What Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners earn in Knox County, TN
According to the latest federal wage data for the Knoxville, TN metropolitan area, the median pay for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Knox County, TN is $31,200 a year, or $15.00 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $27,198 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Knox County, TN.
The mean wage is $33,600, which is 7.7% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,150 people working in this occupation across the Knoxville, TN metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Knox County, TN has roughly 494,148 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in the Knoxville, TN metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $25,230 a year ($12.13 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $43,110 or more ($20.73 an hour). That is a gap of $17,880 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $29,560 at the 25th percentile and $35,920 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.7 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: $15.00 an hour or $31,200 a year at the median for Knox County, TN. Before any deductions, that is $2,600 a month, $1,200 every two weeks and $600 each week. After taxes the same job pays $13.08 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners this way: "Keep buildings in clean and orderly condition. Perform heavy cleaning duties, such as cleaning floors, shampooing rugs, washing walls and glass, and removing rubbish. Duties may include tending furnace and boiler, performing routine maintenance activities, notifying management of need for repairs, and cleaning snow or debris from sidewalk."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Service, clean, or supply restrooms"; "Gather and empty trash"; "Clean building floors by sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, or vacuuming"; "Follow procedures for the use of chemical cleaners and power equipment to prevent damage to floors and fixtures".
Job outlook for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 2,432,600 jobs in 2025 to 2,486,200 in 2035, a change of +2.2%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 321,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.2% of current employment each year.
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 $36,840 for this occupation; the Knox County, TN median of $31,200 is 15.3% below it.
How pay in Knox County, TN compares
Compared with the Tennessee average
Pay in Knox County, TN runs $1,743 below the Tennessee average of $32,943, a gap of 5.3%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Tennessee would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Tennessee, the highest median we track for this job is $36,130 in Davidson County, TN.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners is $37,083 across the contiguous United States. At $31,200, Knox County, TN pays $5,883 less, which is 15.9% below 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 Knox County, TN
Among the 471 occupations with published wages in Knox County, TN, Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners ranks number 441 by median pay, ahead of about 6% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $104,590 a year, which is $73,390 more than the median for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners.
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 Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners earning the Knox County, TN median of $31,200, they add up to $4,002. The result is $27,198 of take-home pay a year ($2,266 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $13 goes to taxes and $87 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 12.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $15,450. 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 $1,616, an effective 5.2% 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 $1,934 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $452. FICA totals $2,387, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Tennessee
Tennessee does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Knox County, TN is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $1,560 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $130 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Knox County, TN
IRS Statistics of Income data for Knox County, TN show an average adjusted gross income of $110,675 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.5%, compared with the 5.2% 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 Knox County, TN
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Knox County, TN: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $27,198 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Knox County, TN, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,178 a month ($14,136 a year), and at $1,475 for two bedrooms. For Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners, a one-bedroom absorbs 52.0% of take-home pay and 45.3% 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 11.0% of gross pay for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Knox County, TN. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Tennessee residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,313 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $421, for $1,733 in total. Gasoline in Tennessee averages $3.08 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,426.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $20,731 a year in Knox County, TN. Subtract that from $27,198 of take-home pay and $6,467 remains, which is $539 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 20.7% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Knox County, TN
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Knox County, TN: 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 Knox County, TN, set beside the Tennessee and national medians.
Property taxes in Knox County, TN
Homeowners in Knox County, TN pay a median of $1,367 a year in real estate taxes, 5% below the Tennessee median of $1,442 and 56% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $320,900, the median tax bill is 0.43% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners median of $31,200, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.4% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Knox County, TN
Renters in Knox County, TN pay a median gross rent of $1,261 a month in the Census survey, 6% above the Tennessee median of $1,189. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,178 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 $320,900, 12% above the Tennessee median of $286,700. Median household income is $74,222, 7% above the Tennessee median of $69,595, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 19.0% of that income.
Commuting in Knox County, TN
Workers in Knox County, TN who travel to a workplace spend an average of 22.2 minutes each way, 14% below the Tennessee average of 25.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 14.4% of workers in Knox County, TN work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners afford to live in Knox County, TN?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $31,200 that ceiling is $780 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,178 is $398 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $22.65 an hour; the median for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners is $15.00, which is 34% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $13.08 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 20.8 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,475 a month means $738 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,286 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $11,753.
How fast you can save
At $539 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 19 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 38 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners pay in Knox County, TN
How much do Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners make per hour in Knox County, TN?
The median is $15.00 per hour, based on $31,200 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $12.13 at the 10th percentile to $20.73 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners take home after taxes in Knox County, TN?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $31,200 becomes $27,198 a year. That is $2,266 a month, $1,046 every two weeks or $523 a week.
How much tax do Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners pay in Knox County, TN?
Total taxes are $4,002 a year, an effective rate of 12.8%: $1,616 federal income tax, $2,387 FICA and no Tennessee income tax.
Do Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners earn more in Knox County, TN than elsewhere in Tennessee?
No. The local median of $31,200 is -5.3% versus the Tennessee average of $32,943, a difference of $1,743 a year.
Can Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners afford a one-bedroom apartment in Knox County, TN?
A one-bedroom costs $1,178 a month against take-home pay of $2,266, which is 52.0% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $780 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Knox County, TN?
About $539 a month ($6,467 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $20,731 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Knox County, TN at the 30% guideline?
$22.65 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,136 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners is $15.00.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Knoxville, TN 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 Tennessee 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.