How Much Does a Janitor Make?

The median wage for US janitors was $17.71 per hour, or $36,840 per year, in May 2025. That is about $708 per week or $3,070 per month when the official annual figure is divided by 52 or 12.

The data cover Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners (SOC 37-2011) in wage-and-salary jobs. That title matters. It covers people who keep buildings clean and orderly, including heavier floor, waste, restroom, and routine building-care work. It does not turn the separate maid and housekeeping occupation into janitor pay.

For a job seeker, the next useful question is not just whether the rate is above $17.71. It is whether the duties fit this occupation, who employs the role, and how many hours and extras make up the paid year.

Janitor hourly pay and wage percentiles

The May 2025 federal estimate covered 2,209,760 employed janitors and cleaners. The worker at the middle of the distribution earned $17.71 per hour.

Percentile	Hourly wage	Annual wage	What the percentile means
10th	$13.77	$28,640	10% earned this amount or less
25th	$15.50	$32,240	25% earned this amount or less
50th	$17.71	$36,840	The median: half earned less and half earned more
75th	$21.18	$44,060	25% earned this amount or more
90th	$24.17	$50,270	10% earned this amount or more

The middle half earned between $15.50 and $21.18 per hour. Those rows describe the wage distribution; they are not official entry-level, experienced, lead, or senior-janitor rates. The table does not identify the employer, shift, benefits, experience, union coverage, or duties behind each wage.

The national mean was $18.64 per hour, or $38,760 per year. The mean adds all reported wages and divides by the number of workers, so higher values can pull it above the median. The median is the cleaner reference for the worker in the middle.

The weekly and monthly values are conversions, not guaranteed checks. OEWS excludes overtime premium pay, shift differentials, and employer benefit costs, so those items can change a paycheck even when the posted base rate stays the same.

Janitor vs. house cleaner salary data

O*NET describes this occupation as keeping buildings clean and orderly. Common tasks include cleaning floors, restrooms, walls, and glass; removing rubbish; clearing snow or debris; reporting needed repairs; and, in some jobs, performing routine maintenance. Reported titles include custodian, building services worker, facilities worker, and janitor.

That is a different classification from Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners (SOC 37-2012). Hotel room attendants and house cleaners belong to that separate occupation and wage distribution.

When the posting only says Cleaner, use the duties. Building floors, trash, restrooms, grounds, minor upkeep, and a fixed facility point toward 37-2011; guest rooms, beds, linens, and light housekeeping point elsewhere. A job centered on staffing, directing, and managing other workers also needs a supervisory comparison rather than this wage table.

Janitor salary by employer and work setting

Janitors work for contractors and directly for schools, hospitals, governments, and other organizations. The May 2025 OEWS release lets us compare several settings without changing the occupation or data year.

Work setting	Employment	Median hourly	Median annual
Services to Buildings and Dwellings	829,300	$17.21	$35,790
Elementary and Secondary Schools	325,380	$18.60	$38,690
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	89,470	$18.90	$39,310
Local Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals	70,140	$20.02	$41,640

These are national industry medians for the same occupation, not four career stages. They do not mean every hospital, school, or local government pays more than every building-services contractor. The table changes the job-offer questions: is the worker employed by the building or a contractor, is the assignment fixed or mobile, what shift and calendar apply, and which benefits sit outside the base rate?

Those details have to come from the posting and employer. The national setting rows provide a cleaner comparison point; they do not price one local job.

Janitor salary by state

Massachusetts had the highest May 2025 state median at $45,580 per year, followed closely by Washington at $45,520. The table uses the same occupation, release, and 50th-percentile measure for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Rank	State or district	Median annual	Median hourly
1	Massachusetts	$45,580	$21.91
2	Washington	$45,520	$21.89
3	New York	$41,640	$20.02
4	California	$41,090	$19.75
5	Vermont	$40,910	$19.67
6	Alaska	$40,510	$19.48
7	Minnesota	$39,610	$19.04
8	Oregon	$39,340	$18.92
9	New Hampshire	$39,150	$18.82
10	Maine	$38,940	$18.72
11	Colorado	$38,600	$18.56
12	District of Columbia	$38,520	$18.52
13	Nevada	$38,420	$18.47
14	Connecticut	$37,960	$18.25
15	Illinois	$37,810	$18.18
16	North Dakota	$37,750	$18.15
17	Hawaii	$37,710	$18.13
18	New Jersey	$37,630	$18.09
19	Rhode Island	$37,310	$17.94
20	Montana	$37,110	$17.84
21	Wisconsin	$37,000	$17.79
22	Maryland	$36,620	$17.61
23	Pennsylvania	$36,520	$17.56
24	Indiana	$36,460	$17.53
25	Arizona	$36,220	$17.42
26	Idaho	$36,110	$17.36
27	Wyoming	$36,050	$17.33
28	Michigan	$36,050	$17.33
29	New Mexico	$36,020	$17.32
30	Ohio	$35,900	$17.26
31	Nebraska	$35,900	$17.26
32	Missouri	$35,900	$17.26
33	South Dakota	$35,480	$17.06
34	Iowa	$35,380	$17.01
35	Delaware	$35,320	$16.98
36	Virginia	$35,170	$16.91
37	North Carolina	$34,500	$16.59
38	Florida	$34,490	$16.58
39	Kansas	$34,480	$16.58
40	Georgia	$34,310	$16.50
41	Tennessee	$33,440	$16.08
42	Texas	$33,010	$15.87
43	Kentucky	$32,320	$15.54
44	Utah	$32,200	$15.48
45	South Carolina	$31,180	$14.99
46	Oklahoma	$31,110	$14.96
47	West Virginia	$30,980	$14.90
48	Alabama	$30,620	$14.72
49	Arkansas	$29,750	$14.30
50	Louisiana	$28,930	$13.91
51	Mississippi	$28,380	$13.64

The ranking uses nominal wages. It does not adjust for living costs, local benefits, union agreements, shift patterns, part-time work, or employer mix. It also cannot explain why one state pays more. Use the state median as a reference for the correct occupation, then compare the local posting and total offer.

How to compare two janitor job offers

An hourly rate is only one line in the decision. Two hypothetical offers show why paid hours need to come next:

Offer	Base rate	Expected paid schedule	Straight-time base for that schedule
Higher rate with part-time hours	$18.50	32 hours x 50 weeks	$29,600
Lower rate with a full paid year	$17.50	40 hours x 52 weeks	$36,400

The lower-rate offer produces more straight-time base pay under these assumptions because it provides more paid hours. Shift differential, overtime premium, paid leave, health coverage, retirement, and other benefits still have to be added from the actual offer.

Use this whole-offer test:

Offer item	What to verify	Why it changes the comparison
Occupation fit	Are the core duties building cleaning and routine facility care?	Prevents comparison with a different cleaning role
Base rate	What straight-time rate is guaranteed?	Provides the common wage baseline
Guaranteed hours	Is the role full-time, part-time, seasonal, on-call, or tied to an academic term?	Determines the realistic paid year
Shift differential	Is extra pay offered for nights, weekends, or another schedule?	It can change the check even though OEWS excludes it
Overtime	Is overtime expected, optional, restricted, or seasonal?	Premium pay sits outside the straight-time comparison
Benefits and paid leave	What health, retirement, holidays, sick leave, and vacation are included?	Employer benefit costs are not in the OEWS wage
Work location	Is the assignment fixed, mobile, or split across buildings?	Travel and schedule reliability may differ
Duty scope	Does the job add snow removal, grounds, setup, supplies, or routine maintenance?	Jobs with the same title may not carry the same work
Equipment and safety	Who provides PPE, uniforms, equipment, and required training?	Avoids shifting employer costs to the worker

If the posting does not state the schedule, ask for the normal paid hours across a full operating year. Put a night or weekend differential on its own line so the base comparison still holds if the shift changes.

Employee wages are also not cleaning-business owner income. A business owner has to collect customer revenue, pay labor and operating costs, compensate ownership work, and retain cash. That requires a separate owner-income model.

Match the duties to SOC 37-2011 first. Then compare the whole paid schedule: guaranteed hours, differentials, overtime, benefits, and the actual work setting.

Frequently asked questions