What Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment earn in Riverside County, CA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA metropolitan area, the median pay for Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment in Riverside County, CA is $36,230 a year, or $17.42 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $30,778 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Riverside County, CA.
The mean wage is $39,330, which is 8.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 5,100 people working in this occupation across the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Riverside County, CA has roughly 2,478,600 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $34,480 a year ($16.58 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $47,950 or more ($23.05 an hour). That is a gap of $13,470 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $35,360 at the 25th percentile and $39,830 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.4 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $17.42 an hour or $36,230 a year at the median for Riverside County, CA. Before any deductions, that is $3,019 a month, $1,393 every two weeks and $697 each week. After taxes the same job pays $14.80 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment this way: "Wash or otherwise clean vehicles, machinery, and other equipment. Use such materials as water, cleaning agents, brushes, cloths, and hoses."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Inspect parts, equipment, or vehicles for cleanliness, damage, and compliance with standards or regulations"; "Scrub, scrape, or spray machine parts, equipment, or vehicles, using scrapers, brushes, clothes, cleaners, disinfectants, insecticides, acid, abrasives, vacuums, or hoses"; "Mix cleaning solutions, abrasive compositions, or other compounds, according to formulas"; "Press buttons to activate cleaning equipment or machines".
Job outlook for Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 419,500 jobs in 2025 to 435,800 in 2035, a change of +3.9%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 51,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 12.3% of current employment each year. About 7.9% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $35,830 for this occupation; the Riverside County, CA median of $36,230 is 1.1% above it.
How pay in Riverside County, CA compares
Compared with the California average
Pay in Riverside County, CA runs $2,084 below the California average of $38,314, a gap of 5.4%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of California would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within California, the highest median we track for this job is $44,350 in Alameda County, CA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment is $35,033 across the contiguous United States. At $36,230, Riverside County, CA pays $1,197 more, which is 3.4% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Riverside County, CA
Among the 584 occupations with published wages in Riverside County, CA, Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment ranks number 567 by median pay, ahead of about 3% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Medical and Health Services Managers at $135,010 a year, which is $98,780 more than the median for Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment earning the Riverside County, CA median of $36,230, they add up to $5,452. The result is $30,778 of take-home pay a year ($2,565 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.1%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $20,480. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $2,219, an effective 6.1% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,246 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $525. FICA totals $2,772, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in California
California income tax on this salary is $461 a year, or 1.3% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 21% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $38 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Riverside County, CA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Riverside County, CA show an average adjusted gross income of $75,793 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 11.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 6.1% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Riverside County, CA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Riverside County, CA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $30,778 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Riverside County, CA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,705 a month ($20,460 a year), and at $2,103 for two bedrooms. For Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment, a one-bedroom absorbs 66.5% of take-home pay and 56.5% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 9.5% of gross pay for Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment in Riverside County, CA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using California residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $3,378 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $751, for $4,129 in total. Gasoline in California averages $4.42 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $2,047.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $30,071 a year in Riverside County, CA. Subtract that from $30,778 of take-home pay and $707 remains, which is $59 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 2.0% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Local housing and commute data for Riverside County, CA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Riverside County, CA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Riverside County, CA, set beside the California and national medians.
Property taxes in Riverside County, CA
Homeowners in Riverside County, CA pay a median of $4,348 a year in real estate taxes, 15% below the California median of $5,124 and 39% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $557,300, the median tax bill is 0.78% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment median of $36,230, a tax bill of that size would equal 12.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Riverside County, CA
Renters in Riverside County, CA pay a median gross rent of $1,901 a month in the Census survey, 7% below the California median of $2,036. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,705 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $557,300, 24% below the California median of $734,700. Median household income is $93,074, 6% below the California median of $99,122, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 22.0% of that income.
Commuting in Riverside County, CA
Workers in Riverside County, CA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 33.8 minutes each way, 18% above the California average of 28.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.6 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 12.3% of workers in Riverside County, CA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment afford to live in Riverside County, CA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $36,230 that ceiling is $906 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,705 is $799 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $32.79 an hour; the median for Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment is $17.42, which is 47% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.80 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 26.6 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,103 a month means $1,052 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,842 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $8,549.
How fast you can save
At $59 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 170 months (14.2 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 340 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment pay in Riverside County, CA
How much do Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment make per hour in Riverside County, CA?
The median is $17.42 per hour, based on $36,230 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.58 at the 10th percentile to $23.05 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment take home after taxes in Riverside County, CA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $36,230 becomes $30,778 a year. That is $2,565 a month, $1,184 every two weeks or $592 a week.
How much tax do Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment pay in Riverside County, CA?
Total taxes are $5,452 a year, an effective rate of 15.1%: $2,219 federal income tax, $2,772 FICA and $461 California income tax.
Do Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment earn more in Riverside County, CA than elsewhere in California?
No. The local median of $36,230 is -5.4% versus the California average of $38,314, a difference of $2,084 a year.
Can Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment afford a one-bedroom apartment in Riverside County, CA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,705 a month against take-home pay of $2,565, which is 66.5% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $906 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment in Riverside County, CA?
About $59 a month ($707 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $30,071 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Riverside County, CA at the 30% guideline?
$32.79 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $20,460 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment is $17.42.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the California rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.