A reference of 32 statistics on who pays for house cleaning in the US: how many households hire a cleaner in a 3-month period and over a full year, what they spend, and how the share changes with income, age, household type, owning or renting, education and region, plus the trend since 2019 and a check on two numbers that circulate widely. Almost every figure is our own weighted analysis of the Consumer Expenditure Survey microdata the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov) released on October 29, 2026, checked against the totals BLS publishes.
Key statistics
6 highlights from this report
Key statistics
Key takeaways
Paying someone to clean the house is a minority habit in the US, and a concentrated one. In 2025 about 6.8% of households paid for it in a given 3-month period and about 1 in 10 do over a year. The share rises slowly from 2.9% in the bottom income fifth to 6.3% in the fourth, then jumps to 16.5% in the top fifth, which spends most of the money. Older households living alone, couples where both partners work and homeowners pay far more often than younger people and renters, and the 2025 share is within a point of its 2019 level.
About 1 in 15 US households (6.8%) paid for house cleaning in a typical 3-month period of 2025.
Over a full year, about 1 in 10 households paid for house cleaning at least once.
The top income fifth was nearly 6 times as likely to pay for cleaning as the bottom fifth, and spent 58% of all the money.
Households that pay for cleaning spend a median $600 per 3 months, about $200 a month.
Only 2.5% of renter households pay for cleaning in a quarter, vs 10.1% of owners with a mortgage.
Among dual-earner couples, 9.3% pay for cleaning in a quarter and about 16% in a year, not 80%.
How we built this report
Every breakdown on this page is a computation we ran in November 2026 against the raw federal survey files, not a number copied from another publication.
- Downloaded the 2025 interview microdata
We pulled the public use file of the 2025 Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey, which the Census Bureau collects for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It holds 16,754 quarterly interviews with 9,925 households. In each interview, the household is asked whether anyone in it has paid for housekeeping services since the first of the month three months earlier, as part of a list of home maintenance services.
- Weighted, and adjusted for the 2025 shutdown
Every figure uses the survey's household weights. The Census Bureau could not collect data in October and November 2025 during the federal funding lapse, so we applied the adjustments BLS publishes for its public files: revised months-in-scope for the affected interviews and scaled-up spending for July through October 2025.
- Validated against BLS totals
Our share of households paying for housekeeping in a quarter is 6.79%, the same as BLS's published figure. Our weighted household count is 137,994,431, matching the published total. Our average spending is $188.44 against BLS's published $187.92, a 0.3% gap; BLS notes that public-file estimates differ from its published ones because of topcoding and suppression.
- Standard errors, and only real differences
Standard errors come from the survey's 44 replicate weights, using the variant of the method BLS adopted for 2025 data. Our overall standard error for average spending ($12.86) matches the published $12.9. We call a gap between two groups a difference only when it is statistically significant at the 95% level.
- A full-year share from the 2024 panel
Households stay in the survey for four quarterly interviews. To see how many pay at least once a year, we followed the 1,229 households that completed all four interviews in the 2024 file, which the 2025 shutdown gap makes impossible to do cleanly for 2025. Our 2024 quarterly share (6.37%) matches the published 2024 figure.
- Second review
Written by one co-founder, reviewed by the other before publishing.
A household here is what BLS calls a consumer unit: people who live together and share expenses (about 138.0 million in 2025). The survey records that a household paid for housekeeping services and how much, not how often a cleaner came or what kind of cleaning it was. Age and education describe the household's reference person. The full-year figures come from households that stayed for all four 2024 interviews. Those households were a little older and more often homeowners than all households (average age 54.7 vs 52.2; 70% vs 65% owners) and paid in a given quarter slightly more often (6.6% vs 6.5% on the same weighting), so the yearly share may run a little high; depending on which interview's weight is used, it ranges from 9.8% to 10.4%. Region is suppressed in the public file for about 4% of 2025 interviews, which are left out of the regional figures. This page reports what households spend, not what cleaning services charge or what cleaners earn.
Who pays for house cleaning, by the numbers
All 32 figures, grouped by theme. Figures labeled RapidEye Research are our weighted analysis of BLS microdata; figures labeled BLS are published in BLS tables.
How many households pay for house cleaning
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov), 6.79% of US households reported paying for housekeeping services in a typical 3-month period of 2025. Because the survey asks about the past three months, this quarterly share is the number BLS publishes. A household that hires a cleaner a few times a year can miss a given quarter, so the share that pays at some point during a year is higher.
Statistic 1
6.79% of US households paid for housekeeping services in a typical 3-month period of 2025, about 1 in 15.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 2
That is roughly 9.4 million households paying for cleaning in any given quarter (6.79% of 138.0 million).
RapidEye Research, from BLS published figures (2025)
Statistic 3
About 1 in 10 households (10.3%) paid for house cleaning at least once over 12 months (95% margin of error 1.7 points).
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024 panel
Statistic 4
Of the households that paid during the year, 31% paid in all four quarters and 27% paid in only one.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024 panel
Statistic 5
The average US household spent $187.92 on housekeeping services in 2025, counting the households that spent nothing.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 6
US households spent about $25.9 billion on housekeeping services in 2025 ($187.92 across 137,994,000 households).
RapidEye Research, from BLS published figures (2025)
What this means: regular cleaning service is a habit of a small slice of households. About a third of yearly payers paid in every quarter, which looks like ongoing service. About a quarter paid in only one of the four quarters.
What paying households spend
The $187.92 average is spread across every household, including the roughly 93% that paid nothing in a given quarter. Looking only at households that paid gives a better picture of a real cleaning budget. BLS warns that a quarterly spend for payers should not simply be multiplied by four, because many households do not pay every quarter, so we measured the 12-month total directly from households followed for a full year.
Statistic 7
Households that paid for cleaning spent a median of $600 per 3-month period in 2025, about $200 a month.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 8
Their average was $694 per 3-month period, pulled up by a smaller group of heavy spenders.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 9
The middle half of paying households spent between $345 and $900 per 3 months, and about 1 in 10 spent $1,200 or more.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 10
Households that paid at some point during a year spent a median of $1,335 over the 12 months; the middle half spent $555 to $2,460.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024 panel
Statistic 11
Paying households in the top income fifth spent a median of $750 per 3 months, compared with $300 in the bottom fifth.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
What this means: a typical paying household's cleaning bill is a few hundred dollars a quarter, and the top tenth spends twice the median. Our guide to how long it takes to clean a house covers what a professional visit buys in time.
Who pays, by income and education
Income draws one of the sharpest lines. We split households into equal fifths by income before taxes, including the values the survey imputes for households that did not report their income. In 2025 the bottom fifth had income below about $32,400 and the top fifth above about $160,400.
Statistic 12
16.5% of households in the top income fifth paid for cleaning in a typical quarter of 2025, compared with 2.9% in the bottom fifth.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 13
The second and middle income fifths both sit at 4.1%, and the fourth fifth at 6.3%.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 14
About 1 in 5 households earning $200,000 or more (20.3%) paid for cleaning in a typical quarter.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 15
Over a full year, about 1 in 5 top-fifth households (21.8%) paid for cleaning at least once.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024 panel
Statistic 16
The top income fifth made up about half (48.7%) of paying households and accounted for 58.5% of all household spending on housekeeping services in 2025.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 17
12.1% of households whose reference person has a bachelor's degree or more paid for cleaning in a typical quarter, compared with 3.1% of all other households.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
What this means: for a cleaning business, the market is not "busy families" in general. It is mostly the top fifth of earners, who make up about half of paying households, spend more when they pay, and account for most of the money.
Who pays, by age and household type
Age shows a steady pattern. Households headed by someone under 35 rarely pay for cleaning, the share is similar from 35 to 74, and it nearly doubles after 75. Older people living alone pay for cleaning about three times as often as younger people living alone.
Statistic 18
Only 2.9% of households headed by someone under 35 paid for cleaning in a typical quarter of 2025, compared with 13.5% of households headed by someone 75 or older.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 19
Between ages 35 and 74 the share stays within 6.1% to 7.3%; for all households 65 and older it is 10.0%.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 20
11.2% of people 65 or older who live alone paid for cleaning in a typical quarter, compared with 3.8% of people under 65 who live alone.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 21
9.3% of married couples where both spouses work paid for cleaning in a typical quarter, compared with 5.5% of married couples with one earner.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 22
Over a full year, about 16% of dual-earner married couples paid for cleaning at least once (16.4%, margin of error 3.7 points).
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024 panel
Statistic 23
11.2% of dual-earner married couples with children under 18 paid for cleaning in a typical quarter.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 24
10.0% of married couples where neither spouse works paid for cleaning in a typical quarter, not statistically different from dual-earner couples.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
What this means: households 75 and older and people 65 and older living alone have some of the highest shares. Among couples, both partners working goes with a much higher share than one earner. Households headed by someone under 35 are the least likely to pay.
Owners, renters and region
Homeowners pay for cleaning far more often than renters, and owners still paying a mortgage pay most often. By region, the West is significantly above the South and Midwest; the Northeast sits between them and is not statistically different from any of the three.
Statistic 25
10.1% of homeowners with a mortgage paid for cleaning in a typical quarter of 2025, compared with 7.9% of owners without one and 2.5% of renters.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 26
Over a full year, only about 3.7% of renter households paid for cleaning at least once.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024 panel
Statistic 27
Renters who paid spent a median of $360 per 3 months, compared with $600 for owners with a mortgage.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
Statistic 28
By region: West 8.8%, Northeast 7.8%, South 5.9% and Midwest 5.9% of households paid for cleaning in a typical quarter.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2025)
What this means: renters pay for cleaning about a quarter as often as owners with a mortgage, and spend less when they do. Cleaning at the end of a lease is a separate question, covered in our move-out cleaning cost statistics.
Since 2019: no boom in hiring
BLS publishes the quarterly share and average spending every year. The share dipped during the 2020 pandemic year, peaked in 2023 and has settled back near its 2019 level. Spending per household grew faster than the share, so paying households spent more each, whether through higher prices or more cleaning.
| Year | Share paying in a 3-month period | Average spending per household |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 6.16% | $141.55 |
| 2020 | 4.80% | $117.53 |
| 2021 | 6.21% | $159.61 |
| 2022 | 7.01% | $198.05 |
| 2023 | 7.42% | $207.84 |
| 2024 | 6.37% | $186.25 |
| 2025 | 6.79% | $187.92 |
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey detailed tables, all consumer units. Spending is in dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation.
Statistic 29
The share of households paying for cleaning in a quarter was 6.16% in 2019, fell to 4.80% in 2020, peaked at 7.42% in 2023 and was 6.79% in 2025.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2019 to 2025)
Statistic 30
Average household spending on housekeeping services rose from $141.55 in 2019 to $187.92 in 2025, about 33% in dollars not adjusted for inflation.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2019 to 2025)
What this means: the share of households paying for cleaning has been steady since 2019, with no surge in hiring. Spending figures here are not adjusted for inflation, and the series starts in 2019, so it cannot test claims about earlier years.
Every group in one table
The full 2025 breakdown behind this page: the share of households paying for housekeeping in a typical 3-month period with its 95% margin of error, the average yearly spending across all households in the group, and the median that paying households spent per 3 months.
| Group | Share paying (3 months) | Margin of error | Average yearly spend, all households | Median paid per 3 months, payers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All households | 6.8% | ±0.8 | $188 | $600 |
| Income fifth | ||||
| Bottom (under about $32,400) | 2.9% | ±1.2 | $46 | $300 |
| Second | 4.1% | ±1.0 | $85 | $375 |
| Middle | 4.1% | ±0.8 | $94 | $450 |
| Fourth | 6.3% | ±1.6 | $166 | $555 |
| Top (over about $160,400) | 16.5% | ±1.9 | $552 | $750 |
| Income before taxes | ||||
| Under $50,000 | 3.3% | ±1.1 | $60 | $360 |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 4.1% | ±0.8 | $93 | $450 |
| $100,000 to $149,999 | 6.0% | ±1.4 | $155 | $450 |
| $150,000 to $199,999 | 8.5% | ±2.4 | $241 | $599 |
| $200,000 or more | 20.3% | ±2.3 | $698 | $800 |
| Age of reference person | ||||
| Under 35 | 2.9% | ±0.8 | $78 | $510* |
| 35 to 44 | 6.9% | ±1.2 | $203 | $622 |
| 45 to 54 | 6.4% | ±1.5 | $204 | $750 |
| 55 to 64 | 6.1% | ±1.3 | $176 | $600 |
| 65 to 74 | 7.3% | ±1.2 | $183 | $600 |
| 75 and older | 13.5% | ±3.6 | $343 | $405 |
| Household type | ||||
| Married couple, both spouses work | 9.3% | ±1.6 | $299 | $720 |
| Married couple, one earner | 5.5% | ±1.4 | $201 | $900 |
| Married couple, no earners | 10.0% | ±2.5 | $262 | $600 |
| Dual-earner couple with children under 18 | 11.2% | ±2.7 | $372 | $720 |
| Married couple, oldest child under 6 | 13.6% | ±5.3 | $421 | $600* |
| Single parent | 6.4% | ±2.5 | $147 | $600* |
| Living alone, 65 or older | 11.2% | ±3.4 | $243 | $360 |
| Living alone, under 65 | 3.8% | ±1.0 | $70 | $360 |
| Housing tenure | ||||
| Owner with a mortgage | 10.1% | ±1.3 | $296 | $600 |
| Owner without a mortgage | 7.9% | ±1.5 | $218 | $480 |
| Renter | 2.5% | ±0.6 | $53 | $360 |
| Region | ||||
| Northeast | 7.8% | ±1.8 | $236 | $600 |
| Midwest | 5.9% | ±1.3 | $140 | $525 |
| South | 5.9% | ±1.3 | $163 | $600 |
| West | 8.8% | ±1.5 | $268 | $660 |
| Education of reference person | ||||
| Bachelor's degree or more | 12.1% | ±1.3 | $363 | $600 |
| No bachelor's degree | 3.1% | ±1.0 | $65 | $400 |
RapidEye Research analysis of the BLS Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey 2025 public use microdata, weighted, with BLS shutdown adjustments. Margins of error are 95% (percentage points) from the 44 replicate weights. Our all-household average from the public file is $188.44; BLS's published figure is $187.92. Income fifths include imputed income. Region is suppressed for about 4% of interviews, which are left out of the regional rows. *Fewer than 100 paying interviews in the group, so the median is less reliable.
The numbers everyone quotes
Two figures show up on many cleaning-industry statistics pages. One is a forecast that 80% of two-income households would use an outside cleaning service "within the next few years," credited to the US Department of Commerce. The earliest version we found is a January 2008 press release from the franchisor Molly Maid (franchising.com), quoting its president: the Department of Commerce "expects 80 percent of two-income households to use an outside cleaning service by the end of 2008." It names no Commerce report, and we could not find one. The other is a private industry estimate from Marketdata (marketresearch.com). Marketdata measures "use" of a maid or cleaning service with its own method, which is a different question from the federal survey's paid-in-the-last-three-months item, so we show both rather than blending them.
Statistic 31
Marketdata estimates that about 16% of US households use a maid or residential cleaning service, up from 8% in 2012, or about 20 to 22 million households in 2025.
Marketdata (2026)
Statistic 32
The federal survey puts dual-earner married couples at 9.3% in a quarter and about 16% over a year, not the 80% in the widely repeated forecast.
RapidEye Research, BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2024 and 2025)
What this means: the federal survey counts about 9.4 million households paying in a given quarter and roughly 1 in 10 over a year, while the private estimate is about 16%. The 80% forecast was a 2008 deadline that has long passed, it cites no report we could find, and it is far from anything in the federal data.
Cite this study
Academic or press use: copy a ready-made reference. RapidEye is the publisher.
Quick FAQ
What percentage of US households hire a house cleaner?
About 6.8% of US households (6.79%, roughly 9.4 million) paid for housekeeping services in a typical 3-month period of 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey. Over a full year the share is about 1 in 10: 10.3% of households that completed all four quarterly interviews in the 2024 survey paid for housekeeping at least once, per RapidEye Research analysis of the survey microdata.
How much do Americans spend on house cleaning services?
The average US household spent $187.92 on housekeeping services in 2025, counting the households that spent nothing, which adds up to about $25.9 billion across 138.0 million households (BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey). Households that actually paid spent a median of $600 per 3-month period, about $200 a month, and households that paid during a full year spent a median of $1,335 over the 12 months.
What income do households that hire a house cleaner have?
About half are in the top income fifth. In 2025, 16.5% of households in the top fifth (income above about $160,400) paid for housekeeping in a typical 3-month period, compared with 2.9% in the bottom fifth (below about $32,400). Among households earning $200,000 or more the share was 20.3%. The top fifth made up 48.7% of paying households and accounted for 58.5% of all household spending on housekeeping services.
Do renters hire house cleaners?
Rarely. Only 2.5% of renter households paid for housekeeping services in a typical 3-month period of 2025, compared with 10.1% of homeowners with a mortgage and 7.9% of owners without one. Renters who did pay spent a median of $360 per 3 months, compared with $600 for owners with a mortgage.
Do 80% of two-income households use a cleaning service?
No. In 2025 federal survey data, 9.3% of married couples where both spouses work paid for housekeeping in a typical 3-month period, and about 16% did at least once over a full year (2024 panel). The 80% figure traces back at least to a 2008 Molly Maid press release that credited the US Department of Commerce with expecting it "by the end of 2008"; no Commerce report is named, and later pages repeat it as "within the next few years".
Is hiring a house cleaner becoming more common?
Not by much. The share of households paying for housekeeping in a typical 3-month period was 6.16% in 2019, fell to 4.8% in 2020, peaked at 7.42% in 2023 and was 6.79% in 2025, according to BLS published tables. Average spending per household rose from $141.55 in 2019 to $187.92 in 2025, about 33% in dollars not adjusted for inflation.
Data sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these named public sources, each checked against the original before publishing.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics2025 Consumer Expenditure interview microdatabls.govU.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsDetailed expenditure tables, 2019 to 2025bls.govU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics2024 Consumer Expenditure interview microdatabls.govU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics2025 shutdown adjustments and standard error methodbls.govU.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsInterview survey questionnaire, home services sectionbls.gov
MarketdataResidential maid services industry estimatemarketresearch.com
Franchising.com2008 franchisor press release on cleaning demandfranchising.com