Trying to figure out what a cleaner should actually charge? This cleaning cost calculator gives you a realistic price range based on 2026 US pricing — no email, no sign-up.
Pick your service, set a few details, and the estimate updates as you go.
Cleaning quotes vary more than people expect, and it's rarely because one company is overcharging. Cleaners price off time, not surfaces. Square footage is just a proxy for how many hours a crew will be in your home. A cluttered 1,500 sq ft house can take longer than a tidy 2,500 sq ft one, which is why this calculator asks about condition separately instead of pricing on size alone.
The check almost nobody runs
Since cleaning is really an hourly business wearing a flat-rate costume, the most useful thing you can do with any quote is convert it back into an hourly rate.
Take the price, divide by the hours the company says the job will take, then divide again by the number of cleaners they're sending. That gives you the rate per cleaner-hour. For most US residential work that lands somewhere between $25 and $75. This calculator does that maths for you and shows the implied rate alongside the price.
The number matters in both directions. A quote implying $18 an hour per cleaner is not a bargain — at that rate the company is very unlikely to be carrying liability insurance, running background checks, or paying legally, and you are the one with a stranger in your house. A quote implying $95 an hour in an ordinary market deserves a question about what's included that others aren't offering.
How to use it
Choose the service. Standard, deep, move-out, carpet, windows, ducts and the rest are genuinely different jobs. A standard clean is maintenance; a deep clean adds baseboards, blinds, inside the oven and fridge, and window tracks. Expect deep cleaning to run roughly 1.5 to 2 times a standard visit.
Enter home size and bathrooms. Bathrooms are the slowest rooms per square foot in any house, which is why cleaners ask about them separately and why a three-bathroom home costs noticeably more than a one-bathroom home of the same size.
Set the condition honestly. This is the number most online estimators skip, and it's often the difference between a $180 quote and a $340 one. Pet hair, grease buildup, hard-water staining and clutter all add hours.
Pick the frequency. Recurring clients typically pay 10 to 20% less per visit, because a home cleaned every two weeks never builds up the grime that makes a job slow. Choose a recurring option and the calculator also shows your annual spend, including the fact that most companies price the first visit as a deep clean.
Cleaning cost calculator
2026 US pricing, with the implied hourly rate and annual spend worked out. No email needed.
Estimated cost per visit
$200 – $340
Ballpark figures built from 2026 national averages published by Angi, HomeGuide and HomeAdvisor. Most cleaners price by square footage, hours or number of rooms, and rates in expensive metros run 20–50% higher. Get two or three written quotes and confirm exactly what's included before you book.
The four things people assume are included, and usually aren't
Most billing disputes in residential cleaning aren't about the price. They're about scope.
Inside the fridge. Almost never in a standard clean. It's a 20–40 minute job and typically $25 to $50 as an add-on.
Inside the oven. Same story, often longer, and some companies won't do it at all without notice because it needs a dwell time for the degreaser.
Interior windows. Sills and tracks are the slow part, not the glass. Expect $40 to $120 depending on how many.
Laundry and linens. Stripping and remaking beds is sometimes included; washing, drying and folding almost never is, because it ties the cleaner to your house for a wash cycle they can't control.
Get the scope in writing before the first visit. A one-line quote saying "house clean, $220" is where the trouble starts. A good company will hand you a room-by-room checklist without being asked.
The question that reveals how a company actually prices
Ask: "How many cleaners are you sending, and how long do you expect it to take?"
Two cleaners for three hours is six cleaner-hours. Divide the quote by that and you have the real rate. It also tells you whether a lower quote is genuinely cheaper or just a shorter visit — a $160 quote for four cleaner-hours and a $200 quote for six are not the same product, and the second one is better value.
Every cleaning service and what it costs
National 2026 ranges for a roughly 2,000 sq ft home. Use these to sanity-check a quote before you sign anything.
| Service | Typical cost | Usually priced by |
|---|---|---|
| Whole-home cleaning | ||
| Standard house cleaning | $120 – $340 | $0.10–$0.17 / sq ft |
| Deep cleaning | $200 – $600 | $0.15–$0.30 / sq ft |
| Move-in / move-out | $250 – $700 | $0.22–$0.35 / sq ft |
| Airbnb turnover | $90 – $250 | Flat per turnover |
| Post-construction | $400 – $800 | $0.20–$0.40 / sq ft |
| Heavy-duty / hoarding cleanout | $1,000 – $3,000 | Per job, after walkthrough |
| Hourly rate, per cleaner | $25 – $75 / hr | Per cleaner-hour |
| Floors, carpets & surfaces | ||
| Carpet cleaning | $120 – $400 | $25–$70 per room |
| Upholstery & sofa | $80 – $300 | Per piece |
| Tile & grout | $250 – $700 | $0.50–$1.50 / sq ft of tile |
| Hardwood clean & polish | $200 – $600 | Per sq ft of flooring |
| Mattress cleaning | $75 – $200 | Per mattress |
| Outside the house | ||
| Window cleaning | $150 – $350 | $5–$15 per window |
| Pressure washing (siding) | $220 – $420 | Per job or per sq ft |
| Driveway, deck & patio | $130 – $350 | Per surface |
| Gutter cleaning | $120 – $350 | $1–$2 per linear foot |
| Roof soft wash | $350 – $700 | Per roof, by pitch and size |
| Vents, ducts & chimney | ||
| Air duct cleaning | $450 – $1,000 | Per HVAC system |
| Dryer vent cleaning | $100 – $180 | Per vent run |
| Chimney sweep | $150 – $400 | Per flue, inspection included |
Air duct figures follow the range published by the US EPA. Everything else is compiled from Angi, HomeGuide, HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack 2026 cost data.
What recurring cleaning actually costs over a year
Per-visit pricing hides the real number. Here's the annual maths on a typical home, assuming the first visit is priced as a deep clean — which is standard practice at most companies.
| Schedule | Year-one total | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| One-time only | $150 – $340 | A specific occasion or a trial run |
| Monthly (12 visits) | $1,700 – $3,700 | Tidy households, small homes |
| Biweekly (26 visits) | $3,500 – $7,600 | Most families — the common default |
| Weekly (52 visits) | $6,700 – $14,500 | Kids, pets, or a large busy home |
Two things fall out of that table. Monthly cleaning is often poor value per visit, because four weeks of buildup means the cleaner spends much of the visit undoing what biweekly service would have prevented — many companies price a monthly visit closer to a deep clean for exactly that reason. And the gap between biweekly and weekly is roughly the cost of a modest holiday each year, which is worth deciding on deliberately rather than drifting into.
Checking a cleaning company before you hand over a key
You're letting someone into your home, often when you aren't there. Price is the easy part.
Insurance and bonding. Ask for it and ask to see it. Liability insurance covers damage to your property; bonding covers theft. An uninsured cleaner who breaks something expensive leaves you with the bill and no recourse.
Employees or contractors. If the company classifies its cleaners as independent contractors, its liability coverage may not extend to them. It also affects who is responsible if someone is injured in your home. This is a fair question to ask directly.
Background checks. Reputable companies run them and will say so plainly.
Product safety. If anyone in the house has asthma, allergies, or there are pets and small children around, say so before the first visit. Mixing cleaning products is a real hazard rather than a theoretical one — the CDC's guidance for cleaning workers covers the chemical exposures involved, and the same principles apply in a domestic setting. Never ask a cleaner to combine bleach with an ammonia-based product.
On air ducts specifically: the EPA does not recommend routine duct cleaning and notes it has never been shown to prevent health problems. It recommends cleaning where there's substantial visible mould, a vermin infestation, or heavy debris actually blowing out of the registers. If a company cold-calls offering a whole-house duct job for $79, that's a sales tactic, not a deal.
Cleaning cost questions, answered
What homeowners ask most before booking a cleaner.
How much does house cleaning cost in 2026?
A standard house cleaning runs about $120 to $340 per visit, or roughly $0.10 to $0.17 per square foot. Deep cleaning costs more — usually $200 to $600 — since it covers detailed work like baseboards and inside appliances. Move-out cleaning sits at the top, around $250 to $700 depending on size and condition. Hourly rates land between $25 and $75 per cleaner. Angi's 2026 cost data puts the average visit near $176, and big-city prices run 20 to 50% above that.
How do I tell whether a quote is fair?
Convert it to an hourly rate. Ask how many cleaners are coming and how long the visit will take, multiply those together for cleaner-hours, then divide the quote by that number. Most US residential work lands between $25 and $75 per cleaner-hour. Well below that range usually means the company isn't insured or isn't paying its staff properly. Well above it in an ordinary market is worth a question about what's included. This is a far more useful test than comparing two flat prices against each other.
What's the difference between standard and deep cleaning?
Standard cleaning is routine maintenance — dusting, vacuuming, mopping, and wiping down kitchen and bathroom surfaces. Deep cleaning goes further: baseboards, blinds, light fixtures, inside the oven and fridge, window tracks, and heavy buildup a regular clean skips. Because it takes more time, deep cleaning usually costs 1.5 to 2 times a standard visit. HomeGuide puts the per-square-foot range at $0.15 to $0.30. Most companies also charge your first-ever visit as a deep clean.
Why does the first visit cost more?
Because it is a different job. A first visit deals with however many months of buildup exist, and the cleaner has never seen your home so can't work efficiently in it. Companies typically charge it as a deep clean and then drop to the standard rate from visit two. This is normal practice, not a bait-and-switch — but you should have both numbers before you book, because finding out at the second invoice is where the goodwill goes.
How often should I get my house cleaned?
Most families do well with biweekly — it keeps things in check without paying for weekly service. Busy homes with kids or pets often go weekly, while smaller or tidier homes can stretch to monthly. Worth knowing: recurring clients usually get 10 to 20% off per visit compared to one-time bookings, and monthly is often the weakest value per visit because four weeks of buildup pushes each visit back towards deep-clean territory.
Do cleaners bring their own supplies?
Most professional companies bring their own supplies and equipment, already built into the price. Some will use your products if you prefer, and a few charge $5 to $15 extra for specific eco-friendly or hypoallergenic options. Independent cleaners are more of a mixed bag. Confirm before the first visit, and if anyone in the home has asthma or allergies, raise it then rather than after.
Is move-out cleaning worth it?
For most renters, yes. A professional move-out clean costs $250 to $700, but it often pays for itself by protecting a security deposit worth considerably more. Cleaners know what landlords and property managers inspect, and they have the tools for grout, appliances and built-up grime. If the place was already well kept, a standard clean may be enough — ask the company which they'd quote after a walkthrough, and get the answer in writing.
Is air duct cleaning actually worth paying for?
Not automatically. The EPA does not recommend routine duct cleaning and says it has never been shown to prevent health problems. It does recommend cleaning when there's substantial visible mould inside the ducts, a rodent or insect infestation, or so much debris that particles are visibly blowing out of the registers. Expect $450 to $1,000 per system. A door-to-door offer of a whole-house job for $79 is a red flag, not a deal.
How often does a chimney need sweeping?
Inspect yearly, clean as needed. The Chimney Safety Institute of America follows NFPA 211, which calls for chimneys, fireplaces and vents to be inspected at least once a year with cleaning and repairs done if necessary. CSIA recommends sweeping a masonry fireplace once soot buildup reaches about an eighth of an inch, and sooner if glazed creosote is present. A sweep with a Level 1 inspection typically runs $150 to $400.
How do I know a cleaning company is legitimate?
Ask four things before booking: are you insured and bonded, do you run background checks, are your cleaners employees or contractors, and can I see the quote in writing with the scope listed room by room. Legitimate companies answer all four without hesitation. Also check whether the price is per visit or per cleaner-hour, since that's where most billing disputes start. Be wary of anyone quoting a firm price sight-unseen for a deep clean or move-out job.
Should I tip a house cleaner?
Tipping isn't required and plenty of homeowners don't. If you want to, $10 to $20 per visit for a regular clean is normal, or 15 to 20% of the total for a one-time deep clean or move-out job. A holiday bonus equal to one visit is common with long-term cleaners. If a company includes gratuity in the invoice, an extra tip isn't expected — check the invoice before assuming either way.
How can I lower my cleaning cost?
Book recurring service to lock in the lower per-visit rate. Declutter before the cleaners arrive so they spend the visit cleaning rather than tidying — this is the single biggest lever a homeowner controls, and on a heavily cluttered home it can shift the quote by a third. Focus the budget on high-traffic areas instead of every room. Drop add-ons you can handle yourself, like laundry or interior windows. And avoid last-minute bookings, since rush jobs and tight turnarounds carry a premium.
- Angi — Professional house cleaning cost data (2026)
- HomeGuide — House cleaning prices and hourly rates
- HomeGuide — Deep cleaning cost breakdown
- HomeAdvisor — Maid service cost guide
- Thumbtack — House cleaning price estimates
- US EPA — Should you have the air ducts in your home cleaned?
- Chimney Safety Institute of America — Homeowner resources
- CDC / NIOSH — Chemical hazards for cleaning workers