A compiled reference of 24 verified statistics on move-out cleaning: what a professional move-out clean costs by home size and market, how the price steps up from standard and deep cleaning, how many hours and workers the job takes, and how cleaning shows up in security deposit deductions and disputes. Every figure is drawn from a named public source (Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the English Private Landlord Survey, Zillow) and independently checked before publishing.
Key statistics
4 highlights from this report
Key statistics
Key takeaways
Move-out cleaning is priced as a deep clean with a deadline: $360 on average against a typical $750 deposit, 3 to 8 hours of work, and a direct line to the deduction grounds that decide whether that deposit comes back.
Move-out cleaning averages $360, ranging from $110 to $650.
A move-out clean takes 3 to 8 hours, usually with a two-cleaner team.
Cleaning appears in 54% of deposit dispute claims, cited by 59% of withholding landlords.
The average move-out clean costs about half the typical $750 deposit.
Standard cleans run $75 to $175 per visit; move-out pricing starts where deep cleaning does, at $200 to $400.
The 860,670 US maids and housekeeping cleaners behind these jobs earn a median $17.07 per hour.
How we built this report
Every figure was compiled in August 2026 from named public sources and checked against the original before publishing.
- Compiled from primary sources
Published cost guides and marketplace price data (Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Care.com, This Old House), US government wage statistics, UK deposit scheme adjudication data, and large national renter and landlord surveys.
- Only explicitly stated figures
We include only numbers a named source states directly, and attribute each inline at the point it appears.
- Disagreements shown, not averaged
Cost guides disagree: Angi's average is $360 while Thumbtack's empty-apartment range starts at $125. We show both rather than blending them into a false single figure.
- Independent review
Written by one co-founder, reviewed by the other before publishing.
A scope note: US cleaning prices are guide-level and marketplace figures, not an audited survey, and they move with market, home condition, and season. UK deposit scheme figures describe the UK's regulated deposit protection system; we use them because no US equivalent publishes dispute-level data, and we label every UK figure as UK. Confirm any individual figure against the named source before relying on it.
Move-out cleaning, by the numbers
All 24 figures, grouped into four themes. Each comes from a named public source and was independently verified.
What a move-out clean costs
The most-cited number in the category comes from Angi (angi.com), whose cost guide, updated July 2026, puts professional move-out cleaning at $360 on average, with most jobs between $120 and $420 and the observed spread running $110 to $650. HomeAdvisor (homeadvisor.com) brackets move-out service at $175 to $500 within its broader house cleaning data. Marketplace pricing sits lower: Thumbtack (thumbtack.com) puts move-out cleans for empty apartments at $125 to $180. This Old House (thisoldhouse.com), drawing on Fixr and Angi cost data, frames the same service at $200 to $400, or $0.20 to $0.45 per square foot. On hourly labor, Care.com (care.com) tracked posted move-out cleaning rates in March 2026 at a $23.21 national hourly average.
Statistic 1
Professional move-out cleaning averages $360, with most jobs between $120 and $420 and a full observed range of $110 to $650.
Angi cost data (updated July 2026)
Statistic 2
By house size, base move-out cleaning runs $120 to $260 for 1,000 to 1,500 sq ft, stepping up to $360 to $420 for 3,000 to 3,500 sq ft.
Angi cost data (2026)
Statistic 3
Apartment move-out cleans run $90 to $130 for a studio, $100 to $190 for a 1-bed, $140 to $210 for a 2-bed, and $180 to $300 for a 3-bed, 2-bath.
Angi cost data (2026)
Statistic 4
HomeAdvisor brackets move-out cleaning at $175 to $500, against $100 to $200 for a standard house clean.
HomeAdvisor cost guide (2026)
Statistic 5
On the Thumbtack marketplace, move-out cleaning for empty apartments typically costs $125 to $180, starting at $125 for a 1-bed, 1-bath and $175 for a 3-bed, 2-bath.
Thumbtack price data (2026)
Statistic 6
Framed per square foot, move-out cleaning costs $0.20 to $0.45, which scales a 1,000 sq ft home to $200 to $450 and a 3,000 sq ft home to $600 to $1,350.
This Old House, drawing on Fixr and Angi cost data (2026)
Statistic 7
Posted move-out cleaning rates averaged $23.21 per hour nationally in March 2026, ranging from $22.34 in Tampa to $28.29 in San Francisco.
Care.com posted-rate data (March 2026)
What this means: the honest answer to "what does a move-out clean cost" is a range, not a number. Directory averages ($360) sit well above marketplace floors ($125) because they mix furnished houses, dirty units, and add-ons into one figure. Size and condition move the price more than anything else.
The move-out premium over a standard clean
Move-out cleaning is priced as deep cleaning, not as one more routine visit. According to Angi (angi.com), standard cleaning services run $75 to $175 per visit while deep cleaning, the level move-out work usually requires, runs $200 to $400. HomeAdvisor's per-square-foot framing shows the same step: $0.05 to $0.10 for standard cleaning versus as much as $0.20 for one-time deep cleans. Care.com's city-level pay data makes the premium visible in hourly rates, with move-out cleaners posting higher rates than standard house cleaners in every market it lists.
The price ladder
Published US per-visit price ranges, Angi cost data, 2026
Move-out spans the whole ladder because it inherits the home's condition: a maintained apartment needs little more than a standard clean, a neglected house needs deep cleaning plus add-ons.
Statistic 8
Standard cleaning services cost $75 to $175 per visit; deep cleaning services, the level move-out work usually requires, cost $200 to $400.
Angi cost data (2026)
Statistic 9
Standard cleaning runs $0.05 to $0.10 per square foot, while one-time deep cleans reach as much as $0.20 per square foot.
HomeAdvisor cost guide (2026)
Statistic 10
Move-out cleaners post higher hourly rates than standard house cleaners in every listed market: $26.41 vs $23.34 in Denver, $28.57 vs $26.19 in Seattle, $25.55 vs $23.86 in San Diego, $21.80 vs $20.37 in Atlanta.
Care.com posted-rate data (March 2026)
Statistic 11
Common move-out add-ons: carpet shampooing $120 to $240, window cleaning $80 to $300, fridge, oven, or cabinet interiors $10 to $40 per appliance, junk removal $60 to $370.
Angi cost data (2026)
Statistic 12
A deep clean for a typical apartment averages $125 to $250 nationally, against $100 to $150 for a recurring two-bedroom standard clean.
Thumbtack price data (2026)
What this means: the move-out premium is really a deep-cleaning premium plus add-ons. The base service roughly doubles the per-visit price of a standard clean, and appliance interiors, carpets, and windows, the exact items landlords check at walkthrough, are what push a $360 job toward $650.
Time, labor, and the people doing the work
Behind the flat rate is a lot of labor. Thumbtack (thumbtack.com) puts a professional move-out clean at 3 to 8 hours, and Angi (angi.com) reports companies typically send two cleaners at $25 to $50 per cleaner per hour, an average total it puts at $100 per hour for the team. The urgency is real too: in Angi's data from 209,300 customer responses, 39.9% of homeowners requested house cleaning within 1 to 2 days. The workforce behind these jobs is one of America's largest: according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov), May 2025 data counts 860,670 maids and housekeeping cleaners nationwide at a median wage of $17.07 per hour.
Statistic 13
A professional move-out clean typically takes 3 to 8 hours.
Thumbtack (2026)
Statistic 14
Move-out cleaning rates run $25 to $50 per cleaner per hour; companies typically send two cleaners, which Angi puts at an average total of $100 per hour for the team.
Angi cost data (2026)
Statistic 15
Of 209,300 Angi customer responses, 39.9% requested urgent house cleaning within 1 to 2 days, and another 32.9% scheduled within two weeks.
Angi customer data (2026)
Statistic 16
The US employs 860,670 maids and housekeeping cleaners, at a median wage of $17.07 per hour and a mean of $17.83, or $37,080 per year.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS (May 2025)
Statistic 17
Cleaner wages span $13.29 per hour at the 10th percentile to $23.35 at the 90th.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS (May 2025)
Statistic 18
Services to buildings and dwellings, the industry that includes residential cleaning companies, employs 92,440 maids and housekeeping cleaners; traveler accommodation employs the most at 415,160.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS (May 2025)
What this means: the spread between the median cleaner wage ($17.07) and the billed team rate (~$100 per hour) is the cleaning company itself: insurance, supplies, drive time, no-show risk, and the guarantee that the job passes a walkthrough. That gap is also why verifying the work happened, and happened to standard, is worth money on both sides of the transaction.
The deposit connection: why move-out cleaning exists
Move-out cleaning is bought to protect a deposit, and the deduction data shows why. In the English Private Landlord Survey 2024 (gov.uk), which covered more than 9,000 landlords, 59% of landlords who withheld deposit money cited cleaning costs, second only to damage at 63%. In Tenancy Deposit Scheme adjudication data published with the National Residential Landlords Association (nrla.org.uk), cleaning appeared in 54% of 2024/25 dispute claims, the single most common ground, and The Deposit Protection Service (depositprotection.com) puts cleaning at 26.64% of dispute causes, within a point of damage at 27.30%. On the US side, according to Zillow's Consumer Housing Trends Report 2024 (zillow.com), 87% of recent renters paid a deposit, the typical deposit was $750, and only 40% of recent movers got the entire deposit back. Our own security deposit statistics study compiles the 51-jurisdiction legal side, and our tenant damage statistics study covers the damage half of the same argument.
Statistic 19
Among English landlords who withheld some or all of a deposit, 59% cited cleaning costs, second only to damage at 63%, with unpaid rent at 31%.
English Private Landlord Survey, 2024 (UK)
Statistic 20
Cleaning appeared in 54% of deposit dispute claims in 2024/25, the most common ground, ahead of damage at 49% and redecoration at 31%.
Tenancy Deposit Scheme data, via NRLA, 2025 (UK)
Statistic 21
Cleaning caused 26.64% of deposit disputes over the last 12 months, within a point of property damage at 27.30%; under 3% of protected deposits fell into dispute at all.
The Deposit Protection Service (UK, 2025)
Statistic 22
87% of recent US renters paid a security deposit, the typical deposit was $750, and only 40% of recent movers got the entire deposit back; 24% got none of it back.
Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report, 2024 (US)
Statistic 23
Renters who photographed the unit's condition were likelier to get at least some deposit back: 76% with photos versus 70% without.
Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report, 2024 (US)
Statistic 24
The average professional move-out clean ($360) costs about half the typical US security deposit ($750). A RapidEye computation from Angi and Zillow figures.
RapidEye Research computation (2026)
What this means: cleaning and damage together account for nearly every contested deposit, and cleaning is the half the tenant fully controls. A $360 documented professional clean, against a $750 typical deposit and a 40% full-return rate, is one of the few deposit-protection moves with clean math behind it. The other half is condition evidence, which is where photo documentation measurably shifts outcomes.
Cite this study
Academic or press use: copy a ready-made reference. RapidEye is the publisher.
Quick FAQ
How much does move-out cleaning cost?
Professional move-out cleaning costs $360 on average in the US, with most jobs falling between $120 and $420 and the full observed range running $110 to $650, according to Angi cost data updated in July 2026. Marketplace pricing skews lower for small empty apartments: Thumbtack puts empty-apartment move-out cleans at $125 to $180.
How long does a move-out clean take?
A professional move-out clean typically takes 3 to 8 hours, per Thumbtack. Cleaning companies commonly send two cleaners at $25 to $50 per cleaner per hour, an average total Angi puts at $100 per hour for the team.
Can a landlord deduct cleaning costs from a security deposit?
Generally yes, if the unit is returned dirtier than it was at move-in, but not for ordinary wear and tear. California Civil Code 1950.5, for example, allows cleaning deductions only to return the unit to the same level of cleanliness it had at the start of the tenancy. Cleaning is one of the two most common deduction grounds: 59% of English landlords who withheld deposit money cited cleaning costs in the English Private Landlord Survey 2024, and cleaning appeared in 54% of Tenancy Deposit Scheme dispute claims in 2024/25. The state-by-state legal detail is in our security deposit statistics study.
Is a professional move-out clean worth it for getting a deposit back?
The math usually favors it. The average professional move-out clean costs $360 while the typical US security deposit is $750, per Zillow's Consumer Housing Trends Report 2024, and only 40% of recent US movers got their entire deposit back. Cleaning is cited in 54% of UK deposit dispute claims, so a documented professional clean removes one of the two most common deduction grounds. Pair it with dated photos: renters who photographed condition were likelier to get at least some deposit back, 76% versus 70%.
Data sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these named public sources, each checked against the original before publishing.
AngiMove-out and house cleaning cost data, 2026angi.com
HomeAdvisorCleaning services cost guides, 2026homeadvisor.com
ThumbtackMarketplace cleaning price data, 2026thumbtack.com
This Old HouseMove-out cleaning cost reporting, 2026thisoldhouse.com
Care.comPosted cleaning rate data, March 2026care.com
US Bureau of Labor StatisticsOccupational employment and wage statistics, May 2025bls.gov
English Private Landlord SurveyNational landlord survey, 2024gov.uk
Tenancy Deposit Scheme, via NRLADeposit dispute adjudication data, 2025nrla.org.uk
The Deposit Protection ServiceDispute cause analysis, 2025depositprotection.com
ZillowConsumer Housing Trends Report, 2024zillow.com