diff --git a/ironic/cmd/api.py b/ironic/cmd/api.py
index 2323c4b09c..f75aa9ee7d 100644
--- a/ironic/cmd/api.py
+++ b/ironic/cmd/api.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def main():
     launcher = ironic_service.process_launcher()
     server = wsgi_service.WSGIService('ironic_api', CONF.api.enable_ssl_api)
     launcher.launch_service(server, workers=server.workers)
-    launcher.wait()
+    sys.exit(launcher.wait())
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/ironic/cmd/conductor.py b/ironic/cmd/conductor.py
index 8431858906..5fa4c84899 100644
--- a/ironic/cmd/conductor.py
+++ b/ironic/cmd/conductor.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def main():
     issue_startup_warnings(CONF)
 
     launcher = service.launch(CONF, mgr, restart_method='mutate')
-    launcher.wait()
+    sys.exit(launcher.wait())
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/ironic/cmd/singleprocess.py b/ironic/cmd/singleprocess.py
index ea2e01365c..20a348ae5c 100644
--- a/ironic/cmd/singleprocess.py
+++ b/ironic/cmd/singleprocess.py
@@ -49,4 +49,4 @@ def main():
     wsgi = wsgi_service.WSGIService('ironic_api', CONF.api.enable_ssl_api)
     launcher.launch_service(wsgi)
 
-    launcher.wait()
+    sys.exit(launcher.wait())
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/service-exit-77bcf3a538fab4bc.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/service-exit-77bcf3a538fab4bc.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3d0aeee193
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/service-exit-77bcf3a538fab4bc.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Services (``ironic``, ``ironic-api``, ``ironic-conductor``) now correctly
+    return a non-zero exit code on start-up failures.