House Cleaning Cost Calculator
House Cleaning costs $135 to $200 for a typical 1,600 sq ft job in 2026, against a national benchmark of $165. Labor runs 4.1 crew hours at $21.97 an hour. Enter a ZIP code to apply that area's measured wages for this work and its regional price level.
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What makes up the price
Cost by size
National averages, before any local adjustment. Computed from the same model as the calculator above, so the two always agree.
| Home size | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|
| 900 sq ft | $110 | $90 to $140 |
| 1,300 sq ft | $140 | $115 to $175 |
| 1,600 sq ft | $165 | $135 to $200 |
| 2,150 sq ft | $205 | $165 to $250 |
| 2,700 sq ft | $245 | $200 to $300 |
What actually drives the price
Almost all of it is time. Cleaning is the one service on this site where materials barely register — supplies come to around $5 a visit against $126 of labor, so roughly 95% of what you pay is somebody's hours and the overhead on them. Everything that moves the price moves it by changing how long the job takes.
Three things do that, in order.
How much there is to clean
Floor area is the usual proxy and it is a reasonable one, but it is a proxy. What actually sets the time is the number of bathrooms, the number of surfaces, and how much is on them. A 1,600 square foot house with three bathrooms takes longer than a 1,900 square foot house with two, and a cleaner quoting from square footage alone will be wrong about one of them.
How often you book
A home cleaned every two weeks has two weeks of accumulation to deal with; one cleaned monthly has four. The per-visit price falls as visits get closer together, and a standing booking is worth more to a cleaner than a one-off, so recurring clients are typically given 10 to 15% off per visit.
How far behind it has got
This is the one that produces the surprising quote. A house that has not been properly cleaned in a year is not a standard clean with more effort; it is a different job, and the first visit on a new booking is routinely priced at one and a half to twice the recurring rate for exactly this reason.
How cleaners price, and why quotes are hard to compare
Three pricing models are in common use, and a quote in one is not directly comparable to a quote in another.
| Model | Typical | Best when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly | $25–$60 per cleaner-hour | The job is unpredictable | No cap, so no known total |
| Flat per visit | $120–$220 for a mid-size home | Recurring work | What counts as "standard" |
| Per square foot | $0.08–$0.20 | Large or empty homes | Ignores bathroom count |
Most residential work settles on a flat per-visit price, because it is the only one that answers the question a homeowner is actually asking. An hourly rate that sounds cheap tells you nothing until you know how many cleaners arrive and how long they stay — two cleaners at $35 an hour for two hours is $140, which is the same job as one cleaner at $35 for four.
The number worth extracting from any quote is therefore total cleaner-hours. Ask how many people are coming and how long they expect to be there. Two quotes that are far apart almost always differ on that, not on the rate.
What a standard clean includes
What is usually included
There is no industry definition, which is why this needs asking. A standard recurring clean usually means:
- Kitchen. Counters, sink, stovetop, outside of appliances, floor.
- Bathrooms. Toilet, shower or tub, sink, mirror, floor.
- Living areas and bedrooms. Dusting reachable surfaces, vacuuming, mopping hard floors.
- Throughout. Trash out, beds made if linen is left out, general tidying.
What is usually not
Unless it is agreed in advance, a standard clean leaves out:
- Inside the oven, the refrigerator or kitchen cabinets
- Interior windows beyond spot-cleaning, and exterior windows at all
- Baseboards, blinds, ceiling fans and light fixtures
- Walls, grout scrubbing and inside closets
- Laundry, dishes and putting away belongings
- Anything requiring a ladder, and anything outside
That second list is what a deep clean adds. It is worth reading because it is also the source of most disappointment: a homeowner expecting baseboards and an oven, and a cleaner quoting a standard visit, are both being reasonable and will still end up unhappy.
Deep clean against standard clean
A deep clean is the standard list plus the second list, done slowly. It typically runs 1.5 to 2 times a standard visit and takes roughly twice as long.
Most recurring arrangements start with one. The cleaner is pricing the catching-up, and once the house is at a known baseline the visits that follow maintain it rather than restore it. A cleaner who quotes their recurring rate for a first visit on a house they have not seen is either going to run long and resent it, or going to cut the job short.
A reasonable rhythm for most homes is a deep clean once or twice a year, with standard visits in between.
Why the per-visit price falls with frequency
Two separate reasons, and it is worth knowing which is which.
Less has accumulated
The first reason is simply less work. Dust, soap scum and kitchen grease accumulate steadily, so a home cleaned weekly genuinely takes less time per visit than the same home cleaned monthly. That part is real and it is most of the discount.
A standing booking is worth more
The second is commercial. A standing weekly booking is a known slot in a cleaner's week and a predictable income; a one-off is a gap to fill and a drive to a house they have never seen. Recurring clients are worth more and get priced accordingly.
What this means in practice is that frequency is not purely a budget decision. Moving from monthly to every two weeks costs more per month but less per visit, and the house stays at a higher baseline, which also means a smaller deep clean when one eventually comes round.
Labor against materials
This model puts roughly 95% of the direct cost of a clean into labor, around 4% into supplies, and the rest into mileage and equipment wear. That ratio is the most extreme on this site, and it has a practical consequence worth drawing out.
On a roof or an air conditioner, a cheap quote can hide cheap materials. Here there is almost nothing to cheapen except time and the person spending it. A quote well below the others is buying fewer hours, a less experienced cleaner, or somebody who is not insured — and the last one is the one that matters, because it is your house they are in.
It also means regional variation is unusually strong on this page. Cleaning is almost pure local labor, so entering a ZIP code moves the figure more here than it does on a page where half the cost is nationally traded materials.
What to check before you book
This is the only service on this site where somebody is alone in your home, often with a key. The checks are different from the ones you would run on a contractor.
- Insurance. General liability, so damage to your property is covered. Ask for the certificate rather than the assurance.
- Bonding. Protects against theft specifically. Not the same thing as insurance and often confused with it by both sides.
- Workers' compensation, if they employ people. Without it, a cleaner injured in your house can become your problem.
- Employees or contractors. An agency using employees runs background checks and carries the coverage. One using independent contractors may not, and the distinction is often not volunteered.
- Who actually comes. The same person each time, or whoever is free? Consistency is most of the value in a recurring arrangement, because they learn the house.
- Whose supplies. Most bring their own. If you have stone counters, pets, or anyone with asthma, say so before the first visit rather than after.
- Key handling. How it is stored, who has access, and what happens when someone leaves.
- Cancellation. Both directions, and what happens if you are away.
When the cheap quote is cheap for a bad reason
Some gaps are legitimate — an independent cleaner with low overhead genuinely prices below an agency with a dispatcher and a fleet. But a quote well below the others usually involves at least one of:
- No insurance and no bonding. The single most common cost saving, and the one that transfers the risk to you.
- Fewer hours than the job needs, which shows up as a clean that looks fine at a glance and is not.
- Cash only, no invoice. Fine until something is broken or missing and there is no record of who was there.
- An hourly rate quoted without a crew size, which is not a price.
- A standard clean quoted on a house nobody has seen, which usually becomes a conversation on the day.
Paying under the odds in this trade also usually means somebody is being paid under the odds, which is worth being aware of in a job with high turnover and real physical wear.
Tipping
Not expected in the way it is in a restaurant, and not built into the price. Common practice in the US is to tip for a one-off or a deep clean — somewhere around 10 to 20% — and either not at all or once a year at the holidays for a regular arrangement, since the recurring rate already reflects the standing booking.
If the cleaner works for an agency, a tip in cash to the person who did the work reaches them; added to a card payment it may not.
How long it takes
A standard recurring clean of a 1,600 square foot home is around four cleaner-hours, which is a pair for about two hours or one person for most of a morning. Scale roughly from there: smaller homes do not shrink proportionally, because travel, carrying kit in and packing it out happen whatever the house measures.
A first deep clean of the same house is closer to seven or eight cleaner-hours.
If a quote implies far fewer hours than that, it is worth asking what is being left out — not as a challenge, but because the answer is usually honest and tells you exactly which of the two lists above you are buying.
Common questions
How much does house cleaning cost for a 1,600 square foot home?
Around $165 a visit for a recurring clean every two weeks, with most falling between $135 and $200. A one-time standard clean of the same house runs closer to $185, because a standing booking is worth more to the cleaner than a one-off. A first deep clean is nearer $325.
Is it cheaper to book weekly or monthly?
Cheaper per visit to book weekly, more expensive per month. Each visit costs less because less accumulates between them and a standing booking is worth more to the cleaner, so weekly typically runs about 18% below a one-off and monthly about 6% below. Four cheaper visits still cost more than one, so the question is really what baseline you want the house kept at.
What is the difference between a standard clean and a deep clean?
A standard clean covers surfaces, kitchen, bathrooms, vacuuming and mopping. A deep clean adds the things a standard visit skips — inside the oven and refrigerator, baseboards, blinds, ceiling fans, light fixtures, grout and interior windows — and takes roughly twice as long. Most recurring arrangements begin with one, because the visits that follow maintain a baseline rather than restore it.
Why is the first clean more expensive?
Because it is doing the catching up. A cleaner pricing a new booking is looking at however long the house has gone without a proper clean, and the first visit is routinely one and a half to twice the recurring rate for that reason. It is not an upsell, and a cleaner who quotes their recurring rate for a house they have not seen will either run long or cut the job short.
Should I pay hourly or a flat rate per visit?
A flat per-visit price for recurring work, because it is the only one that answers what you actually want to know. An hourly rate tells you nothing until you know how many cleaners arrive and how long they stay — two people at $35 an hour for two hours is the same job and the same money as one person at $35 for four. Hourly makes sense for an unpredictable one-off, and even then ask for a cap.
What is not included in a standard house cleaning?
Usually the inside of the oven, refrigerator and cabinets, interior windows beyond spot-cleaning, baseboards, blinds, ceiling fans, light fixtures, grout scrubbing, walls, laundry, dishes and anything needing a ladder or done outdoors. There is no industry definition of "standard", so this is worth confirming in writing rather than assuming — it is the single most common source of disappointment on both sides.
Should a house cleaner be insured and bonded?
Yes, and they are two different things. Liability insurance covers damage to your property; bonding covers theft. Ask for the certificate rather than the assurance. If they employ people, workers compensation matters too, because without it a cleaner injured in your house can become your problem. This is the one service where somebody is alone in your home, so the paperwork earns its place.
Do I need to provide cleaning supplies?
Usually not — most cleaners bring their own, and the cost is small either way at around $5 a visit. Say so in advance if you have stone counters, unsealed wood, pets, or anyone in the house with asthma or a chemical sensitivity. Supplying your own products is normally fine and occasionally slows the job down, since the cleaner is working with something unfamiliar.
Should I tip a house cleaner?
Not expected the way it is in a restaurant, and not built into the price. Common US practice is to tip 10 to 20% for a one-off or a deep clean, and for a regular arrangement either not at all or once a year at the holidays, since the recurring rate already reflects the standing booking. If they work for an agency, cash reaches the person who did the work where a card tip may not.
How long does a house clean take?
About four cleaner-hours for a standard recurring clean of a 1,600 square foot home — a pair for roughly two hours, or one person for most of a morning. A first deep clean of the same house is closer to seven or eight. Smaller homes do not scale down proportionally, because travel, carrying kit in and packing it out happen whatever the house measures.
Where these numbers come from
Nothing here is copied from a contractor directory. Labor is priced from what the trades are actually paid, materials from published producer prices, and both are adjusted to your area using federal cost-of-living data.
- Janitorial services, United States: $21.97/hour, August 2026 (BLS CES CES6056172003)
- Cleaning supplies and consumables: $5.00 per visit (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)