NY · BLS OEWS May 2024 OEWS

Janitorial wages — New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA metropolitan area

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 OEWS  |  SOC codes: 37-2011 (Janitors) and 37-1011 (Supervisors)  |  Last reviewed: June 2, 2026

The New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan statistical area is the single largest janitorial employment market in the United States, with more than 181,600 workers in SOC 37-2011 and a mean hourly wage that significantly outpaces the national average. The New York market spans three states (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania), each with distinct minimum wage laws and employer obligations; it contains some of the most rigorously organized commercial cleaning workforces in the world under SEIU 32BJ; and it encompasses dramatic wage variation between Manhattan's Class A towers and the outer boroughs, suburban New Jersey, and the Lehigh Valley fringe. For building service contractors bidding work here, understanding the full compliance landscape is as important as understanding the wage floor.

BLS Wage Benchmarks for the Tri-State MSA

The BLS OEWS May 2023 data for New York-Newark-Jersey City shows 181,600 employed janitors and cleaners with a mean hourly wage of $21.29 and annual mean of $44,290—the highest mean of any major metropolitan area in the eastern United States outside of the Boston–New England cluster. Percentile estimates position the 10th percentile around $14.00/hr, the 25th at roughly $16.00/hr, the median near $20.00/hr, the 75th at approximately $25.00/hr, and the 90th around $30.00/hr for unionized Manhattan commercial property workers. The location quotient of 1.34 confirms janitorial work is significantly more concentrated in the New York metro than the national average.

SEIU 32BJ: The Largest Building Service Union in America

SEIU 32BJ represents over 100,000 building service workers in New York City alone, making it the largest local union in the United States. The union's master commercial agreements with the Realty Advisory Board (RAB) cover commercial office buildings throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and portions of New Jersey. The 2024 RAB Contractors Agreement (effective January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2027) mandates wage increases of $0.50/hr in 2024, $1.00/hr in 2025, $1.075/hr in 2026, and $1.15/hr in 2027 above 2023 base rates. For Class A office cleaners in Manhattan who were earning approximately $25–$27/hr entering 2024, these step increases push wages to the $28–$31/hr range by 2027. A cost-of-living trigger applies if CPI for the NYC metro area exceeds 6.5% year-over-year, adding up to $0.20/hr in additional escalation.

In December 2023, the union reached a tentative agreement that averted a threatened strike affecting thousands of commercial cleaners, demonstrating the union's continued leverage in the post-pandemic office market.

NYC Commercial Cleaning License: DCWP Requirements

Unlike most cities, New York City requires commercial cleaning businesses to register with the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) for certain commercial cleaning operations. Contractors operating in New York City face additional oversight from the NYC Office of Labor Policy and Standards, which enforces prevailing wage requirements under Local Law 196 and subsequent amendments for publicly financed buildings. Local Law 97 (climate law) also drives demand for green cleaning protocols in large commercial properties subject to carbon emission targets.

Manhattan vs. Outer Boroughs vs. Newark: Wage Geography

The New York-Newark MSA is three distinct wage tiers operating simultaneously:

• Manhattan (Class A commercial core): Near-universal union coverage for Class A office buildings above 100,000 sq ft. Cleaning rates of $24–$30/hr are standard for full-time workers, and prevailing wage mandates apply to publicly assisted developments.
• Outer boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island): Mixed union and non-union market. Large warehouse, logistics, and healthcare facilities often operate under 32BJ contracts; smaller commercial buildings frequently employ non-union workers at $15–$18/hr, close to New York's $16.50/hr minimum wage for large employers (2024).
• Newark and northern New Jersey: New Jersey's minimum wage reached $15.49/hr for large employers in 2024. Newark's commercial office market is substantially non-union for smaller properties, with wages typically clustering in the $16–$20/hr range. Industrial facility cleaning—warehousing along the Port of Newark—often pays $15–$17/hr with limited benefits.

The wage arbitrage between Manhattan and Newark is significant: a commercial cleaning company can save $6–$10/hr per worker by locating its operational base in New Jersey while still bidding Manhattan-adjacent work, which creates pricing pressure at the geographic margin.

Multi-State Compliance: NY, NJ, and PA Obligations

Operating a building service company across the tri-state MSA requires compliance with three distinct state labor frameworks. New York mandates wage notices, pay frequency requirements under the Wage Theft Prevention Act, and a $16.50/hr minimum wage in NYC and Long Island. New Jersey requires earned sick time under the NJ Earned Sick Leave Law (one hour per 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours/year), and the New Jersey Department of Labor enforces a robust wage theft statute. Pennsylvania's minimum wage remains at $7.25/hr (the federal floor), and the northeastern Pennsylvania fringe of the MSA operates effectively as a low-wage labor supply region feeding into New Jersey-based cleaning operations.

NYC Living Wage and the Affordability Gap

The MIT Living Wage Calculator for the New York-Newark-Jersey City MSA places the living wage for a single adult at $31.50/hr. At the BLS median of approximately $20.00/hr, a typical non-union janitor earns roughly 63% of the living wage—a gap that explains high workforce turnover, reliance on multiple jobs, and geographic concentration of cleaning workers in the outer boroughs and New Jersey. HUD FY 2024 Fair Market Rents for the New York metro set two-bedroom rents at over $2,300/month in many submarkets. A full-time janitor earning $20/hr nets approximately $3,467/month before taxes, leaving minimal room after housing costs. Union cleaners at $25–$28/hr fare better but still face one of the most expensive housing markets in North America.

Industry Mix: Financial Services, Real Estate, and Healthcare

New York City's commercial cleaning demand is dominated by three sectors: financial services (investment banks, hedge funds, law firms in Midtown and the Financial District requiring around-the-clock high-standard maintenance), Class A office real estate (CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, JLL-managed properties requiring 32BJ-compliant operations), and healthcare (NYU Langone, NewYork-Presbyterian, Mount Sinai Health System—all operating large biohazard and infection-control cleaning programs). The convention and hospitality sector adds a fourth driver: the Javits Center, Madison Square Garden, and major hotel properties generate significant event cleaning employment, typically covered under separate 32BJ agreements with higher shift premiums for overnight and weekend work.

Top Employers in the New York Janitorial Market

• ABM Industries — major contractor for commercial office and transit properties, including significant MTA and Port Authority facilities work.
• Aramark — healthcare and educational institution focus, including major hospital system contracts.
• Allied Universal — integrated facility services including cleaning for commercial and government properties.
• Pritchard Industries — Manhattan-based BSC with deep 32BJ history, significant Class A office portfolio.
• ISS Facility Services — European-owned BSC with substantial Class A and tech-campus contracts in the metro.

NYC School Cleaners: 2024 Contract Victory

In June 2024, SEIU 32BJ secured a wage victory for approximately 5,000 NYC public school cleaners and handypersons, delivering meaningful pay increases for one of the largest groups of public-sector building service workers in the country. The victory underscores the union's continued organizing momentum even in the post-pandemic environment where some commercial office properties have reduced staffing intensity as hybrid work reduces daily headcounts.

Wage Enforcement in the Tri-State Market

New York State's Department of Labor has broad wage theft enforcement authority under the Wage Theft Prevention Act, including mandatory notice requirements and enhanced damages. In 2023 and 2024, the NYS DOL pursued multiple enforcement actions against janitorial contractors operating through subcontracting chains designed to insulate the primary contractor from liability. New Jersey's Department of Labor similarly pursued actions under the NJ Wage Theft Act, which imposes treble damages on willful underpayment and includes a six-year statute of limitations—double the federal FLSA standard. The density of subcontracting in the New York commercial cleaning market creates layered compliance risk that has drawn sustained attention from both state labor agencies and plaintiffs' attorneys.

Primary sources

Data vintage: BLS OEWS May 2024 OEWS. Page last reviewed: June 2, 2026. Primary source: BLS OEWS Metropolitan Area Data. Spot an error? Contact us.