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The differences between housekeepers and cleaners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a housekeeper has an average salary of $29,306, which is higher than the $28,075 average annual salary of a cleaner.
The top three skills for a housekeeper include customer service, cleanliness and patients. The most important skills for a cleaner are commercial cleaning, building floors, and ventilation.
| Housekeeper | Cleaner | |
| Yearly salary | $29,306 | $28,075 |
| Hourly rate | $14.09 | $13.50 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 111,501 | 74,355 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 4 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 53% | High School Diploma, 51% |
| Average age | 48 | 49 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
Housekeepers are responsible for taking care of their employers' houses. They are usually tasked to do work related to cleaning. Their primary responsibilities include sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping floors, managing recycling, taking out the trash, dusting surfaces, cleaning the bathroom, among others. They are also responsible for doing laundry, folding clothes, and storing clothes in cabinets. They may also be given additional responsibilities such as shopping for groceries, managing and stocking the pantry, cooking, walking pets and watering the plants. Housekeepers should be responsible, trustworthy, and knowledgeable on housework.
Cleaners ensure that a room, building, or other area is spotless. They clean by mopping floors, dusting cabinets, wiping surfaces, among others. They are in charge of ensuring that all areas are sanitized and always ready for use. They manage the sanitation of the washrooms. They also manage cleaning supplies and update the inventory when needed. They create requests for needed purchases of cleaning materials. They also keep a record of areas with routine cleaning needs to ensure that they will not be missed.
Housekeepers and cleaners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Housekeeper | Cleaner | |
| Average salary | $29,306 | $28,075 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $38,000 | Between $21,000 And $36,000 |
| Highest paying City | Dallas, TX | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Washington |
| Best paying company | McMenamins Pubs & Breweries | Columbia University in the City of New York |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Education |
There are a few differences between a housekeeper and a cleaner in terms of educational background:
| Housekeeper | Cleaner | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 53% | High School Diploma, 51% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between housekeepers' and cleaners' demographics:
| Housekeeper | Cleaner | |
| Average age | 48 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 15.4% Female, 84.6% | Male, 49.7% Female, 50.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.3% Asian, 5.4% White, 59.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5% | Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 19.0% Asian, 5.0% White, 59.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 5% |