Appliance repair industry statistics 2025

General appliance repair industry statistics

The appliance repair industry experiences fluctuations in revenue and employment as a result of factors that the industry has little influence over directly, such as climate change. However, more controllable factors, like innovation, also drive change in the industry. Appliance repair companies with the ability to invest in innovations may be better positioned to survive market fluctuations.

• Revenue for the appliance repair industry increased by 0.5% in 2023. But between 2018 and 2023, the total market size declined by 1.3% annually.
• The vast majority of the appliance repair industry’s revenue derives from repairing household appliances. Smaller amounts of revenue are derived from repairing garden equipment and reselling merchandise.
• The top four companies in the appliance repair industry generate less than 40% of the industry’s total revenue.

Appliance repair industry overview

The appliance repair industry has seen a general decline in revenue for the last five years. Weak consumer confidence as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic changed the home appliance industry as a whole. Economic insecurity made appliance owners more likely to attempt their own home appliance repairs and less likely to seek out professional repair services. And supply chain issues made it difficult for companies in the industry to meet the needs of those consumers who were interested in paying for professional appliance repair.

However, increased unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic led to more people using the same appliances for longer periods than they may have otherwise. Remote work also led to more intense use of home appliances during this period, which may have resulted in greater demand for appliance repair in 2023 and the uptick in the industry’s revenue.

Given current economic volatility, the appliance repair industry’s 2024 revenue will be highly influenced by consumers’ per capita disposable income, the consumer confidence index, existing home sales and homeownership rates.

Aside from those factors, one of the biggest influences on the appliance repair industry is the cost of household appliances. In 2024, the price of appliances is expected to increase by 2.2%. Given that price increase, it’s likely that many consumers will prefer to hold on to their appliances and repair them instead of upgrading after they break.

Employment breakdown

Based on employment figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 29,950 Americans were employed as home appliance repairers in May 2023. The average hourly wage for these workers was $24.35, and the average annual wage was $50,640 at that time.

The industries that employed the highest number of home appliance repairers in 2023 were categorized by the BLS as “Personal and Household Goods Repair and Maintenance” and “Electronics and Appliance Retailers.” These industries also had the highest internal concentration of home appliance repairer employment.

The industries that employ the most home appliance repairers generally don’t pay the most competitive wages. The industries that offer the best wages for home appliance repairers are:

• Natural Gas Distribution (average annual wage: $89,460)
• Management of Companies and Enterprises (average annual wage: $66,300)
• Machinery, Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers (average annual wage: $60,390)
• Facilities Support Services (average annual wage: $60,270)
• Real Estate (average annual wage: $58,410)

Employment by state

The U.S. states that employ the most home appliance repairers are not necessarily the states with the largest populations overall.

Some warm-weather states, like Florida, have disproportionately large appliance repair industries due to the negative effects of heat and humidity on appliance performance. Other states’ relatively large appliance repair industries may be attributable to their high levels of homeownership and/or disposable income, i.e., the income people have after accounting for taxes and other mandatory deductions from their paychecks.

Home appliance repair jobs are not widespread in any state. However, the location quotient, which measures an industry’s level of employment in a specific location relative to the national average, shows that states like Florida, Illinois and New Jersey have a disproportionately high share of appliance repairers relative to states like California and Texas. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher concentration of employment than the national average.

The states with the highest location quotients for appliance repairers are Connecticut (2.16) and North Dakota (2), both of which have double or more than the national average concentration of appliance repairers. Connecticut and North Dakota both have levels of per capita disposable income and rates of homeownership that are comfortably above the national averages, which are $55,832 and 65.7%, respectively.

The states with the highest wages for appliance repairers do not necessarily have the highest numbers of appliance repairers nationwide. New Jersey is the only state to appear among the top five states for both the highest number of employed appliance repairers and the highest average annual wages for its repairers. The other states with the highest wages for appliance repairers employ a fraction of the national appliance repairer workforce.

Employment demographics

The vast majority of home appliance repairers were male as of 2021. Average annual wages in the industry were also substantially higher for men ($45,314) than for women ($31,421).

The average age of home appliance repairers in 2021 was 43.2 for men and 41.2 for women. Repairers between the ages of 25 and 49 made up a plurality of the home appliance repairer workforce, with 35.5% of repairers falling within that age range.

A significant portion (20.8%) of home appliance repairers in 2021 identified as Hispanic. This is higher than the 19.1% of total Americans who identify as Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Among Hispanic home appliance repairers, nearly 73% identify as being of Mexican origin.

Most home appliance repairers identify as white (74.8%), with the next largest concentration identifying as Black (8.68%).

Industry outlook

The general outlook for the appliance repair industry appears to be good, despite a decline in revenues in recent years. The number of businesses in the sector increased by about 1.5% from 2018 to 2023. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, low homeownership rates meant many consumers did not utilize appliance repair services.

However, a survey about appliances conducted by Allstate in 2021 found that nearly all homeowners (95%) have had a major appliance breakdown in their lifetime. If companies operating in the appliance repair industry can profitably price their services to fit homeowners’ budgets, they have a significant opportunity. Over the next five years, the appliance repair industry is expected to grow thanks to increased home sales and consumer spending.

Smart appliances, which can connect to the internet and be controlled remotely, are projected to generate about $70 billion in revenue over the next five years in the U.S. In 2024, household penetration of smart appliances is estimated to be 15.7% and is expected to more than double by 2028. If household appliance repair businesses wish to grow, they will likely need to include smart appliance repair within their service offerings.

Best home improvement and appliance contractors

When evaluating home improvement and appliance repair contractors, factor in both the size of your project and the credibility of the repairer. Minor appliance repairs do not require the expertise of major contractors or home improvement businesses.

To avoid financial risk, check that the repairer has up-to-date licensing. And you should also look for established appliance repair companies that have strong feedback on customer review sites. Two of the top home improvement and appliance repair companies we recommend are HomeAdvisor and Home Depot.

References

1. IBISWorld. “Appliance Repair in the US - Market Size, Industry Analysis, Trends and Forecasts (2024-2029).” IBISWorld. Evaluated April 7, 2024.Link Here
2. IBISWorld. “Appliance Repair in the US - Market Size (2005-2029).” IBISWorld. Evaluated April 7, 2024.Link Here
3. IBISWorld. “Price of Household Appliances.” IBISWorld. Evaluated April 7, 2024.Link Here
4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023: 49-9031 Home Appliance Repairers.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Evaluated April 6, 2024.Link Here
5. U.S. Census Bureau. “U.S. and World Population Clock.” U.S. Census Bureau. Evaluated April 8, 2024.Link Here
6. Data USA. “Home Appliance Repairers.” Data USA. Evaluated April 6, 2024.Link Here
7. Allstate. “Major Appliance Blues: American Homeowners Have Spent $68.1 Billion Repairing or Replacing Broken Household Appliances.” Allstate. Evaluated April 8, 2024.Link Here
8. Statista. “Smart Appliances - United States.” Statista. Evaluated April 8, 2024.Link Here
9. Kentley Insights. “Appliance Repair – 2024 Global Market Size & Growth Report.” Kentley Insights. Evaluated April 6, 2024.Link Here
10. Statista. “Per capita disposable personal income in the United States in 2022, by state.” Statista. Evaluated April 10, 2024.Link Here
11. U.S. Census Bureau. “Housing Vacancies and Homeownership (CPS/HVS).” U.S. Census Bureau. Evaluated April 10, 2024.Link Here
12. U.S. Census Bureau. “Quarterly Residential Vacancies and Homeownership, Fourth Quarter 2023.” U.S. Census Bureau. Evaluated April 10, 2024.Link Here
13. U.S. Census Bureau. “QuickFacts.” U.S. Census Bureau. Evaluated April 10, 2024.Link Here