Key findings
- $21.36
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA pays the most, adjusted
- −50
- Urban Honolulu, HI moves this many places
- 21
- of 100 metros move more than 20 places
$23.74 an hour at a price level of 111, against a US average of 100.
35th on pay as published, 85th once local prices are taken into account.
The ranking a nominal wage table gives you is not the ranking a cleaner experiences.
At a glance
Top 12 of 100
The twelve metros where cleaning pay goes furthest. Where the green bar runs past the black one, local prices are eating the wage.
How they spread out
Each bar counts how many of the 100 metros fall in that band. The published wages spread across the wider range; adjusted for local prices the same markets pull together.
What the figures show
The gap between American cities is smaller than the pay table suggests (link to this section)
Across these 100 metro areas, the highest cleaning wage is 1.59 times the lowest when you read the pay straight off the page. Adjust each one for what things actually cost where it is earned, and that spread falls to 1.45 times.
Roughly 24% of the apparent gap between the best-paying and worst-paying markets is not a difference in what people are paid at all. It is a difference in what they have to pay out.
About 24% of the gap between America's best and worst paying cleaning markets is not pay. It is rent, food and everything else.
Where the ranking breaks down (link to this section)
21 of the 100 metros here move more than twenty places between the two rankings, and the movement is not random. The places that fall are the expensive coastal markets: Urban Honolulu, HI drops 50 places, from 35th to 85th, because a price level of 111 takes back everything its higher wage appeared to offer.
The places that rise are inland and unglamorous. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX pays $15.94 an hour, which ranks it 91st of 100 and looks unremarkable. At a price level of 86 - the lowest here - that wage is worth $18.56, and the metro climbs to 50th.
The price levels themselves run from 85.9 in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX to 115.6 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. That is a spread of about 30 points, and it is doing more work in this table than any wage negotiation.
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA is the exception worth noticing (link to this section)
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA pays the highest cleaning wage in the country at $23.74 an hour. It also has a price level of 111. Most markets that pay well above average also cost well above average, and the two cancel.
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA is where they do not quite cancel: at $21.36 adjusted it still leads. A market that pays enough to outrun its own cost of living is unusual, and it is the one place on this table where a high headline wage means what it appears to mean.
The same pattern holds for laundry operatives, who are paid less throughout: the adjusted figure peaks at $22.63 in Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO.
What this is useful for, and what it is not (link to this section)
If you are comparing what a cleaning contract should cost in two different American cities, the published wage will mislead you, and by more than you would guess. A market that looks 25% more expensive on paper may be barely more expensive in the terms that matter to the person doing the work.
What this page does not do is tell you what it costs to employ someone. Payroll taxes, insurance, equipment, supervision and turnover all sit on top of the wage, and none of them scale with local prices in the same way. Nor does a metro-wide price level describe any particular household.
Compare two American markets on published wages and you will overstate the difference, by as much as fifty places in the ranking.
How we worked this out
Nominal pay is the hourly mean wage for 37-2011, janitors and cleaners, from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025, by metropolitan area.
It is divided by that metro's Regional Price Parity from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis for 2024, an index where 100 is the national price level. A metro at 120 is 20% more expensive than the US average, so a dollar earned there buys what 83 cents buys nationally.
Regional Price Parities are used rather than a local Consumer Price Index deliberately. A CPI measures change over time within one area and each area has its own base period, so CPI cannot compare price levels between cities. Using it here would look rigorous and give the wrong answer.
The two statistics are published on different schedules, so 2025 wages are adjusted by 2024 price levels - the most recent of each. Price parities move slowly, but the mismatch is real and is stated rather than hidden.
The rank column is the point of the page: how far a metro moves between the nominal ranking and the real one. Urban Honolulu, HI falls 50 places once local prices are taken into account; McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX rises 41.
BEA publishes a price parity for 387 metro areas. This page shows the 100 with the most cleaning jobs - every metro here employs at least 3,520 cleaners - so the table stays readable on a phone. The ranks are calculated across these 100.
These are gross wages paid to employees, not the cost of employing someone, and not a contract rate. Price parities cover a whole metro area and say nothing about an individual household.
The numbers
100 rows · as at OEWS 2025 · RPP 2024
100 rows
| Region | US dollars per hour, adjusted for local prices | As published ($/hr) | Price level (US=100) | Places moved | Laundry, adjusted ($/hr) | Laundry, published ($/hr) | Cleaning jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $21.36 | $23.74 | 111.1 | no change | $18.62 | $20.69 | 26,820 |
| Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA | $20.62 | $20.69 | 100.3 | +12 | $18.43 | $18.49 | 4,090 |
| Syracuse, NY | $20.53 | $19.66 | 95.7 | +23 | $17.92 | $17.16 | 6,010 |
| Bakersfield-Delano, CA | $20.51 | $20.69 | 100.9 | +11 | $17.71 | $17.87 | 4,060 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $20.42 | $22.55 | 110.4 | −2 | $19.72 | $21.78 | 15,780 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $20.38 | $22.07 | 108.3 | −2 | $17.19 | $18.61 | 43,160 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $20.26 | $23.42 | 115.6 | −5 | $18.45 | $21.33 | 29,930 |
| Worcester, MA | $20.16 | $20.67 | 102.5 | +8 | $17.43 | $17.87 | 4,610 |
| Portland-South Portland, ME | $20.15 | $20.52 | 101.9 | +8 | $18.49 | $18.83 | 3,820 |
| Madison, WI | $20.13 | $19.58 | 97.3 | +17 | $18.09 | $17.60 | 6,780 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $20.08 | $21.17 | 105.4 | −1 | $18.82 | $19.84 | 14,620 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | $20.04 | $21.38 | 106.7 | −5 | $17.62 | $18.80 | 14,020 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $19.98 | $21.27 | 106.4 | −4 | $17.12 | $18.22 | 19,520 |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area | $19.98 | $21.35 | 106.9 | −6 | $17.41 | $18.61 | 6,220 |
| Stockton-Lodi, CA | $19.96 | $20.98 | 105.1 | −3 | $17.51 | $18.40 | 3,830 |
| Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY | $19.74 | $18.92 | 95.8 | +20 | $18.24 | $17.48 | 9,290 |
| Kansas City, MO-KS | $19.71 | $18.24 | 92.5 | +29 | $17.73 | $16.41 | 12,950 |
| New Haven, CT | $19.61 | $20.50 | 104.6 | no change | $17.29 | $18.08 | 6,210 |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | $19.58 | $18.62 | 95.1 | +22 | $17.88 | $17.00 | 19,680 |
| Fresno, CA | $19.57 | $19.99 | 102.2 | +3 | $17.63 | $18.01 | 5,770 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA | $19.54 | $21.06 | 107.8 | −10 | $18.54 | $19.98 | 3,620 |
| Columbus, OH | $19.52 | $18.64 | 95.5 | +18 | $16.48 | $15.73 | 14,130 |
| Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | $19.47 | $19.82 | 101.8 | +2 | $17.45 | $17.76 | 9,660 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | $19.47 | $21.52 | 110.5 | −18 | $16.67 | $18.43 | 3,690 |
| Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | $19.46 | $19.38 | 99.6 | +6 | $17.53 | $17.45 | 8,880 |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | $19.46 | $19.99 | 102.7 | −4 | $17.30 | $17.78 | 8,980 |
| Omaha, NE-IA | $19.45 | $17.88 | 91.9 | +26 | $18.71 | $17.20 | 6,690 |
| Cleveland, OH | $19.44 | $18.26 | 93.9 | +16 | $16.65 | $15.64 | 13,380 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $19.44 | $21.88 | 112.6 | −24 | $16.20 | $18.24 | 183,030 |
| Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH | $19.43 | $18.01 | 92.7 | +22 | $17.37 | $16.10 | 5,040 |
| Rochester, NY | $19.43 | $18.85 | 97.0 | +7 | $17.48 | $16.96 | 9,520 |
| Akron, OH | $19.41 | $18.12 | 93.4 | +18 | $16.44 | $15.35 | 4,140 |
| Peoria, IL | $19.39 | $17.69 | 91.2 | +27 | $18.23 | $16.63 | 3,620 |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | $19.39 | $19.43 | 100.2 | −6 | $18.04 | $18.08 | 26,480 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | $19.34 | $20.27 | 104.8 | −16 | $18.38 | $19.27 | 26,790 |
| Toledo, OH | $19.29 | $17.64 | 91.5 | +26 | $16.37 | $14.97 | 4,220 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $19.21 | $19.90 | 103.6 | −13 | $16.77 | $17.37 | 70,000 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | $19.19 | $18.17 | 94.7 | +10 | $16.59 | $15.71 | 16,140 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $19.15 | $20.26 | 105.8 | −19 | $22.63 | $23.94 | 19,460 |
| Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI | $19.15 | $18.56 | 96.9 | +2 | $17.73 | $17.19 | 14,380 |
| Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | $19.06 | $18.18 | 95.4 | +6 | $16.64 | $15.87 | 13,560 |
| Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA | $19.02 | $17.44 | 91.7 | +23 | $17.92 | $16.43 | 5,720 |
| Colorado Springs, CO | $19.02 | $19.15 | 100.7 | −11 | $17.17 | $17.29 | 3,530 |
| Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ | $18.92 | $18.91 | 100.0 | −7 | $16.70 | $16.69 | 6,500 |
| Trenton-Princeton, NJ | $18.80 | $19.40 | 103.2 | −15 | $16.69 | $17.22 | 3,840 |
| Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN | $18.71 | $17.41 | 93.1 | +20 | $16.12 | $15.00 | 9,220 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN | $18.62 | $17.82 | 95.7 | +9 | $15.98 | $15.29 | 17,240 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | $18.57 | $19.04 | 102.6 | −14 | $16.65 | $17.08 | 40,790 |
| Boise City, ID | $18.56 | $18.26 | 98.4 | −4 | $17.52 | $17.24 | 5,260 |
| McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX | $18.56 | $15.94 | 85.9 | +41 | $14.48 | $12.44 | 4,090 |
| Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN | $18.53 | $17.85 | 96.3 | +4 | $17.12 | $16.49 | 9,940 |
| Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI | $18.48 | $17.66 | 95.5 | +9 | $18.86 | $18.02 | 11,490 |
| Wichita, KS | $18.45 | $16.41 | 88.9 | +30 | $16.62 | $14.78 | 3,650 |
| Tucson, AZ | $18.35 | $17.78 | 96.9 | +4 | $17.14 | $16.61 | 5,370 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $18.23 | $20.70 | 113.6 | −42 | $16.62 | $18.87 | 83,160 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $18.17 | $17.82 | 98.1 | +1 | $16.21 | $15.90 | 15,470 |
| Albuquerque, NM | $18.17 | $17.36 | 95.5 | +11 | $16.39 | $15.66 | 7,070 |
| Tulsa, OK | $18.12 | $16.17 | 89.2 | +29 | $16.62 | $14.83 | 5,140 |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $18.11 | $18.16 | 100.3 | −10 | $17.19 | $17.24 | 26,810 |
| Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA | $18.10 | $17.86 | 98.7 | −6 | $16.06 | $15.84 | 4,240 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $18.04 | $20.18 | 111.9 | −40 | $17.12 | $19.15 | 21,700 |
| Lancaster, PA | $18.01 | $17.70 | 98.3 | −3 | $16.56 | $16.27 | 3,680 |
| Memphis, TN-MS-AR | $17.89 | $16.49 | 92.2 | +18 | $16.91 | $15.59 | 8,070 |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | $17.87 | $18.67 | 104.5 | −25 | $15.96 | $16.68 | 19,050 |
| Reno, NV | $17.85 | $18.03 | 101.0 | −14 | $17.31 | $17.49 | 4,410 |
| Birmingham, AL | $17.79 | $16.30 | 91.6 | +18 | $14.91 | $13.66 | 5,760 |
| Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY | $17.75 | $19.42 | 109.4 | −38 | $16.19 | $17.71 | 5,270 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $17.74 | $18.33 | 103.3 | −25 | $17.15 | $17.72 | 26,990 |
| Chattanooga, TN-GA | $17.67 | $16.16 | 91.5 | +19 | $16.03 | $14.66 | 4,140 |
| Jacksonville, FL | $17.53 | $17.44 | 99.5 | −6 | $15.86 | $15.78 | 8,450 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $17.51 | $19.07 | 108.9 | −38 | $16.06 | $17.49 | 59,090 |
| Greensboro-High Point, NC | $17.48 | $16.23 | 92.9 | +13 | $18.03 | $16.74 | 4,380 |
| Knoxville, TN | $17.45 | $16.15 | 92.6 | +16 | $16.58 | $15.35 | 7,150 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | $17.43 | $15.76 | 90.4 | +20 | $16.09 | $14.55 | 8,020 |
| Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR | $17.38 | $15.88 | 91.4 | +18 | $16.10 | $14.71 | 4,200 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | $17.38 | $16.46 | 94.7 | +6 | $15.67 | $14.84 | 15,420 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $17.35 | $17.36 | 100.1 | −10 | $15.31 | $15.32 | 30,900 |
| Richmond, VA | $17.30 | $16.93 | 97.9 | −7 | $15.93 | $15.59 | 9,270 |
| Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | $17.24 | $16.78 | 97.3 | −3 | $15.97 | $15.55 | 13,760 |
| North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL | $17.20 | $17.62 | 102.4 | −17 | $16.06 | $16.45 | 3,940 |
| Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR | $17.19 | $15.36 | 89.4 | +17 | $15.99 | $14.29 | 4,990 |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC | $17.11 | $16.79 | 98.2 | −7 | $15.74 | $15.45 | 7,310 |
| Columbia, SC | $17.10 | $16.02 | 93.7 | +7 | $15.87 | $14.86 | 5,320 |
| Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $17.08 | $16.73 | 97.9 | −7 | $15.36 | $15.04 | 11,840 |
| Urban Honolulu, HI | $17.06 | $18.93 | 111.0 | −50 | $16.17 | $17.94 | 8,090 |
| Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL | $17.04 | $16.55 | 97.1 | −6 | $15.68 | $15.23 | 3,520 |
| Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL | $16.89 | $17.29 | 102.3 | −18 | $15.56 | $15.93 | 3,890 |
| El Paso, TX | $16.74 | $15.05 | 89.9 | +11 | $14.46 | $13.00 | 5,640 |
| Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC | $16.74 | $15.61 | 93.3 | +7 | $16.30 | $15.20 | 6,250 |
| Salt Lake City-Murray, UT | $16.73 | $16.88 | 100.9 | −18 | $17.10 | $17.25 | 10,610 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | $16.68 | $16.83 | 100.9 | −18 | $15.75 | $15.89 | 18,460 |
| New Orleans-Metairie, LA | $16.65 | $15.42 | 92.6 | +5 | $15.97 | $14.79 | 6,070 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $16.55 | $17.06 | 103.1 | −23 | $15.40 | $15.88 | 48,360 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | $16.48 | $16.71 | 101.4 | −16 | $15.92 | $16.15 | 21,620 |
| Charleston-North Charleston, SC | $16.42 | $16.58 | 101.0 | −16 | $16.35 | $16.51 | 5,210 |
| Baton Rouge, LA | $16.40 | $14.89 | 90.8 | +4 | $14.84 | $13.47 | 5,300 |
| Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT | $16.22 | $15.93 | 98.2 | −5 | $15.89 | $15.61 | 4,840 |
| Ogden, UT | $16.13 | $16.19 | 100.3 | −12 | $17.21 | $17.27 | 4,240 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | $15.92 | $15.70 | 98.6 | −4 | $14.72 | $14.52 | 48,880 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $14.72 | $16.80 | 114.2 | −26 | $14.13 | $16.13 | 41,890 |
Colour key rises once adjusted falls once adjusteddearer than the US averagecheaper than the US averageThe arrow carries the same meaning as the colour, so neither is needed on its own.
What to take away
Nominal wage data ranks American cleaning markets in an order that does not survive contact with local prices — 21 of 100 metros move more than twenty places. Compare labour costs across US markets on adjusted pay, or you are comparing rents as much as wages.
Where it came from
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
US federal government — public domain · published annual
- US Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities
US federal government — public domain · published annual
When this page changes next
This page changes when either source publishes a new vintage: BEA Regional Price Parities for 2025, expected December 2026, or BLS OEWS for 2026, expected spring 2027. The pipeline checks every week and usually finds nothing, which is the expected result.
Last checked
This page is free to use and free to quote. If you cite it, please link back so readers can check the figures and the method for themselves.
Cite this page
Free to quote, with or without permission. A link back means your readers can check the figures and the method for themselves. The chart can be embedded straight into your own page, and it carries the attribution with it.
Hassam Rafkey, "Where cleaning pay is actually worth most", APXXO, 2026. https://apxxo.com/en-us/data/cleaning-pay-real-terms/
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Paying more than this?
These are benchmarks, not quotations. If you operate buildings across several sites and want to know what your estate should actually cost to run, tell us what you have.