Carpet Cleaning profit margin benchmarks
The IRS reports what one-owner businesses filing Schedule C earn, by sector. Carpet Cleaning falls under Administrative and support services. For tax year 2023, 3,118,914 returns reported $114.4 billion in receipts, $17.9 billion in cost of sales and $24.2 billion in net income less deficit (the table gives thousands of dollars):
| Benchmark | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross margin | 84.3% |
| Net margin, owner pay included | 21.2% |
| Average receipts per return | $36,687 |
| Average net income per return | $7,769 |
The owner's own draw is not an expense on a Schedule C, so that net margin is mostly the owner's wage, not profit on top of it.
Where the money goes in carpet cleaning
Carpet cleaning is labor, chemicals and the truckmount or portable machine's fuel and wear.
Where carpet cleaning margin leaks, and how to win it back
- No job minimum
- Furniture moving free
- Heavy soil priced like light
- Drive time
- Equipment repairs
Ways carpet cleaners raise margin: set a job minimum; charge for furniture moving; price heavy soil higher; sell protector and stairs.
Check your carpet cleaning prices against the costs
The typical national prices from our sourced calculators are a check on whether your prices leave room for margin:
| Service | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Hot water extraction | $0.27 | $0.18 to $0.36 a sq ft |
| Low moisture cleaning | $0.30 | $0.19 to $0.40 a sq ft |
| Stairs | $3.50 | $2.00 to $5.00 a step |
| Job minimum | $92 | $75 to $109 a job |
| Pet odor treatment | $0.18 | $0.10 to $0.30 a sq ft |
| Carpet protector | $7.50 | $5.00 to $10.00 a room |
Work out the margin on each line of your menu, not just the big jobs. The usual carpet cleaning menu: hot water extraction; low moisture cleaning; stairs; job minimum; pet odor treatment; carpet protector; furniture moving; upholstery cleaning; tile and grout cleaning; area rugs.
Overhead comes out of the margin before profit. In carpet cleaning it includes general liability insurance, which Insureon's customers who are carpet and upholstery cleaners pay an average of $73 a month for; commercial auto at $214 a month on the same figures.
Work out your own margin
Put one recent carpet cleaning job into the calculator above, or switch it to "My margin for the year" to set your year next to the IRS benchmark. A 50% markup is a 33% margin; the markup calculator shows the rest.
Sources
- IRS Statistics of Income: Nonfarm sole proprietorships, Table 2, income statements by industrial sector, tax year 2023, checked October 9, 2026
- IRS: SOI tax stats, nonfarm sole proprietorship statistics, checked October 9, 2026
- Insureon: Insurance cost for carpet and upholstery cleaners, checked October 9, 2026
- Fixr, carpet cleaning cost, checked October 8, 2026
- Bob Vila, carpet cleaning cost, checked October 8, 2026
- CostHelper, carpet cleaning, checked October 8, 2026
- Thumbtack, carpet cleaning prices, checked October 8, 2026
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (state and national files), checked October 8, 2026
- US Census Bureau, 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Area to county relationship file, checked October 8, 2026
Last checked October 9, 2026. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and differ by state and city, so confirm with the agency named before you act.