statistics counts businesses with no employees and at least a thousand dollars of annual receipts. Together they cover every US business, and adding them without saying so would be misleading, so this page keeps them apart.
- What else is inside this code?
- Power washing and building exterior cleaning, chimney cleaning, gutter cleaning, duct cleaning, swimming pool cleaning and pest control adjacent building services. What it excludes: window cleaning and interior cleaning, both of which Census codes to Janitorial Services under 561720.
- What does this count tell somebody running one of these businesses?
- Do not quote this establishment count as the number of pressure washing companies, because gutter, chimney and pool cleaners are inside it. The trade with the highest satisfying content ceiling on this site also has the widest gap between audience and customer. The half done shot with a hard line down the middle of a surface is the best content it has, and the local tag is the only part of the post that can turn a view into a job.
- How current is this?
- 2023 is the most recent County Business Patterns and Nonemployer Statistics release published by the Census Bureau. Both were fetched and baked into this site on 1 August 2026. This page makes no live API call.
Numbers persuade nobody. The pair does.
Every trade on this page sells the same way: a photograph of the problem beside a photograph of the result. Take the two, and Before and After Video Maker turns them into a 1080p video, a looping GIF or a still.