What Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners earn in Clarke County, VA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $37,840: the median annual pay for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Clarke County, VA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $18.19 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $39,660, which is 4.8% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 59,090 people working in this occupation across the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Clarke County, VA has roughly 15,216 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $31,720 a year ($15.25 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $48,780 or more ($23.45 an hour). That is a gap of $17,060 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $35,540 at the 25th percentile and $42,530 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.5 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Clarke County, VA is $18.19. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $37,840, and the same salary is $3,153 a month before taxes or about $1,455 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $14.98 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 Clarke County, VA median of $37,840 is 2.7% above it.
How pay in Clarke County, VA compares
Compared with the Virginia average
Clarke County, VA pays above the state benchmark. The Virginia employment-weighted average for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners is $36,200; the local median of $37,840 beats it by $1,640, or 4.5%. Within Virginia, Clarke County, VA already has the highest median we track for this job.
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 $37,840, Clarke County, VA pays $757 more, which is 2.0% 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 Clarke County, VA
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Clarke County, VA, Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners ranks number 587 by median pay, ahead of about 5% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $195,190 a year, which is $157,350 more than the median for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $37,840 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $6,683 a year, which leaves $31,157, or $2,596 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $22,090. 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 $2,412, an effective 6.4% 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 $2,346 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $549. FICA totals $2,895, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Virginia
Virginia income tax on this salary is $1,376 a year, or 3.6% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 57% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $115 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 Clarke County, VA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Clarke County, VA show an average adjusted gross income of $114,890 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.7% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 6.0%, compared with the 6.4% 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 Clarke County, VA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Clarke County, VA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $31,157 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Clarke County, VA is $2,204 a month, or $26,448 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,438 a month. For Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners, a one-bedroom absorbs 84.9% of take-home pay and 69.9% 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 9.1% of gross pay for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Clarke County, VA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Virginia residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,523 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $597, for $2,119 in total. Gasoline in Virginia averages $3.09 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,429.
What is left over
The basics cost $33,432 a year in Clarke County, VA, but take-home pay for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners is $31,157. That is a shortfall of $2,275 a year, or $190 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 152 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $14.98, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Local housing and commute data for Clarke County, VA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Clarke County, VA: 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 Clarke County, VA, set beside the Virginia and national medians.
Property taxes in Clarke County, VA
Homeowners in Clarke County, VA pay a median of $2,657 a year in real estate taxes, 5% below the Virginia median of $2,790 and 15% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $550,100, the median tax bill is 0.48% 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 $37,840, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Clarke County, VA
Renters in Clarke County, VA pay a median gross rent of $1,371 a month in the Census survey, 13% below the Virginia median of $1,579. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,204 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 $550,100, 43% above the Virginia median of $383,700. Median household income is $117,111, 26% above the Virginia median of $93,170, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 22.6% of that income.
Commuting in Clarke County, VA
Workers in Clarke County, VA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 32.2 minutes each way, 18% above the Virginia average of 27.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.4 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 21.4% of workers in Clarke County, VA 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 Clarke County, VA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $37,840 that ceiling is $946 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,204 is $1,258 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $42.38 an hour; the median for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners is $18.19, which is 57% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.98 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 34.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,438 a month means $1,219 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $11,820 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $9,545, which turns the shortfall into a surplus.
How fast you can save
With no monthly margin after the four basics, saving requires a change on one side of the ledger: higher pay than the $37,840 median, lower housing costs than the $2,204 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners pay in Clarke County, VA
What is the hourly wage for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Clarke County, VA?
The median is $18.19 per hour, based on $37,840 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $15.25 at the 10th percentile to $23.45 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Clarke County, VA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $37,840 becomes $31,157 a year. That is $2,596 a month, $1,198 every two weeks or $599 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Clarke County, VA?
Total taxes are $6,683 a year, an effective rate of 17.7%: $2,412 federal income tax, $2,895 FICA and $1,376 Virginia income tax.
Is pay for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Clarke County, VA above the Virginia average?
Yes. The local median of $37,840 is +4.5% versus the Virginia average of $36,200, a difference of $1,640 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners salary in Clarke County, VA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,204 a month against take-home pay of $2,596, which is 84.9% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $946 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Clarke County, VA?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $33,432 a year, which is $2,275 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $190.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Clarke County, VA at the 30% guideline?
$42.38 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $26,448 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners is $18.19.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 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 Virginia 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.