Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Wisconsin

A navy vacuum cleaner beside a cream rug in a sunlit living room.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$30,939

after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax

Tax takes

$6,061

16.4% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$33,233

Wisconsin costs less than average

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

$37,000

Kept after tax

$30,939

Worth in national money

$33,233

State rank

21

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Wisconsin sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $37,000, ranking 21 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
  • Measured against other jobs in Wisconsin, this one sits low: 441 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $37,000 you keep $30,939 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,233 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,550, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Wisconsin occupies the middle band for janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners: a median of $37,000, ranking 21 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
  • Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners occupies position 441 of 491 in Wisconsin's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
  • Retained pay in Wisconsin is $30,939 after the full tax stack, from $37,000. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,233 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,550 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

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$29,600
Half earn under$37,000
Top tenth earn over$47,580
This salary$37,000

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

Compare with
+$971take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Wisconsin$30,939
Take-home in Texas$31,910
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$396

The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.

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

Moving to
$0$37,478
$37,478in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$35,792
Raise you would need+$478
Prices in Texas97 vs 93

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $37,000 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,600 and the ninetieth is $47,580 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $30,939, from $37,000, 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 441 of 491 occupations here.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,233, the adjusted value of that $37,000 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 441 of 491 in the state.
  • The Wisconsin median of $37,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,600 to $47,580. 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 Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,939 from $37,000. 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 441 of 491 locally.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $33,233 — the adjusted value of that $37,000 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 441 of 491 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $38,550 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $29,600 and the top tenth $47,580, so most people doing this work in Wisconsin sit within a fairly tight band.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $33,233.

Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?

Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,939 of this wage survives to your account.

Can I compare this job across every state?

This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.

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 Wisconsin is $38,550. 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 ($29,600 to $47,580) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

Wisconsin's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $33,233 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.

What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?

Take-home of $30,939 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.