What should I budget per square foot for a Class B office in Chicago?

Budget $0.13 to $0.24 per square foot per month, with $0.18 as the midpoint most Chicago buildings settle on. That midpoint sits roughly 6% above the national mid of $0.17, which tracks with a local cost index of 1.18x. Anything under the $0.13 floor is usually thinner staffing rather than a smarter vendor.

Why does this market price above the national average?

Two forces do most of the work: wages and organized labor. The BLS median janitor wage in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin MSA is $18.2 per hour, and union density is high, so wage floors and benefit loads get baked into every bid you receive. The 1.18x cost index is essentially that labor premium expressed per square foot.

How many square feet should one cleaner cover per hour here?

Plan around the ISSA benchmark of 4,000 square feet per hour for Class B office space. Use it before you look at price at all: divide total cleanable area by 4,000 to get nightly labor hours, then price those hours near the $18.2 median wage to see whether a Chicago bid is honestly staffed.

Is an $0.11 per square foot bid worth taking seriously?

It lands below the $0.13 floor of the local range, so treat it as a staffing question rather than a bargain. With an $18.2 median wage and high union density in this market, someone has to absorb that gap — normally through fewer hours on site or coverage that quietly drifts past 4,000 square feet per hour.

What does it take to reach the top of the local range?

The $0.24 ceiling is where higher frequency and heavier scope live, not a different tier of vendor. Moving from the $0.18 midpoint toward that number generally means buying more labor hours, and in a market carrying a 1.18x cost index and high union density, every additional hour prices at a premium.

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Janitorial Pricing by Metro

Class B Office Cleaning Prices in Chicago (2025)

By Opora Editorial Team4 min readUpdated continuously · In Janitorial Pricing by Metro

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Class B in Chicago: The Segment Absorbing Most of the Metro's Vacancy Pain

Older Loop and near-North Class B office towers are where Chicago's vacancy crisis actually lives. While Class A vacancy downtown holds in the 16.5% to 22% range, Class B and C stock is pushing 29% to 35% vacant in parts of the CBD, and owners of that older product are cutting every discretionary line item to protect cash flow. Cleaning rates reflect it: Class B office cleaning in Chicago prices at $0.13 to $0.24 per square foot per month, roughly a dollar-for-dollar 40% discount versus the Class A band in the same submarkets.

Chicago Class B Office Cleaning Rate Benchmarks, 2025. Source: BLS OEWS May 2025; ISSA 447; Opora contractor survey.
Metric	Low	Mid	High
$/sq ft/month	$0.13	$0.185	$0.24
Annual cost — 35,000 sq ft (worked example)	$54,600	$77,700	$100,800
Annual cost — 90,000 sq ft	$140,400	$199,800	$259,200
ISSA 447 production rate, office/tenant space	3,500 sq ft/hr

Do Class B Buildings Pay the SEIU Rate Too?

Often, yes, and this is the single most common pricing mistake Opora sees in Chicago Class B bids. SEIU Local 1's BOMA agreement does not distinguish by building class; it covers roughly 85% of Cook County's commercial office stock regardless of whether the tower is trophy Class A or a 1980s Class B box, provided the ownership group signed on. That means a Class B building under the union contract still pays the $21.65/hr (2024-25) to $23.15/hr (2026-27) wage schedule, plus health trust and pension contributions, the same labor cost base as a Class A tower next door. What differs is the owner's ability to pass that cost through in rent. A Class B landlord competing on price against newer Class A space with more amenities has far less room to absorb rising union labor costs, which is why Class B service scope tends to get trimmed (less day porter coverage, longer intervals between hard-floor programs) rather than the wage itself being negotiated down.

Worked Bid: 35,000 Sq Ft Class B Tower, Reduced Scope

A 35,000 sq ft Class B floor plate needs roughly 10 crew-hours nightly at ISSA's 3,500 sq ft/hr standard. If the building is under the SEIU contract at the current $22.40/hr step (2025-26 contract year), raw nightly wage runs about $224. Add union benefit contributions and burden clears 40%+ above base wage, all-in near $31-32/hr, nearly identical to a Class A building's labor cost, since the union rate does not discriminate by class. The difference shows up in the scope: this Class B account likely runs nightly-only with no day porter, versus a Class A tower carrying full day-porter coverage at a similar per-square-foot rate once you back out the labor component.

Non-Union Class B: A Different Economics Entirely

Suburban Cook County Class B buildings and some smaller downtown properties that never organized under SEIU Local 1 pay closer to the raw BLS OEWS metro median of $18.49/hr (SOC 37-2011), with burden closer to 32-38% given no pension/health trust contribution. That gap (union $22-23/hr vs. non-union $18/hr base wage) is the primary reason Chicago Class B rates show wider variance than almost any other city in this guide: two buildings with identical square footage and identical scope can differ by $0.06-0.08/sq ft/month purely on union status.

Union Class B, nightly only: $0.15–$0.20/sq ft/month
Non-union Class B, nightly only: $0.11–$0.15/sq ft/month
Union Class B + day porter: $0.19–$0.24/sq ft/month
Non-union Class B + day porter: $0.15–$0.19/sq ft/month

Compliance Considerations Unique to Older Buildings

Class B towers built before modern floor systems often carry more VCT and terrazzo than Class A carpet-and-LVT combinations, which changes the periodic care math, VCT strip-and-wax cycles run more frequently to maintain appearance standards tenants still expect even in older buildings. Contractors should also confirm whether the property is pursuing any Cook County tax-incentive program tied to green building performance, since that can trigger the same Green Seal/EPA Safer Choice chemical requirements seen in Class A LEED buildings. Vendors registering to serve Chicago Class B stock should check the cleaning business license requirements page; for Illinois sales tax treatment, see the IL sales tax guide.

Class B pricing is where the city wage floor bites hardest, because these buildings rarely carry a union contract to anchor the labor line. The Chicago Office of Labor Standards set the citywide minimum at $17.05 per hour for employers with four or more employees effective July 1, 2026, up from $16.60, and that increase lands on every hour of a Class B route inside city limits. Meanwhile CBRE's Q2 2026 downtown figures show 26.8 percent direct vacancy, so landlords are absorbing the wage step against soft rent rolls. That is the squeeze behind every Class B renewal conversation this year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Chicago Class B buildings pay less per hour than Class A buildings?

Not if both are under the SEIU Local 1 BOMA contract, which applies the same wage schedule regardless of building class. The per-square-foot rate differs mainly because Class B owners trim scope (fewer day porter hours, less frequent floor care) rather than negotiating a lower hourly wage.

How do I know if a Chicago Class B building is under a union contract?

Ask the property manager or ownership group directly, or check whether the building sits in the roughly 85% of Cook County commercial stock SEIU Local 1 reports as covered. Non-union buildings tend to be smaller, suburban, or independently owned rather than institutionally managed.

How much does a 35,000 sq ft Chicago Class B office cost to clean per year?

A 35,000 sq ft Chicago Class B building priced at $0.185/sq ft/month costs about $77,700 a year, and that figure covers nightly cleaning only, since day porter coverage is not typically part of the Class B base scope.

This guide is part of Janitorial Pricing by Metro in the Operator Blueprint.

How we built this guide

Opora editorial sources from BLS OEWS wage tables, ISSA-447 production rates, NCCI workers' compensation classifications, EPA List N, OSHA 29 CFR standards, and primary state regulatory filings. We don't recycle blog posts — we audit primary documents.

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