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The differences between sanitation workers and cleaners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a sanitation worker has an average salary of $33,159, which is higher than the $28,075 average annual salary of a cleaner.
The top three skills for a sanitation worker include cleanliness, pallet jack and food safety. The most important skills for a cleaner are commercial cleaning, building floors, and ventilation.
| Sanitation Worker | Cleaner | |
| Yearly salary | $33,159 | $28,075 |
| Hourly rate | $15.94 | $13.50 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 27,943 | 74,355 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 61% | High School Diploma, 51% |
| Average age | 49 | 49 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A sanitation worker is employed to carry out valuable community tasks like garbage collection, hauling, and disposal. Sanitation workers take responsibility for the cleanliness and maintenance of the community. They ride or drive garbage trucks to collect trash from businesses and residents every day. They may work within companies as well following their respective corporate policies. One can become a sanitation worker if they have a college degree, high school degree, or any relevant job experience.
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.
Sanitation workers and cleaners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sanitation Worker | Cleaner | |
| Average salary | $33,159 | $28,075 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $41,000 | Between $21,000 And $36,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Rosa, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Washington |
| Best paying company | Michigan State University | Columbia University in the City of New York |
| Best paying industry | Government | Education |
There are a few differences between a sanitation worker and a cleaner in terms of educational background:
| Sanitation Worker | Cleaner | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 61% | High School Diploma, 51% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between sanitation workers' and cleaners' demographics:
| Sanitation Worker | Cleaner | |
| Average age | 49 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 82.1% Female, 17.9% | Male, 49.7% Female, 50.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 21.1% Asian, 4.9% White, 56.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3% | 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 | 5% | 5% |