How Much Do House Cleaners Make?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) files house cleaners with hotel housekeepers under one code and counts employees only. BLS says 5% of the wider cleaning group work for themselves, and a one-person janitorial services business, house cleaners included, grosses less than the employee median, before supplies, insurance and vehicle costs.
Most cleaning business owners who publish their income also sell courses or coaching, and no owner published a dated year of income we could check, so this page leans on official figures, published prices and franchise job posts. Below are three figures side by side, a tool that finds pay by ZIP code, and a calculator for a year of visits.
What you take home depends on whether you draw an hourly wage, price your own visits, or run a crew.
Employed house cleaners in Seattle earn a median of $44,900, against $35,510 nationally
Every US ZIP code is matched to a figure. 527 of the 528 BLS areas publish a median for this group; the one that does not, Guayama, Puerto Rico, shows the Puerto Rico figure. Census publishes one-person janitorial services receipts for 3,079 counties. The tool says which figure it shows.
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 37-2012, by area, employees only. Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 56172, by county (Census publishes janitorial services at five digits), 3,079 counties, before costs and tax. Census ZIP-to-county file. USDA rural-urban codes. The calculator uses employee pay levels because no agency publishes self-employed pay by area. The lookup runs in your browser. It loads a small file for the first three digits of your ZIP code from this site and sends nothing else.
Hawaii pays employed house cleaners a median of $51,600; Mississippi pays $25,360
The table shows the national figure, the five highest and five lowest state medians, and the other states with the most people employed in this job. The first column counts employees. The second counts one-person businesses, and its figures are before costs.
| State | Employed maids and housekeeping cleaners, median a year (BLS May 2025) | One-person janitorial services business, average gross (Census 2024) |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $35,510 | $21,483 |
| Highest five | ||
| Hawaii | $51,600 | $33,169 |
| Nevada | $46,550 | $20,113 |
| California | $42,660 | $24,308 |
| District of Columbia | $42,260 | $17,826 |
| Washington | $42,180 | $27,792 |
| Lowest five | ||
| Mississippi | $25,360 | $15,507 |
| Louisiana | $26,600 | $16,457 |
| Alabama | $27,480 | $17,511 |
| Arkansas | $27,960 | $17,009 |
| West Virginia | $28,090 | $14,409 |
| Most people employed in this job | ||
| Florida | $33,860 | $21,558 |
| Texas | $29,660 | $19,173 |
| New York | $41,950 | $18,135 |
| North Carolina | $31,310 | $21,775 |
| Ohio | $32,170 | $20,031 |
| Illinois | $36,380 | $20,675 |
First column: BLS OEWS May 2025 state medians for SOC 37-2012, employees only; BLS groups house cleaners with hotel housekeepers. Second column: Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 56172, average gross receipts of businesses with no employees, before expenses, covering all janitorial services.
A one-person janitorial services business grosses $21,483 a year, below the $35,510 employee median
Two official surveys cover this work, and they count different people. BLS counts employees and reports their pay. Census counts businesses with no employees and reports their gross receipts, house cleaners included among all janitorial services. The two cannot be added together or netted against each other.
What owners with crews take home is not public, and we found no figure to print. ARCSI, the residential division of ISSA, published a Residential Cleaning Benchmark Study in 2022. Its public press release carries no wage or price figure and no sample size, and the full results cost $99 for non-members, so no public benchmark exists. The levers an owner controls are the price per visit, the number of visits in a week, and whether to add a crew.
Work out what a year of cleaning visits brings in before tax
Change the price, visits, days and weeks to match your own year. The starting numbers are examples, and nothing here is a forecast. Supplies, insurance, vehicle costs and sales tax are not taken out, so subtract your own costs.
- Visit income in a year$72,000
- Your share$72,000
- Card fees− $2,160
Checked November 2026. Supplies, insurance, vehicle costs and sales tax are not deducted, so subtract your own costs. Visits, days and weeks are examples. With a ZIP code, the price follows that area's pay level.
The IRS lists house cleaners in private homes as a tipped job, entry 407
The IRS list is the firmest fact available on tips in this work, and the two IRS rules below cover the tips themselves. This page gives no view on whether or how much to tip.
Entry 407 reads "Home cleaning service workers. Perform cleaning duties in private households. House cleaner, pool cleaner, carpet cleaner, window washer 37-2012". It uses code 37-2012, the same code as the pay figures on this page.
Employees and the self-employed can both claim it, and the tips must be voluntary. It phases out above $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income ($300,000 on a joint return). For the self-employed it cannot exceed the net income of the business.
The IRS says the report is due by the 10th of the next month.
A Molly Maid franchisee post in Maynard, Massachusetts and a Merry Maids franchisee post both mention tips on top of the hourly rate. Each is one location's opening, and neither says how much tips add.
The lowest-paid tenth of employed house cleaners earn under $27,640
BLS reports $27,640 a year at the 10th percentile and $30,350 at the 25th, for employees only. None of the sources on this page gives pay by years in the job, so the low end of the range is the closest stand-in for a first year.
BLS gives this for the whole group of janitors and building cleaners, which is wider than house cleaners.
The projection covers all janitors and building cleaners, 2,432,600 jobs in 2025, so it is not a house cleaner figure on its own.
Two Molly Maid franchisees and one Merry Maids franchisee posted these ranges. The Maynard post guarantees $18 an hour and the Merry Maids post sets an $18 minimum for full-time cleaners. Each post is a single location's opening, not company-wide pay.
The Texas business permit FAQ reads: "A small-scale residential or commercial cleaning business does not require a special permit or license from the state". Texas has no general business license, and businesses register with the Secretary of State or a county clerk. We found no state that licenses house cleaning as a trade in the rules we read. Check your city and county for a general business registration.
Companies advertise their coverage instead: Book a Denver Maid states "$2M Insured" and Maid Complete states "licensed and insured".
Measured by us in November 2026. Cleaning courses were measured but left off the chart. The Domain and email row is the control: its 21 phrasings are almost all people looking up a cleaning company's email address or an email template, none about pay, so read the other bars against it as the noise level.
House cleaner pay questions
If you run your own house cleaning business, let customers book recurring cleans and pay online between visits.
Set up your services and prices once, then share one booking link with every customer.
- A booking page that works as the link in your bio.
- Each service with its own length and price, like a recurring home clean, a deep clean or a move-out clean.
- A deposit at booking, or a card on file for later.
- Tap to Pay on iPhone, to take a card in person.
Sources
Where every number on this page comes from, by publisher and date. Price lists and job posts are each one company's or one location's own page.
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners (37-2012), national, state and area, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-05-15 Employees only; the self-employed are not surveyed. House cleaners are filed with hotel housekeepers. 860,670 employed nationally. Area coverage: 527 of the 528 BLS areas publish a median for this group; the one that does not, Guayama, Puerto Rico, shows the Puerto Rico figure.
- Nonemployer Statistics 2024: Janitorial Services (NAICS 56172), national, state and county, U.S. Census Bureau, 2026-09-29 Gross receipts of businesses with no paid employees, before costs and tax. House cleaners are counted together with all other janitorial services. Published for 3,079 counties.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook: Janitors and Building Cleaners, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-11-09 Last modified August 2026. The profile covers 37-2012 and is wider than house cleaners.
- Occupations that customarily and regularly received tips on or before December 31, 2024, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-09 Treasury Tipped Occupation Code entry 407, listed under 37-2012.
- Deduction for qualified tips, tax years 2025 through 2028, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-09 Limit, income phase-out and who can claim it.
- Reporting cash tips to an employer, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-09 Cash tips of $20 or more in a month, reported by the 10th of the next month.
- Molly Maid franchisee job post, Maynard, Massachusetts, Molly Maid careers site, 2026-11-09 One franchisee's opening, not company-wide pay.
- Molly Maid franchisee job post, Greenville, South Carolina, Molly Maid careers site, 2026-11-09 One franchisee's opening, not company-wide pay.
- Merry Maids franchisee job post, location not named, Merry Maids careers page, 2026-11-09 A single franchisee's job post, which does not name its location or speak for the company.
- ARCSI Residential Cleaning Benchmark Study, press release, ARCSI, the residential division of ISSA, 2026-11-09 Published September 2022. No wage or price figure and no sample size in the public release; full results cost $99 for non-members.
- Business permit FAQ, Office of the Texas Governor, 2026-11-09 States that a small-scale cleaning business needs no special state permit or license.
- Seattle house cleaning prices, NW Maids, 2026-11-09 One company's own price list, published June 2026.
- House cleaning cost in New York City, Maid Marines, 2026-11-09 One company's own price list.
- House cleaning in Denver, Maid Complete, 2026-11-09 One company's own prices.
- Recurring house cleaning in Denver, Book a Denver Maid, 2026-11-09 One company's own prices.
- Stripe pricing, standard US card rate, Stripe, 2026-10-25 The card processor kiwilaunch uses; quoted for the 3% card fee in the calculator.
Not tax, legal or financial advice. Prices, pay and what you keep vary by state and city, licensing rules differ by state, and the tax rules on tips have conditions. A tax professional who knows your situation can answer for you.