Janitor Salary Guide — What It Pays by City

National median: $36,840/yr · Typical range: $34,249–$45,134 (Jobeezy estimate from BLS metro data) · Source: BLS OEWS May 2025

Last updated: 2026-08-25

National Janitor Salary Overview

Lower range $34,249
National Median $36,840
Upper range $45,134

National median from BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics, May 2025 OEWS. Lower/upper range is a Jobeezy estimate, employment-weighted from BLS metro 25th/75th-percentile wages. O*NET code: 37-2011.00. SOC occupation: 37-2011 (Janitor).

Real 25th–75th percentile wages by metro are in the table below (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Janitor Salary by City — Top 20 Metros

Metro Area25th PctMedian75th Pct
Janitor salary in Seattle, WA$41,450$46,490$57,050
Janitor salary in San Francisco, CA$39,940$44,180$54,210
Janitor salary in San Jose, CA$40,090$43,870$49,140
Janitor salary in New York, NY$36,740$42,840$51,220
Janitor salary in Denver, CO$37,680$38,840$45,880
Janitor salary in Los Angeles, CA$36,520$38,720$47,070
Janitor salary in Chicago, IL$36,360$38,470$45,730
Janitor salary in San Diego, CA$36,300$38,450$46,280
Janitor salary in Columbus, OH$32,170$37,310$44,620
Janitor salary in Philadelphia, PA$33,400$36,930$45,100
Janitor salary in Austin, TX$30,320$36,930$40,090
Janitor salary in Indianapolis, IN$30,880$36,850$41,310
Janitor salary in Phoenix, AZ$35,060$36,280$40,240
Janitor salary in Nashville, TN$30,720$36,130$40,020
Janitor salary in Charlotte, NC$29,590$35,600$37,480
Janitor salary in Jacksonville, FL$30,470$35,450$38,420
Janitor salary in Dallas, TX$28,680$34,860$38,720
Janitor salary in Fort Worth, TX$28,680$34,860$38,720
Janitor salary in San Antonio, TX$28,080$34,540$38,520
Janitor salary in Houston, TX$26,680$30,650$36,770

Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 estimates. Click any city for detailed local salary data.

Janitor Salary by Experience Level

LevelTypical PayExperience
Entry-level Janitor$30,208First year
Experienced Janitor$36,8401–3 years
Lead / Shift lead$40,5243–5 years
Supervisor$44,9445+ years

Career-step pay is a Jobeezy estimate — modeled from the national median, not BLS by-level data. BLS does not publish wages by career level; actual pay varies by employer, location, and skills.

Skills That Raise Janitor Salary

Professionals with these skills typically earn 15–35% above the median:

  • Floor-care machine operation (buffer, extractor)
  • OSHA / bloodborne pathogen training
  • Green cleaning certification
  • Facilities or boiler-room cross-training
  • Crew lead experience

How to Negotiate a Janitor Offer

The most effective salary negotiation for Janitor roles follows three steps:

  1. Anchor with data. Quote BLS OEWS median ($36,840) and top-metro benchmarks as your reference point. Numbers beat feelings.
  2. Frame with ROI. Describe a specific project outcome in dollar terms: "I reduced churn by 8%, which retained $2M ARR." This turns the conversation from cost to investment.
  3. Negotiate total comp. If base is firm, ask about sign-on bonus, equity refresh, additional PTO, or a 6-month review. Employers have more flexibility in these buckets.

How Jobeezy sources Janitor pay figures

How we label figures. Every wage number comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2025 release. We publish each metro’s median and 25th/75th-percentile band exactly as BLS reports them; suppressed cells are shown as an em dash, never as a zero or an invented estimate. Where a figure is not a direct BLS reading — an imputed hourly rate, or the career-step pay ladder below (a Jobeezy estimate modeled from the median, since BLS does not publish wages by career level) — we label it as such. We never present an estimate as a BLS number.

Pay periods. On each city page, weekly and hourly figures assume a 40-hour week (2,080 paid hours a year). Where BLS publishes an hourly median for a metro we use it directly; where it does not, the hourly figure is a Jobeezy estimate (annual median ÷ 2,080 hours) and is labeled “(est.)” on the page. We never present an estimate as a BLS-published figure.

Janitor Salary by City — All 90 Locations

Median Janitor pay in every metro we track, grouped by state (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Browse open Janitor jobs →