Janitor vs professional cleaner

The differences between janitors and professional cleaners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a janitor has an average salary of $27,954, which is higher than the $27,268 average annual salary of a professional cleaner.

The top three skills for a janitor include building floors, cleanliness and patients. The most important skills for a professional cleaner are building floors, clean bathrooms, and clean windows.

Janitor vs professional cleaner overview

	Janitor	Professional Cleaner
Yearly salary	$27,954	$27,268
Hourly rate	$13.44	$13.11
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	57,146	119,875
Job satisfaction	3.67	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 56%	High School Diploma, 44%
Average age	49	49
Years of experience	-	-

Janitor vs professional cleaner salary

Janitors and professional cleaners have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Janitor	Professional Cleaner
Average salary	$27,954	$27,268
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $35,000	Between $20,000 And $35,000
Highest paying City	Lexington, MA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Argonne National Laboratory	Vacation
Best paying industry	Hospitality	Manufacturing

Differences between janitor and professional cleaner education

There are a few differences between a janitor and a professional cleaner in terms of educational background:

	Janitor	Professional Cleaner
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 56%	High School Diploma, 44%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Janitor vs professional cleaner demographics

Here are the differences between janitors' and professional cleaners' demographics:

	Janitor	Professional Cleaner
Average age	49	49
Gender ratio	Male, 63.1% Female, 36.9%	Male, 24.9% Female, 75.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 20.1% Asian, 4.4% White, 58.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%	Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 4.6% White, 61.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between janitor and professional cleaner duties and responsibilities

Janitor example responsibilities.

Clean private residents entire home, floors, windows, using soapy water and other cleaners, sponges, and squeegees.
Use of floor extractors machine to strip, scrub, wax, and buff floors.
Wash windows and mirrors, tables and counter tops using window cleaner and cloths or paper, sponges, squeegees.
Organize supplies such as broom, mop, sponges, cleaning supplies, etc.
Used solvent, such as carbon dioxide, rags, brushes, pads, and sponges.
Dust and vacuums shred rooms and personal cubicle areas.

Professional cleaner example responsibilities.

Supervise and train maids in their cleaning duties to ensure company standards of cleanliness are achieved.
Assist in cleaning restroom facilities including cleaning toilets, urinals, sinks, and mopping floors.
Execute commercial building following safety awareness to maintain cleanliness and neatness of working area and premises.
Sweep mop sanitize and disinfect surfaces dust buff floors clean restrooms basements clean out stoves and refrigerators etc

Janitor vs professional cleaner skills

Common janitor skills

Building Floors, 12%
Cleanliness, 12%
Patients, 9%
Window Sills, 6%
Commercial Cleaning, 5%
Customer Service, 5%

Common professional cleaner skills

Building Floors, 25%
Clean Bathrooms, 16%
Clean Windows, 13%
Office Buildings, 9%
Light Fixtures, 6%
Commercial Cleaning, 4%

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Janitor vs Professional Cleaner

Updated January 8, 2025

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