The Pool Count · Q4 2026
New pool permits are down a median 52% from their peak. The typical home with a pool was built in 1997. Most pool businesses are one person, and the ones that hire are the ones growing. Here's what that means for your next year.
52%
Median drop in new pool permits from each city's peak to 2025
127
Pools for every pool business in Maricopa County, AZ
25%
Five-year growth in pool businesses with employees
7%
Pool company websites that let a customer pay online
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The PoolBoss pool industry report
Pool service runs on numbers nobody publishes. How many pools are in your county, how many companies chase them, what everyone else charges. Most owners guess.
So we went and counted. County property records, Census business counts, city permit records, and the websites of 1,366 pool companies. This is the first edition. We'll run it every quarter, and the numbers will get sharper each time.
01 · POOLS PER BUSINESS
127 vs 36
Pools per pool business in Maricopa County, AZ and Harris County, TX
Maricopa County has at least 127 pools for every pool business. Harris County, around Houston, has 36. That gap changes how a company grows.
Where the number is high, there are more pools than companies to service them. Owners there grow by saying yes fast. Where the number is low, most pool owners already have someone, so a new account usually means winning a customer from another company.
Our read
Find your county in the table and read it against your own book. If you're in a crowded county, plan to grow by taking customers who are unhappy with their current service. They switch over missed visits, slow answers, and invoices that are hard to pay. Fix those three and say so on your website.
If you're in an open county, the limit is how fast you can add stops without breaking a route. Build your routes so a new account slots in by location, and keep a waitlist when a route is full.
| County | Pools per business | Pools on record | Homes with a pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte, FL | 151 | 42,110 | 47% |
| Maricopa, AZ | 127 | 418,944 | 34% |
| Seminole, FL | 103 | 45,565 | 38% |
| Manatee, FL | 103 | 50,231 | 37% |
| Sarasota, FL | 102 | 67,859 | 43% |
| Volusia, FL | 79 | 41,983 | 21% |
| Tarrant, TX | 78 | 78,645 | 13% |
| Pasco, FL | 77 | 44,388 | 21% |
| Fort Bend, TX | 74 | 35,933 | 14% |
| Travis, TX | 66 | 37,178 | 13% |
| Osceola, FL | 55 | 34,685 | 25% |
| Polk, FL | 51 | 34,987 | 18% |
| Williamson, TX | 50 | 16,364 | 8% |
| Dallas, TX | 50 | 61,910 | 11% |
| Duval, FL | 45 | 33,615 | 11% |
| Harris, TX | 36 | 122,211 | 11% |
02 · THE BUILDING BOOM IS OVER
52%
Median drop in new residential pool permits, peak year to 2025
Pool building peaked in 2021 in most of the 11 cities we track. By 2025 every one of them was below its peak, and the median drop was 52%. Charlotte, NC fell 74%. Gilbert, AZ fell 73%. Los Angeles issued about half the pool permits it did in 2021.
For a service company, a new pool used to mean a new customer who had nobody yet. Fewer of those are coming. The pools that already exist are the market.
Our read
Stop counting on new construction to fill your routes. Count on keeping the customers you have and winning the ones other companies lose. That makes retention your best growth plan. Show up on the day you said, send proof of the visit, and make paying easy.
If a builder has been feeding you new pools, ask how their 2026 backlog looks before you plan a route around it.
| City | Peak year | Permits at peak | Permits in 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mecklenburg County, NC (outside Charlotte) | 2022 | 287 | 47 | -84% |
| Charlotte, NC | 2021 | 381 | 100 | -74% |
| Gilbert, AZ | 2021 | 1,071 | 290 | -73% |
| Mesa, AZ | 2021 | 932 | 311 | -67% |
| Las Vegas, NV | 2021 | 1,194 | 552 | -54% |
| San Antonio, TX | 2021 | 722 | 350 | -52% |
| Los Angeles, CA | 2021 | 1,953 | 1,037 | -47% |
| Orlando, FL | 2023 | 426 | 263 | -38% |
| Austin, TX | 2021 | 1,105 | 735 | -33% |
| Scottsdale, AZ | 2022 | 838 | 640 | -24% |
| Raleigh, NC | 2021 | 162 | 145 | -10% |
03 · AGING POOLS
1997
Median build year of homes with a pool, across 16 counties
Across 16 counties, the typical home with a pool was built in 1997. Dallas County is the oldest at 1981. Williamson County, north of Austin, is the newest at 2004.
Pools that age need pumps, filters, heaters, and resurfacing on a schedule. That work lands on whoever is already at the pool every week.
Our read
You see every pool on your route more often than anyone else does. Write down the age of each pump, filter, and heater as you go. When one is near the end of its life, tell the owner before it fails and quote the replacement. A customer who hears it from you first rarely shops it around.
If you don't do equipment work yet, start with the repairs you can finish in one visit, and refer out the rest to someone you trust.
| County | Median build year | Age in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas, TX | 1981 | 45 years |
| Duval, FL | 1987 | 39 years |
| Seminole, FL | 1989 | 37 years |
| Volusia, FL | 1991 | 35 years |
| Harris, TX | 1993 | 33 years |
| Tarrant, TX | 1993 | 33 years |
| Maricopa, AZ | 1996 | 30 years |
| Charlotte, FL | 1997 | 29 years |
| Sarasota, FL | 1997 | 29 years |
| Pasco, FL | 1998 | 28 years |
| Polk, FL | 1999 | 27 years |
| Travis, TX | 1999 | 27 years |
| Fort Bend, TX | 2003 | 23 years |
| Manatee, FL | 2003 | 23 years |
| Osceola, FL | 2003 | 23 years |
| Williamson, TX | 2004 | 22 years |
04 · TWO KINDS OF POOL BUSINESS
25% vs 7%
Five-year growth: pool businesses with employees vs one-person pool businesses
Census counts in the pool-cleaning category show two businesses under one name. The one-person business averages about $41,800 a year in revenue, and nearly two in three take in under $25,000. Among businesses that hire, three in four have one to four employees.
Over five years, businesses with employees grew about 25%. One-person businesses grew 6.6%. The growth is in companies that made the first hire.
Our read
The first hire is the step that separates the two groups. Before you make it, get your routes, your customer notes, and your billing out of your head and into a system. A new tech can only run a route you can hand over.
Price for the business you want to be. A route priced for one person working alone rarely covers a second paycheck.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Average yearly revenue, one-person pool business | $41,800 |
| One-person businesses under $25,000 a year | 64% |
| Employer businesses with 1 to 4 employees | 74% |
| Five-year growth, businesses with employees | 25% |
| Five-year growth, one-person businesses | 6.6% |
05 · WHAT WEBSITES LEAVE OFF
80%
Pool company websites that post no service price
We reviewed 1,366 pool company websites in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, and Texas. Only 20% post a price for weekly service. Only 7% let a customer pay online, and 13% promise photos of the visit.
Among the companies that post a starting price, the median is $150 a month for weekly service. Texas is highest at $210. Arizona and Florida sit at $130. Of the companies that say whether chemicals are in the price, three in four say they are.
Our read
A homeowner comparing three companies will call the one that answers their questions on the page. Post a starting price, say whether chemicals are included, and add a way to pay online. Those three changes put your website ahead of most of the companies you compete with.
Then send a photo after every visit. It's the cheapest way to prove the work happened, and 87% of your competitors don't promise it.
| State | Median monthly price |
|---|---|
| Texas | $210 |
| California | $155 |
| Arizona | $130 |
| Florida | $130 |
| All five states | $150 |
06
Where to start depends on where your business is today.
Running it solo
Ready to hire
Running crews
07
Next edition: January 2027
Sources
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PoolBoss handles routes, visit photos, and online payments for pool service companies. Every feature on every plan.