South Florida's housekeeping business sees boost in wages as demand grows

It’s a lot of work to keep a house clean.

And in the last few years the industry of housekeeping and cleaning services has changed drastically. What was once considered a lower-paying job is now a profession where one can make well over the minimum wage.

And the pay isn’t the only thing that’s changed.

Yennifer Meneses has been working for MaidPro Miami for three months but has been a professional cleaner for a few years. In Spanish, she explained how the industry has made a major shift.

"I’ve been in Florida 3 years, and when I started it was around $14. With MaidPro, I make about $16.50 an hour, but something that’s important is that they give me compensation for all of my gas," Meneses said. "You have to remember we are driving from house to house, and they give us that additional money for the time spent driving.”

At a minimum, if Yennifer works 40 hours a week, in a year she’ll make more than $34,000, which doesn't include tips or the compensation she gets for gas.

To some it may not seem like a lot. But for those in the industry, it’s a big change from what cleaning professionals used to make.

“Seven years ago, someone in this job would be making $6 to $7 an hour and that was a lot. The idea of tipping wasn’t as commonly used," Meneses explained. "But today, we are getting paid more than double, and with additional benefits like the flexible schedule and time for our families.”

A law passed in 2020 increased Florida’s minimum wage to gradually increase to $15 an hour by next September. That same year, a pandemic unfolded and demand for clean homes skyrocketed while labor was at a shortage. These could be the reason for the rise in pay in the cleaning industry.

“It was really hard for us to attract top quality people and keep providing services for our current customers and new customers that were calling us for services,” shared Carlos Ponce, who co-owns MaidPro Miami with his wife Andrea.

The couple started cleaning homes 7 years ago with just 3 cleaners and roughly 20 recurring customers. Today, they have roughly 200 recurring homes and have found a way to retain employees.

“The biggest change and biggest expense has been our compensation, it has to be attractive enough that people want to come to work,” shared Carlos.

In 2023 alone, there were more than 18,000 housekeepers in South Florida making an hourly mean wage of $15.58 an hour, according to the US Department of Labor and Statistics.

According to ZipRecruiter, as of April 15 of 2025, hourly pay of cleaning services is about $12 an hour.

But there are other reports, like one conducted by NBC News last year, that shares extremes. In areas like Palm Beach the ‘typical pay for housekeepers has rocketed from about $25 an hour in 2020 to $45 or $50 an hour today, according to some agencies’.

For the co-owners of MaidPro Miami, the industry of cleaning services hasn’t just changed in pay but in cost. Supplies and products have risen with inflation and now tariffs are on the horizon.

“We are trying to forecast and make a big purchase now to be prepared for what’s to come with all the tariffs,” explained Andrea. “We try our best to purchase locally but some of our items, our microfiber towels, some of our vacuum cleaners that we use are imported. So, we are now a little bit worried on how that will impact our cost.”

It's partially why customers might believe their costs for clean have spiked.

“Some of our customers call us and they get a quote for an apartment such as this and we tell them ‘Oh it’s $200 to be able to clean an apartment like this for example’. And they say ‘Oh, I used to pay my cleaning lady $100, and she was here all day and she did everything’, but those days are gone," said Carlos. "But I think even an independent cleaner that cleans on their own with no insurance and just their own cleaning supplies, is not going to clean that same home for the same $100 because of the cost of mobilizing, the cost of getting there, the cost of parking.”

For Meneses, the higher pay and benefits, she believes have allowed her to live comfortably in an expensive city and have time for her son. She believes the demand for her work will only continue.

“I think it’s going to grow. There’s going to continue being businesses of cleaning services because today people in this country they don’t have time. They don’t have time to give to their home and instead need to give their time to their family. So, this industry, this job is one that has growth,” Meneses said.