Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,177
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$5,993
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,961
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$35,170
Kept after tax
$29,177
Worth in national money
$28,961
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Virginia. The middle earner gets $35,170. That is 36 of 51 states, and about 4.53% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Virginia publishes, this job lands at 461. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $35,170, tax leaves $29,177, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $28,961 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $36,490, since top earners drag the number up.
- For janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners, Virginia sits in the lower band at $35,170, ranking 36 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 4.53%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Virginia, this work ranks 461 of 489 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners — median $35,170 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $29,177 retained, $28,961 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $36,490 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,240 |
| This salary | $35,170 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Virginia | $29,177 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,439 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,363 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $33,600 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,858 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,170 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,290 and the ninetieth is $47,240 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $29,177, from $35,170, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 461 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $28,961, the adjusted value of that $35,170 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Virginia. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 461 of 489 locally.
- The Virginia median of $35,170 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,290 to $47,240. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,177 from $35,170. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 461 of 489 locally.
- This $28,961 adjusted figure, worked from $35,170, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 461 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 461 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $36,490, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $28,290 and the top tenth $47,240, so most people doing this work in Virginia sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $28,961 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Virginia's own levy, $29,177 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Virginia is $36,490. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($28,290 to $47,240) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,961 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $29,177 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.