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What should I charge to clean a house?

Published 2026 rates: $75–$250 for a standard visit, $25–$90/hour solo — and how to set your own price from a break-even floor.

For a standard recurring clean of an average single-family home, published 2026 rates run $75–$250 per visit, and a solo cleaner bills $25–$90 an hour (HomeAdvisor’s 2026 cost guide). Where you land inside that range should be a decision, not a guess.

The published ranges, job by job

  • Standard/weekly recurring house cleaning (per visit) — $75–$250
  • Deep cleaning (one-time or seasonal) — $200–$400
  • Move-in/move-out cleaning — $175–$500
  • Whole-home ceiling-to-floor deep clean — $350–$700

All from the same HomeAdvisor 2026 guide (retrieved 2026-08-27). Ranges are wide because they cover the whole country; your town sits in a narrower band you can read off local quotes within a week of asking for them.

Set your floor before your price

The number that actually protects you is not the market rate — it is your break-even: what an hour has to earn before profit exists. Add up the real overhead (general liability insurance alone typically runs $580–$1,200 a year for a cleaning business, per Insureon), divide by the hours you will actually clean, add your wage. Price below that floor and every job quietly costs you money. The free break-even calculator does this arithmetic in your browser.

Do not price against the cheapest ad

Pricing confusion is the single most regulated topic in the cleaning communities — r/housekeeping has a standing rule against “is this price fair” posts because they never stop coming. The cheapest ad in your market is usually someone uninsured, unregistered, or three months from quitting. Quote from your floor and the published range, name the price without apologizing, and put it in writing before the first visit.

Raise it on the second job, not the tenth

A first job priced low to win experience is a tactic; twenty jobs priced low is a trap. Recurring customers anchor hard to the first number they hear, so quote new customers at the corrected rate as soon as you know your speed — the old rate is for the customers who took a chance on you, not for strangers.

Do it with the numbers in front of you

Questions

Should I charge hourly or a flat rate per visit?

Most established cleaning businesses quote a flat rate per visit for an average-size single-family home, because customers want a known number and you get paid for speed as you improve. Hourly ($25–$90 for a solo cleaner in HomeAdvisor’s 2026 guide) is the safer way to quote your first few jobs, until you know how long a house actually takes you.

What do house cleaners charge per hour in 2026?

HomeAdvisor’s 2026 cost guide puts a solo cleaner at $25–$90 per hour, and a professional two-person company visit at $100–$180 for two hours. Your market, your supplies and whether you bring equipment all move you inside that range.

Where do these numbers come from?

Every figure on this page is from HomeAdvisor’s 2026 house-cleaning cost guide or Insureon’s cleaning-business insurance data, retrieved 2026-08-27. The Residential Cleaning Business Startup Plan cites a published source for every figure the same way.

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Educational estimates only. These calculators and workbooks do the arithmetic on the figures you enter; they are general-purpose tools, not financial, investment, tax, legal, lending, insurance or construction advice, and no result is a quote, an offer, or a guarantee of any outcome. Results depend entirely on your inputs and assumptions.