Cost Guides · Trade Wages
How Much Do House Cleaners Make? BLS Wage Data
How much do house cleaners make? A mean of $17.83 an hour, $37,080 a year (BLS, May 2025). Below: the range, pay by state, and per-visit prices.
How much do house cleaners make an hour?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks paid house cleaners under one classification: BLS code 37-2012, Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners. It covers employees who clean private homes and hotel rooms alike, so the numbers below describe the whole classification, not house cleaning alone.
The national mean wage is $17.83 an hour, $37,080 a year. The median, where half the classification earns more and half earns less, runs a bit lower: $17.07 an hour, $35,510 a year. That gap means higher earners pull the mean above the median. The classification counts an estimated 860,670 workers nationally (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
What is the full pay range for this classification?
A single average skips most of the story. BLS also publishes percentile wages, the spread from the lowest-paid tenth of workers to the highest-paid tenth.
| Percentile | Hourly wage | Annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $13.29 | $27,640 |
| 25th percentile | $14.59 | $30,350 |
| Median (50th) | $17.07 | $35,510 |
| Mean (average) | $17.83 | $37,080 |
| 75th percentile | $19.03 | $39,590 |
| 90th percentile | $23.35 | $48,570 |
The 10th-to-90th spread runs from $27,640 to $48,570 a year, wide enough that region and years on the job move pay a lot inside this one classification.
Which states pay the most, and which pay the least?
State averages move even more. Here are the six highest-paying and six lowest-paying states in the classification, by mean annual wage.
| State | Mean hourly | Mean annual | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | $25.18 | $52,370 | Highest |
| New York | $23.88 | $49,680 | Highest |
| California | $22.08 | $45,930 | Highest |
| District of Columbia | $21.83 | $45,400 | Highest |
| Nevada | $20.89 | $43,450 | Highest |
| Washington | $20.61 | $42,860 | Highest |
| Oklahoma | $14.21 | $29,570 | Lowest |
| West Virginia | $13.97 | $29,060 | Lowest |
| Arkansas | $13.86 | $28,820 | Lowest |
| Alabama | $13.40 | $27,860 | Lowest |
| Louisiana | $13.15 | $27,350 | Lowest |
| Mississippi | $12.43 | $25,850 | Lowest |
Hawaii’s mean pay is more than double Mississippi’s, a gap of $26,520 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Our own contractor hourly labor rates by trade page tracks pay across more trades from the same BLS release.
Turn a job photo into an itemized bid, free →
How much do house cleaning business owners make?
Every figure above is an employee wage. An owner-operator who bills the customer directly keeps the gap between price and costs, a number BLS does not report.
Rocket Maids LA’s posted rates, captured September 26, 2026: $159 for a studio or one bedroom up to $239 for three bedrooms. It also bills $55 an hour for a one-person crew, with a three-hour minimum.
Green Planet Cleaning’s rates, same capture date, page marked updated September 2026: $240 up to $350 for the same size range. The $111 spread on a 3-bedroom job is two companies in two markets each setting their own price.
Either way, this is gross revenue, not take-home pay. Fifteen 3-bedroom jobs a week bring in $3,585 at the Rocket Maids LA price, before fuel, supplies, insurance, and labor come out.
How to turn wage data into your own bid
-
Start from the BLS wage floor
Use $17.07 to $17.83 an hour as a labor baseline for hiring. Solo, use it as the value of your own time before you mark up for profit.
-
Set your own per-visit price
Decide flat rate by home size or an hourly rate with a minimum, the way Rocket Maids LA and Green Planet Cleaning do. Our guide on how much cleaning services cost covers the customer side of those prices.
-
Estimate job count and route density
Multiply your price per visit by the number of visits you can run in a day. Then multiply by days a week for gross revenue.
-
Turn the estimate into a bid
Snap a photo in SimplyWise Cost Estimator. Edit the material, labor, and fee lines, then send a branded quote. Once the job is done, bill it with a cleaning invoice.
SimplyWise Cost Estimator for pricing house cleaning jobs
SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job-site photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Material, labor, and fee lines are editable, so you can enter your own per-visit or per-hour price and add a deep-clean upcharge line. Send a branded quote the client signs to approve. $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, about $20/mo on annual, with a 7-day free trial.
Sources
BLS wage data
- BLS OEWS, May 2025 national estimates, code 37-2012, verified 2026-09-26.
- BLS OEWS, May 2025 state estimates, code 37-2012, verified 2026-09-26.
- SimplyWise, contractor hourly labor rates by trade, cross-check, live 2026-09-26.
Owner-operator pricing
- Rocket Maids LA, pricing page, own posted rates, captured 2026-09-26.
- Green Planet Cleaning Services, Bay Area house cleaning cost, own posted rates, page marked updated September 2026, captured 2026-09-26.
SimplyWise
- SimplyWise Cost Estimator on the App Store, 4.8 rating, verified 2026-09-26.
Frequently asked questions about house cleaner pay
The wage
How much do house cleaners make an hour?
House cleaners fall under BLS code 37-2012, Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners. The mean is $17.83 an hour, the median $17.07 an hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
What is the median house cleaner salary a year?
Median annual wage: $35,510. Mean: $37,080 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The 10th percentile earns $27,640 a year, the 90th earns $48,570.
The range
Which state pays house cleaners the most?
Hawaii: $52,370 a year, $25.18 an hour, the highest mean pay among states. New York, California, the District of Columbia, Nevada, and Washington round out the top six (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
How much do house cleaning business owners make?
BLS wage data covers employees, not owner profit. Rocket Maids LA posts $239 for a standard 3-bedroom clean; Green Planet Cleaning, a Bay Area company, posts $350 for the same size home. Both are gross job revenue, before fuel, insurance, equipment, and labor. Take-home pay depends on those costs.
Estimating the job
Can I measure a house with my phone camera instead of a tape measure?
Walk the rooms and enter what you see. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job-site photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. On a Pro iPhone, the room scan captures interior measurements with LiDAR. Every line stays editable.
Does SimplyWise Cost Estimator work for house cleaning bids?
It builds material, labor, and fee line items, each with unit, quantity, and price per unit, so you can price per visit, per hour, or per room. Send a branded quote the client signs to approve. Pricing is $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, with a 7-day free trial.
Turn your own per-visit price into a bid that holds margin.
Snap a photo and get an itemized estimate with editable lines. Free to try, then $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr after a 7-day trial.