Is a Cleaning Business Profitable? Revenue, Margins, and What Owners Actually Make

Grace Struth

Jun 23, 2026 10 min read

Articles /
Cleaning /
Is a Cleaning Business Profitable?

Key takeaways:

If you’re wondering whether a cleaning business is profitable, this article delivers a detailed look at revenue, profit margins, and what owners can realistically expect to earn.

Cleaning businesses offer strong profit potential. Owners of cleaning businesses in the U.S. can make from $25,000 to over $339,000 per year, depending on whether they work solo, run a team, and if their focus is residential or commercial work.
Healthy profit margins are within reach. Successful cleaning businesses often achieve profit margins of 20–40%, with profitability hinging on how well you price jobs, manage labor and supplies, and control overhead.
Recurring business and efficient operations boost success. Building a loyal client base with recurring contracts, streamlining scheduling, and reducing travel time are key strategies that help increase both revenue and profit.
Watch out for common pitfalls. Underpricing services, inefficient scheduling, neglecting overhead, and taking on unprofitable jobs can all eat into your margins and slow business growth.
Starting a cleaning business is low-cost and flexible. With minimal startup expenses, no official credentials required, and steady demand, the industry offers a practical path to entrepreneurship for many types of owners.

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Starting a cleaning business can be very profitable. In fact, cleaning business owners in the US can earn up to $339,500 a year.

In this guide, we’ll explain how much a cleaning business can make and explore the benefits of starting a profitable cleaning business from scratch.

You’ll also get an idea of how much profit you can make with residential and commercial cleaning businesses, whether you operate solo or run a team of cleaners.

Jump ahead:

How much money can a house cleaner make?
How much revenue do cleaning companies make?
How much profit does a cleaning company make?
How much can residential cleaning companies make?
How much do commercial cleaning companies make?
What makes a cleaning company unprofitable?
Is a cleaning business worth it?
Tips to increase your cleaning business profit

Is a cleaning business profitable? That depends on the type of cleaning business—see our breakdown below:

	Residential (solo)	Residential (team)	Commercial
Typical annual revenue	$25K–$339K	$25K–$339K	$30K–$216K+
Average job price	$100–$200	$200–$400	$150–$1,500+
Startup cost range	$200–$1,000	$10K–$12K	$2K–$15K

These figures are general benchmarks. Actual results depend on your market, pricing, service mix, operating costs, and whether you work alone or manage a team of cleaners.

How much money can a house cleaner make?

In the United States, the average salary for a house cleaner is $17/hour, or $35,034/year. The highest-earning house cleaners make $23/hour or $48,570/year.

Salary ranges vary by state and by years of experience. You can also increase your earnings if you own your own business and complete more than one job per day.

Let’s say you’re cleaning homes by yourself. If you charge $250 per cleaning and book four cleaning jobs per week, that’s $1,000/week, $4,000/month, or $48,000/year.

It’s also important to distinguish between employee wages and business-owner profit. A house cleaner working for someone else’s company earns an hourly wage.

A cleaning business owner, on the other hand, keeps whatever revenue remains after paying for operating expenses like labor, supplies, insurance, transportation, and marketing.

How much do cleaning business owners make?

According to ZipRecruiter, a cleaning business owner’s salary can range from $25,500 to nearly $340,000 per year. That means you’d earn significantly more than if you worked for someone else’s business.

On the other hand, as the owner, it’s your job to oversee the business’s day-to-day operations. The higher salary comes with a much bigger set of responsibilities.

I actually didn’t know I could make so much money cleaning. I made over a thousand dollars in one day. That was amazing. I was doing cartwheels.

Clover Hubbard Love Green Clean

How much do cleaning companies make in revenue?

Revenue is the total money a customer pays you for completing the cleaning service. The average revenue for a cleaning company ranges widely, from $25K to $339K per year for a one-person company. Where you land in that range depends on:

Whether you provide residential, commercial, or industrial cleaning services
How much you charge for your services and what your profit margins look like
How many new and existing clients you have on your books
How quickly you’re able to generate new leads and business
How many jobs you’re comfortable booking per day, or within a week
If you’re working on your own or employing other people on your team
If you offer specialty services, like green cleaning or carpet cleaning

How much does a cleaning business make per month?

The exact amount your business earns each month depends on your pricing and the number of jobs you complete.

Here are some examples of how much your business can make each month, broken out by business type:

	Residential (solo)	Residential (team)	Commercial
Number of employee teams	1	2	3
Number of cleaners per team	1	2	3
Average price per job	$250	$300	$1,200
Number of monthly jobs	20 (5 weekly)	80 (20 weekly)	60 (15 weekly)
Monthly revenue	$5,000	$24,000	$72,000

A thousand dollars a day is my new standard goal.

I make up to $5,000 a week. You can earn up to $17,500 a month or more. Last year, the Red Rose made $150,000, and this year we’re hoping to make $250,000.

Kimberly Towers The Red Rose

How profitable is a cleaning business?

A cleaning business can be highly profitable when you price your services properly and keep labor, overhead, and material costs under control.

For example, let’s say your residential cleaning business brings in $24,000 per month in revenue, with two two-person cleaning teams:

Labor: Each cleaner makes $18/hour, or roughly $2,880/month with a 40-hour week. With four cleaners, that’s $11,520/month. (Don’t forget your salary of $4,000/month as the owner!)
Overhead: Your overhead costs total about $2,000/month. This includes costs like cleaning insurance, cleaning business software, gas for company vehicles, and so on.
Materials: Each cleaning team uses about $300 in cleaning supplies and materials each month, for a total of $600/month.

In this example, your cleaning business earns a 24.5% profit margin ($5,880 ÷ $24,000), which is a solid return for a service business.

As you bring on more recurring clients and streamline your operations, you can often boost your profits even more since many of your overhead costs don’t increase at the same rate as your revenue.

Average profit margins for cleaning businesses

A healthy profit margin for cleaning businesses is 20–40%. On a $250 cleaning job, that means keeping $50–$100 in profit after covering all expenses.

Profit margins vary depending on the type of cleaning services you offer, how efficiently you schedule work, and whether you work solo or employ a team. While every business is different, the 20–40% range is a strong benchmark for long-term profitability.

What affects cleaning business profitability?

There are several factors that affect your cleaning business’s profit margins, including:

Startup costs: The less money you need to spend upfront on equipment, marketing, licensing, and insurance, the faster your business can reach profitability.
Labor and scheduling efficiency: Labor can be a major expense for a growing cleaning company. Planning efficient routes, accurately estimating job costs, and minimizing travel time can improve profit margins.
Materials and overhead: Cleaning business supplies, insurance, fuel, software, cleaning franchise fees (if you have them), and other expenses all affect your bottom line. Keeping supply costs under control helps protect margins.
Pricing strategy: If you understand your business costs—and know how to price commercial cleaning jobs and residential services accurately—you’re more likely to stay profitable over time.
Client retention and recurring revenue: Recurring customers reduce marketing costs and create more predictable income, so a stable client base can keep your business profitable.
Market competition: Highly competitive markets may pressure you to lower prices. But if you can compete on service quality and reliability, you can maintain stronger margins than businesses that only compete on price.

Starting a cleaning business is inexpensive and you can easily have clients within hours of launching.

It’s also fantastic for cash flow because you get paid at each cleaning or even in advance of the appointments.

Katie Pearse Glisten Academy

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How much can residential cleaning companies make?

The amount of money your company makes will depend on how much you charge for house cleaning, as well as how many clients you have, your service area, and your team size.

If you clean five homes each week for one calendar year, charging a flat rate of $250 per home, your residential cleaning business could earn $65,000/year before taxes, overhead, and other expenses.

Now, let’s say you can book two cleaning jobs per day, five days a week, at that same $250 flat rate. Your residential cleaning business could earn $2,500 per week. Even with two weeks of vacation time, you can make $125,000/year in revenue.

Repeat clients also help stabilize your profit margins by creating predictable revenue. You also reduce the time spent finding new customers, making it easier to grow your cleaning business.

How much do commercial cleaning companies make?

Cleaning business income depends on the types of facilities you clean, the sizes of your contracts, how many crews you have, and your commercial cleaning prices.

Small operators may earn $850–$2,200/month per client. Established companies serving offices, medical facilities, schools, or industrial buildings can bring in hundreds of thousands—or even millions—in annual revenue.

For example, cleaning a 10,000-square-foot facility (at an industry-average rate of 12¢ per square foot) could earn $1,200 per visit. If you clean three facilities this size each week, that’s $3,600/week, $14,400/month, or more than $187,000/year.

As commercial contracts grow, tracking profitability becomes more important. Commercial cleaning software like Jobber can help you monitor performance, track profitability, schedule crews, and send invoices on recurring cycles.

What makes a cleaning business unprofitable?

Even if revenue is strong, your business could still struggle financially if you don’t carefully manage pricing, expenses, and operations. Common causes of low profitability include:

Underpricing services: Lowering prices to win jobs can leave too little profit to cover expenses and reinvest in growth.
Scheduling inefficiently: Too much travel time and gaps between appointments reduce the amount of revenue you can earn in each working day.
No recurring contracts: Constantly replacing lost customers increases marketing costs and makes revenue less predictable.
Labor costs outpacing revenue: Hiring too quickly or managing crews inefficiently can cause payroll expenses to grow faster than sales.
Ignoring overhead: Insurance, fuel, equipment maintenance, supplies, software, and administrative costs can cut into profits if you don’t build them into your pricing.
Offering unprofitable services: Expanding into new types of cleaning services without knowing their profit potential can reduce margins and make your workday more complex, cutting into your profitable time even further.

Is a cleaning business worth it?

Yes, a cleaning business can be worth it because startup costs are low, and there’s steady demand for residential and commercial cleaning services. If you price services correctly and manage expenses carefully, you can create sustainable profit.

Here are a few reasons why it’s a good idea:

There’s high demand for cleaning services. Many people are willing to pay someone else to clean for them—even when the economy is unpredictable, or the homeowner has to cut other costs. It’s a highly competitive market, but there’s room for you, too.
Startup costs are low. If you’re wondering how to start a cleaning business with no money, you’re in luck. Getting your new cleaning company started is usually straightforward and inexpensive. You just need to create a basic business plan, purchase a few cleaning supplies, and bring a positive work ethic.
Finding new clients is simple. You can promote your cleaning business to potential customers in person, on social media like Facebook and Instagram, through Google ads, or on websites like Craigslist and Angi. Try different methods to see which way is best for getting clients for your cleaning business.
You don’t need previous experience or education. As long as you can do the work well, there’s no need for a college degree or past cleaning experience. That said, proper training can help you offer a “white glove” experience and run your business better.
You can be your own boss. As the business owner, you get to run the day-to-day on your own terms and make the decisions that move your business forward. This includes your cleaning business name and logo, whether you work from home or an office, your working hours, and the types of cleaning services you offer.
Set your own quality standards. If you’ve had past experience with cleaners, you might have been frustrated by poor service—or inspired to reach the same high level. Running your own cleaning business allows you to set your own standards. When you use cleaning business software, you can offer your clients an even better experience.
Work alone or with others. As your business grows, you can decide if you still want to be out in the field or if you’d rather run operations from an office or home base. To grow your small business, you can start hiring cleaners and train cleaners to follow your existing processes and quality standards.
Do work that makes a difference. A cleaning business gives you meaningful work and transforms the lives of your clients. By providing an essential service, you’ll give clients back their time—while redistributing money into your community.

Ready to start a cleaning business? Take the time to build a pricing strategy, understand your costs, and create systems that support long-term profitability.

I started my cleaning business to grow beyond what I could do working for someone else.

I have big ideas and dreams to create a great workplace where my team can help make lives better for our clients and people in our community.

Jeannie Homrich Henderson Jeannie Cleaning

Tips to increase your cleaning business profit

There are a few sure-fire ways to improve your profit margin while you’re still getting your business up and running:

Set your prices for profit, and don’t be afraid to increase prices to ensure you’re charging the right prices for house cleaning. Prepare your customers for the higher fees with a price increase letter so the rising cost is easier to accept.
Keep up with cleaning industry trends, like using cleaning business apps and accepting online payments, to stay competitive.
Offer higher-tier, premium cleaning services. You can upsell clients with add-ons like carpet cleaning or green cleaning services.
Look for ways to reduce overhead costs and become more efficient with the supplies and resources you use regularly.
Use professional house cleaning checklists to ensure you complete every task for a cleaning jobs. You’ll also get more repeat customers when you do consistently excellent work.
Test new marketing methods to promote your cleaning business and reach more of your ideal clients. Use special sign-on discounts to incentivize more contracts.
Use cleaning business software to manage scheduling, quoting, invoicing, and payments in one place, reducing admin hours and protecting your profit margins.

Owning a cleaning business can be incredibly rewarding—and profitable. Just keep your clients happy and keep working hard. You’ll be running a successful cleaning business before you know it.

Originally published June 2016. Last updated on June 23, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Yes, a cleaning business can be profitable when you effectively manage pricing, labor costs, and overhead to maintain a 20–40% profit margin. You can charge $100–$400 per visit for an average residential cleaning job, or $150–$1,500+ for a commercial cleaning contract. If you can keep business costs low, the rest of your revenue is pure profit.

For example, say you charge $250 per cleaning job and your expenses—including labor, materials, and overhead—are $200. With $50 in profit, you have a 20% profit margin, which is within the healthy range. If you can cut costs down to $150, that’s $100 in profit and a 40% profit margin. The higher your prices and the lower your expenses, the more profit you’ll earn.

FREE TOOL: Set profitable pricing with our free profit margin calculator
: Monthly revenue varies widely by business size and type. Based on typical annual revenue ranges, a residential cleaning business may generate $2,000–$28,000 per month, while commercial cleaning businesses can earn $2,500–$18,000+ per month.

Actual results depend on pricing, client volume, recurring contracts, and local demand.
: There are many different types of cleaning services you can offer, all with varying levels of profitability. We’ve listed some profitable cleaning business ideas below:

• General cleaning ($127,000/year)
• Sanitization and disinfection ($112,500–$150,000/year)
• Curtain cleaning ($104,000/year)
• Floor cleaning (up to $130,000/year)
• Furniture cleaning ($104,000/year)
• Home organization ($104,000–$312,000/year)
• Commercial kitchen cleaning (up to $156,000/year)
• Restroom cleaning ($100,000/year)
• Medical cleaning (up to $156,000/year)
• Sports cleaning (up to $166,000/year)
• Move-in/move-out cleaning (up to $208,000/year)
• Foreclosure cleaning (up to $208,000/year)
• Hoarder cleaning (up to $240,000/year)
• Vehicle cleaning/detailing ($104,000–$156,000/year)
• Boat cleaning (up to $130,000/year)
• Disaster cleaning and restoration (up to $151,000/year)

These annual salaries are based on individual job pricing for a one-person operation. You could make less in your first few years, or considerably more as you gain more experience and raise your prices.
: A commercial cleaning company can make anywhere from $30K to $216K+ a year. On average, you could earn around $187,000 a year. This assumes you’re cleaning three 10,000-square-foot commercial facilities each week at a rate of 12¢ per sq ft. The more spaces you clean (and the higher your rate), the more money you’ll make in a year.

READ MORE: How to price commercial cleaning services
: If you’re trying to decide between starting a residential versus a commercial cleaning company, it’s important to know which is more profitable. The answer depends on many factors.

A residential business can be more suitable and profitable if:

• You plan to run a one-person cleaning company (working for yourself).
• You want to keep supply and overhead costs extremely low.
• You’re doing cleaning jobs as a “side hustle” or as part-time income.

A commercial business could bring in higher profit if:

• You already have industrial or commercial cleaning experience.
• You’re planning to hire a few employees for larger jobs and commercial sites.
• You can spend more on equipment, insurance, and other expenses.

Commercial contracts often have a higher dollar value. But if you can’t keep up with the time, expenses, or staffing needs, you may have more luck managing a residential cleaning service instead.
: Yes, window cleaning can be a profitable business. On average, window cleaners earn $40,000–$80,000 per year. This amount can be much higher depending on your rates, workload, and window cleaning prices.

The average cost for window cleaning is $260 for a 1,500-square-foot house. If you clean two homes each day, five days a week, you can make $2,600/week or $10,400/month.

READ MORE: How to start a window cleaning business
: A carpet cleaning business can be very profitable. Carpet cleaners make $25,000–$57,000 per year on average, depending on how much you charge and how many jobs you complete.

Carpet cleaning usually costs 16–28¢ per square foot. Whatever price you settle on, make sure it includes a markup so you’re leaving room for your overhead and profit margin.

READ MORE: How to start a carpet cleaning business
: While profitability depends on your pricing, clients, and service area, you might start to be profitable after only a few cleaning jobs if you’re careful with up-front expenses, like your cleaning business license, supplies, and software. But you can start with less expensive items and upgrade when you start to win more cleaning jobs.

The lower your expenses, the faster you’ll start to see a profit from your hard work.
: You can start a cleaning business with just a few hundred dollars. This will cover your supplies, business license, cleaning insurance, and marketing items like cleaning business cards.

“I think that you can spend around $500, maybe even a little less to get into the cleaning business,” says cleaning business owner Kimberly Towers. “That’s gonna cover equipment like vacuums, mops, and cleaning solutions.” Kimberly recommends paying yourself enough to live but trying to invest as much as you can back into the business.

For more tips, watch Kimberly’s guide to starting a cleaning business.