# Cleaning Business Income: Census and BLS Data 2026 Canonical URL: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-much-does-a-cleaning-business-make/ Plain text: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-much-does-a-cleaning-business-make/llms.txt Publisher: SimplyWise, Inc. (https://www.simplywise.com) Published: October 30, 2026 Updated: October 30, 2026 Category: Project Cost Guides Summary: Cleaning business income by the numbers: Census receipts for solo and staffed companies, BLS wage data, and the revenue math real companies post. --- Log in (https://simplywise.com/login) ## What Is Average Cleaning Business Income? A cleaning business with no employees averages about $20,785 a year in receipts. A company with staff averages about $1,066,000 per location (Census Bureau). Below: payroll, real prices, and your own number. Add SimplyWise as a preferred source (https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=simplywise.com) How the numbers break down 1. Cleaning business income splits into two Census worlds: solo owner-operators with no employees, and firms that carry staff on payroll. 2. The average nonemployer cleaning business posts about $20,800 a year in receipts (Census Nonemployer Statistics, 2023), pulled down by many part-time filers. 3. The average employer cleaning establishment posts about $1.07 million a year in receipts across 68,108 establishments (Economic Census, 2022). 4. Payroll runs about 43 percent of that revenue industrywide, leaving the rest for supplies, insurance, overhead, and profit. 5. A full-time solo route running 15 three-bedroom jobs a week at real posted prices grosses $186,000 to $273,000 a year before costs. 6. Those are gross figures. Take-home pay is whatever is left after labor, supplies, insurance, and vehicle costs. ## What is average cleaning business income with no employees? A cleaning business with no employees averages about $20,785 a year in receipts. That is the Census Bureau’s Nonemployer Statistics for 2023: 1,095,927 owner-operators, LLCs, and side gigs under NAICS 56172, Janitorial Services, posting $22,779,360,000 in combined receipts. Sole proprietorships alone average slightly less, $18,648. Both blend full-time operators with many part-time filers, so the average reads lower than a full-time solo route. ## What is average cleaning business income once a company has employees? A cleaning company with paid staff averages about $1,066,000 a year in receipts per establishment, and about $1,135,000 per firm. That is the 2022 Economic Census: 63,999 firms running 68,108 establishments under NAICS 561720, with combined receipts of $72,611,377,000 and payroll of $31,414,831,000. | Segment | Establishments | Receipts | Avg. per establishment | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Nonemployer (no staff) | 1,095,927 | $22.78 billion | $20,785 | | Employer firm (has staff) | 68,108 | $72.61 billion | $1,066,121 | Two Census products, two very different pictures. The nonemployer average ($20,785) and the employer-firm average ($1,066,121) sit roughly 51 times apart. That is a business-scale gap, not a verdict on which owner runs a tighter operation. ## How much of that income goes to payroll? Across employer firms, payroll of $31,414,831,000 against receipts of $72,611,377,000 works out to about 43 percent. That is the wage share before supplies, insurance, and overhead. The wage floor comes from BLS OEWS, May 2025: janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners (code 37-2011) average $18.64 an hour, $38,760 a year. Maids and housekeeping cleaners (code 37-2012) average $17.83 an hour, $37,080 a year. Our own contractor hourly labor rates by trade (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/contractor-hourly-labor-rates-by-trade/) page tracks pay across more trades from the same BLS release. ## What do real per-visit prices say about your own income? Three named companies post their own per-visit prices and a fourth publishes a Chicago market range, all rechecked live 2026-10-30. Rocket Maids LA: $239 flat for a three-bedroom clean, or $55 an hour, one-person crew, three-hour minimum. Green Planet Cleaning, Bay Area: $350 flat for the same size home. Sophia’s Cleaning, Chicago western suburbs: $288 to $312 flat, which it says averages about $54 per hour of cleaning time. Sparkly Maid Chicago publishes a Chicago market range of $220 to $300 for a standard three-bedroom, two-bath clean. Hourly, it lists $40 to $60 per cleaner. Run the math on one full-time route: 15 three-bedroom jobs a week, 52 weeks. At the Rocket Maids LA price that is $186,420 a year in gross revenue; at the Green Planet price, $273,000. Both sit far above the nonemployer average because that average includes so many part-time filers. That is gross revenue, not take-home pay. Fuel, supplies, insurance, and labor come out first. ## How to turn Census data into your own number 1. Know which Census world you are in Solo with no staff, or a firm running payroll. The averages above only apply inside your own segment. 2. Set your own per-visit price Use Rocket Maids LA, Green Planet Cleaning, Sophia’s Cleaning, or Sparkly Maid Chicago as reference points, then price your own market (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-much-do-cleaning-services-cost/). 3. Subtract the BLS labor floor if hiring Budget $17.83 to $18.64 an hour per cleaner, the BLS OEWS May 2025 mean hourly wage range for maids and janitors. 4. Turn the math into a bid Snap a photo in SimplyWise Cost Estimator, edit the lines to your own numbers, then send a branded quote. ## SimplyWise Cost Estimator for pricing cleaning jobs Whatever segment you’re in today, SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job-site photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Material, labor, and fee lines are editable. 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 ### Census data - Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics, 2023 US file (https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics/datasets/2023/historical-datasets/nonemp23us.zip), NAICS 56172 Janitorial Services, verified 2026-09-26. - Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, sector 56 basic statistics (https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2022/sector56/EC2256BASIC.zip), NAICS 561720, verified 2026-09-26. - Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023 US file (https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2023/cbp23us.zip), NAICS 561720, verified 2026-09-26. ### BLS wage data - BLS OEWS, May 2025 national estimates (https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm), codes 37-2011 and 37-2012, verified 2026-09-26. ### Owner-operator pricing - Rocket Maids LA, pricing page (https://rocketmaidsla.com/prices/), own rates, captured 2026-09-26. - Green Planet Cleaning Services, Bay Area house cleaning cost (https://www.greenplanetcleaningservices.com/newsroom/house-cleaning-cost-bay-area/), own rates, updated September 2026, captured 2026-09-26. - Sophia’s Cleaning Service, pricing page (https://sophiascleaning.com/prices/), own rates, captured 2026-10-30. - Sparkly Maid Chicago, cleaning services prices (https://sparklymaid.com/cleaning-services-chicago-prices), published Chicago market range, captured 2026-10-30. ### SimplyWise - SimplyWise Cost Estimator on the App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplywise-cost-estimator/id6670619664), 4.8 rating, verified 2026-09-26. ## Frequently asked questions about cleaning business income ### Cleaning business income **What is average cleaning business income with no employees?** About $20,785 a year, from 1,095,927 nonemployer cleaning businesses posting $22,779,360,000 in combined receipts (Census Nonemployer Statistics, 2023). Sole proprietorships alone average $18,648. Both figures blend full-time operators with many part-time filers. **What is average cleaning business income for a company with staff?** About $1,066,000 a year per establishment, from 68,108 employer establishments posting $72,611,377,000 in combined receipts (2022 Economic Census, NAICS 561720). Per firm, the average is about $1,135,000. ### The math **How much of that income goes to payroll?** About 43 percent industrywide: $31,414,831,000 in payroll against $72,611,377,000 in receipts for employer firms (2022 Economic Census). The rest covers supplies, insurance, vehicles, overhead, and owner profit. **How much do cleaning employees make if I hire?** BLS OEWS, May 2025: janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners (code 37-2011) average $18.64 an hour, $38,760 a year. Maids and housekeeping cleaners (code 37-2012) average $17.83 an hour, $37,080 a year. ### Estimating the job **Can I quote a cleaning job from a photo?** Yes. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job-site photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Walk the rooms, add what you see, and edit any line. **Does SimplyWise Cost Estimator work for cleaning business bids?** It builds material, labor, and fee line items, each with unit, quantity, and price per unit. 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. 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