How Much to Charge for House Cleaning?

Work out what to charge for a house cleaning from your own numbers. Estimate how long the job takes, multiply the hours by your labor cost per hour, then add supplies, a share of your overhead and a profit. The total is your price for that visit. Divide it by the hours to see what it works out to per hour.

Billed publishes this page. Wage figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics profile for Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners (May 2025 estimates, national) and its technical notes (for the May 2025 estimates; last modified May 15, 2026), both opened on October 30, 2026. The prices on this page are a labelled sample, not market rates.

What the BLS wage figures tell you

BLS publishes pay for occupation 37-2012, Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners. It describes the work as: "Perform any combination of light cleaning duties to maintain private households or commercial establishments, such as hotels and hospitals, in a clean and orderly manner."

National figures for May 2025:

• Median hourly wage: $17.07
• Mean hourly wage: $17.83
• 10th percentile: $13.29 an hour
• 90th percentile: $23.35 an hour
• Employment: 860,670

These are wages paid to employees, not prices charged to clients. The BLS technical notes say: "Wages for the OEWS survey are straight-time, gross pay, exclusive of premium pay." Use them as a reference for the labor line if you employ cleaners, or to sense-check the hourly pay you set for yourself. They don't tell you what a cleaning business charges.

Step 1: Estimate the time

Time drives the labor line, so estimate it before you quote:

• Size and layout: the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and other rooms, and the floor area.
• Condition: how much build-up there is, for example after months without a clean.
• Scope: what the client wants done, such as inside the oven or fridge, interior windows, or laundry.
• Travel: the time to get there and back, if you don't price it separately.

If you can, see the home or ask for photos before you give a fixed price. Time your first few jobs of each type, then use those times for later quotes. For more on estimating hours, see how to estimate project hours accurately.

Step 2: Add up your costs

• Labor: hours × your labor cost per hour. If you employ cleaners, use what you pay them. If you work alone, use the pay you want to take for each hour on site.
• Supplies: cleaning products, cloths, bags and any equipment wear for this job.
• Overhead share: a slice of the costs you pay whether or not you clean that day, such as insurance, vehicle, phone, software and marketing. Divide your monthly overhead by the jobs you expect in a month to get a per-job figure.

Step 3: Add a profit

Profit is what's left for the business after labor, supplies and overhead are paid. Choose an amount per job, or a percentage of your costs, and add it on. To check the result as a margin on the price, see how to calculate profit margin.

Sample price for one standard clean

The figures here are a sample, invented for this example. A solo cleaner is quoting a standard clean of a two-bedroom home:

1. Time on site: 3.5 hours, from timing similar jobs
2. Labor: 3.5 hours × $24 an hour (the cleaner's chosen pay for this sample) = $84
3. Supplies: $8
4. Overhead share: $14
5. Total cost: $84 + $8 + $14 = $106
6. Profit: $30
7. Price for the visit: $106 + $30 = $136

The profit is $30 ÷ $136 = about 22.1% of the price. The price works out to $136 ÷ 3.5 = about $38.86 per hour on site.

Hourly or flat price?

• Hourly: the client pays for the time the job takes. It suits jobs whose length is hard to predict, such as a first deep clean or a move-out clean. Tell the client your hourly rate and an estimated range of hours.
• Flat price per visit: the client knows the price up front, and you carry the risk if the job runs long. In the sample, if the clean took 4.5 hours with the same supplies and overhead, labor would be 4.5 × $24 = $108. Total cost would be $108 + $8 + $14 = $130, which leaves $136 − $130 = $6 of profit.

For a flat price, base it on timed jobs, and say in the quote what the visit includes.

Pricing different kinds of cleaning

Price each kind of job from its own time estimate, using the same steps:

• Standard or regular clean: time the regular visits separately from the first clean, and price each from its own time.
• Deep clean: list the extra tasks in the quote so the client can see what the higher time estimate covers.
• Move-in or move-out clean: see the empty home or ask for photos, so you can judge its condition before you quote.
• Add-ons: price extras such as inside appliances, interior windows or laundry as separate lines with their own time.

Ask your accountant whether you need to charge sales tax on cleaning services where you work, and how to treat your income and costs.

Where Billed fits

Billed's estimating software page says: "Share your online estimates with your clients via shareable public link." For clients on a regular schedule, the recurring invoices page says: "Choose whether to send invoices daily, weekly, monthly or yearly." For how to lay out the estimate itself, see how to create a project estimate and how to write a winning estimate.

When this guide isn't for you

If you're hiring a cleaner rather than running a cleaning business, this page won't give you a local price to expect. Ask several local cleaners for quotes on the same scope of work.

Related Articles

• How to Set Freelance Rates: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Create a Project Estimate
• How to Write a Winning Estimate
• How to Estimate Project Hours Accurately

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should I charge per hour for house cleaning?

Work it out from your costs: your labor cost per hour, plus supplies, overhead and profit spread over the hours. In this page's sample, a $136 price for 3.5 hours works out to about $38.86 per hour on site.

What do house cleaners earn in the US?

For May 2025, BLS reports a median hourly wage of $17.07 and a mean hourly wage of $17.83 for Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners, nationally. These are employee wages, not prices charged to clients.

Should I charge by the hour or by the job for house cleaning?

Hourly suits jobs whose length is hard to predict, such as a first deep clean. A flat price per visit suits jobs you've timed before, but you carry the cost if the job runs long.

How do I estimate cleaning time for a house I have not seen yet?

Ask for the number of rooms and bathrooms, the floor area, the condition and the tasks wanted, and ask for photos. Give an hourly rate with an estimated range of hours until you've seen the home or timed a similar job.