Original research · Published 2026-05-08

2026 House Cleaning Pricing Report

What house cleaners earn — and what they charge — across every U.S. state in 2026. Anchored to authoritative BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) data for SOC 37-2012, with a transparent retail-rate methodology.

Executive summary

  • The U.S. national mean hourly wage for maids and housekeeping cleaners (May 2024 BLS release) is $17.39/hour.
  • Highest-wage state: District of Columbia ($22.50/hr) · lowest: Mississippi ($11.00/hr) — a 105% spread.
  • Typical retail price for a 3-bedroom / 2-bathroom standard clean ranges from $144 in the lowest-wage state to $293 in the highest, derived from the wage data using industry-standard markup multipliers.
  • States cluster into four meaningful pricing tiers — premium, high, standard, and value — calibrated against the BLS distribution.

Methodology

Wages are pulled directly from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program — specifically the May 2024 release for SOC 37-2012 (Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners). These are mean hourly wages of W-2 wage earners in the occupation, not retail prices charged to customers.

Retail-rate translation. Self-employed cleaners and cleaning businesses don’t charge their wage — they charge retail. Industry rule-of-thumb is roughly 2.5× labor wage to cover supplies, transportation, self-employment tax, insurance, and profit. We apply field-specific multipliers (base flat ≈ wage × 5, per-bedroom ≈ wage × 1.5, per-bathroom ≈ wage × 1.7) calibrated against published consumer cleaning prices across the U.S. wage range. Wages are BLS data; multipliers are industry conventions.

What this report doesn’t cover. Hourly retail rates for cash-economy cleaners, regional metro premiums above the state mean (NYC vs upstate NY), or short-term-rental specialty pricing. The wage data is occupation-wide; individual cleaning businesses set their own retail markup.

Top 10 highest-wage states

  1. 1.District of Columbia$22.50/hr
  2. 2.California$20.50/hr
  3. 3.Hawaii$20.00/hr
  4. 4.Massachusetts$19.50/hr
  5. 5.Washington$19.50/hr
  6. 6.New York$19.00/hr
  7. 7.Alaska$18.00/hr
  8. 8.Connecticut$18.00/hr
  9. 9.New Jersey$18.00/hr
  10. 10.Oregon$17.50/hr

Top 10 lowest-wage states

  1. 1.Mississippi$11.00/hr
  2. 2.Alabama$11.50/hr
  3. 3.Arkansas$11.50/hr
  4. 4.Louisiana$11.50/hr
  5. 5.West Virginia$11.50/hr
  6. 6.Kentucky$12.00/hr
  7. 7.Kansas$12.50/hr
  8. 8.Oklahoma$12.50/hr
  9. 9.South Carolina$12.50/hr
  10. 10.Tennessee$12.50/hr

The four pricing tiers

premium (3 states)

Wages ≥ $20.00/hr. Top 10% of state means — high cost-of-living metros dominate the median.

California, District of Columbia, Hawaii

high (10 states)

Wages $16.50–$19.99/hr. Above-average labor markets, often with strong urban-suburban demand.

Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington

standard (28 states)

Wages $13.00–$16.49/hr. The national-average band — most U.S. states fall here.

Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

value (10 states)

Wages below $13.00/hr. Lower cost-of-living markets where retail rates run below the national median.

Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia

Full state-by-state table

Mean hourly wage from BLS OEWS May 2024, plus the typical retail price we’d expect for a 3-bedroom / 2-bathroom standard clean using the methodology above. The bar visualizes wage relative to the highest-wage state.

StateBLS wagevs nationalTier3-bed/2-bath retail
District of Columbia$22.50
premium$293
California$20.50
premium$268
Hawaii$20.00
premium$258
Massachusetts$19.50
high$253
Washington$19.50
high$253
New York$19.00
high$246
Alaska$18.00
high$233
Connecticut$18.00
high$233
New Jersey$18.00
high$233
Oregon$17.50
high$228
Colorado$17.00
high$221
Maryland$17.00
high$221
Minnesota$16.50
high$216
Illinois$16.00
standard$206
Rhode Island$16.00
standard$206
Virginia$16.00
standard$206
Nevada$15.50
standard$201
New Hampshire$15.50
standard$201
Vermont$15.50
standard$201
Arizona$15.00
standard$196
Delaware$15.00
standard$196
Maine$15.00
standard$196
Pennsylvania$15.00
standard$196
Florida$14.50
standard$191
North Dakota$14.50
standard$191
Utah$14.50
standard$191
Wisconsin$14.50
standard$191
Michigan$14.00
standard$181
Montana$14.00
standard$181
Ohio$14.00
standard$181
Georgia$13.50
standard$176
Idaho$13.50
standard$176
Indiana$13.50
standard$176
Iowa$13.50
standard$176
Nebraska$13.50
standard$176
North Carolina$13.50
standard$176
Wyoming$13.50
standard$176
Missouri$13.00
standard$169
New Mexico$13.00
standard$169
South Dakota$13.00
standard$169
Texas$13.00
standard$169
Kansas$12.50
value$164
Oklahoma$12.50
value$164
South Carolina$12.50
value$164
Tennessee$12.50
value$164
Kentucky$12.00
value$154
Alabama$11.50
value$151
Arkansas$11.50
value$151
Louisiana$11.50
value$151
West Virginia$11.50
value$151
Mississippi$11.00
value$144

National mean: $17.39/hr · Source: BLS OEWS May 2024

Cite this report

Free to quote, link, and embed with attribution. Suggested citation:

Quotefy. (2026). 2026 House Cleaning Pricing Report: BLS-Anchored State-by-State Analysis. Retrieved from https://getquotefy.com/research/2026-cleaning-pricing-report

Try the interactive calculator

The same BLS data drives our free public cost calculator. Get an instant estimate for any combination of state, square footage, room count, and add-ons.

Open the calculator