Number of employees in cleaning occupations in the U.S. by job type 2023

In 2023, the majority of employees in cleaning occupations in the United States were working as janitors and cleaners, totaling more than 2.1 million workers. The next largest occupational group were maids and housekeeping cleaners, with roughly 836,000 working in these positions. The total number of employees working in cleaning occupations increased between 2022 and 2023 in the United States.

Roles, industries, and wages

The cleaning occupation that earned the highest annual wage in 2022 was first-line supervisors of housekeeping and janitorial workers. The industry with the highest levels of employment of janitors and cleaners by some margin was services to buildings and dwellings, employing over ten times more staff than in general medical and surgical hospitals in 2022. Those working in facility management noted that they had ten or less full-time equivalent employees in their cleaning departments in 2022, a slight decrease when compared to the previous year.

A valuable market

With so many Americans employed in cleaning services in the United States, it is of little surprise that the corresponding market size has been significant over the last decade. In 2023, the market size of janitorial services in the United States was valued at 92 billion U.S. dollars and has been growing annually between 2013 and 2021. In addition to this, the market size of carpet cleaning services was estimated at almost 6.53 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.