Home / Guides / Tipping your house cleaner
How much to tip a house cleaner (Peoria, IL guide)
Short answer: Tipping a house cleaner is optional. If you want to, good moments for one are the holidays and after a big one-time job. For the holidays, the Emily Post Institute suggests up to one week's pay and/or a small gift for a housekeeper or cleaner[1]; with a cleaning service, the closest equivalent is up to the price of one regular visit ($165 for a 3-bedroom home every two weeks with Wrenly Home). For a deep or move-out clean, 10% works out to $26.90 on a $269 deep clean or $36.90 on a $369 move-out clean. Hand it to the cleaner directly; at Wrenly Home all of it is theirs.
Updated 2026-10-22. Example prices come straight from our live price list; tax and tipping figures were read from the sources below on 2026-10-22. Disclosure: Wrenly Home is a Peoria-area cleaning service, and our own policies are labelled. This is general information, not tax advice.
Do you have to tip a house cleaner?
No. A tip is voluntary: the IRS defines qualified tips as voluntary cash or charged tips received from customers[3]. Whether you tip usually depends on how the cleaner is paid. An independent cleaner who sets their own rate already priced in their time; a company or service like ours sets a flat price per visit, and that price is the full price. Wrenly Home's policy: tipping is never expected, our prices don't assume a tip, and a missed spot is fixed through our 48-hour re-clean guarantee, not by tipping more.
Reasons people do tip: a holiday thank-you for a cleaner who comes regularly, an especially heavy job (after a party, a renovation, a move), or a visit where the cleaner went beyond the checklist.
What a tip works out to on real Peoria prices
There's no official percentage for house cleaners. The table below is just arithmetic on Wrenly Home's current prices, so you can see what a given percentage means in dollars.
| Clean | Price | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every-2-weeks visit, 2 bed | $139 | $6.95 | $13.90 | $20.85 | $27.80 |
| Every-2-weeks visit, 3 bed | $165 | $8.25 | $16.50 | $24.75 | $33 |
| Weekly visit, 3 bed | $149 | $7.45 | $14.90 | $22.35 | $29.80 |
| Deep clean, 3 bed | $269 | $13.45 | $26.90 | $40.35 | $53.80 |
| Move-out clean, 2 bed | $289 | $14.45 | $28.90 | $43.35 | $57.80 |
| Move-out clean, 3 bed | $369 | $18.45 | $36.90 | $55.35 | $73.80 |
On a regular plan, one option is to skip per-visit tips and give one holiday tip instead. For a one-time deep clean or move-out clean, a somewhat larger tip than for a routine visit is reasonable if you tip at all, because the job is longer.
Holiday tips for a house cleaner
The Emily Post Institute's holiday tipping guide lists the housekeeper or cleaner as: cash and/or a gift, up to the amount of one week's pay and/or a small gift. The guide also says not to go beyond your budget and that a short handwritten note is always a good idea[1].
"One week's pay" fits a cleaner you employ directly. If you use a cleaning service, you don't pay the cleaner a wage, so a practical reading is up to the price of one regular visit: for example $139 for a 2-bedroom or $165 for a 3-bedroom home on a Wrenly every-two-weeks plan, or less. A small gift or a note on its own is also fine.
For context on local pay: the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for maids and housekeeping cleaners in the Peoria metro area at $16.86 an hour (U.S. median $17.07), with about 940 people employed in that occupation locally[5].
How to give a tip
- Directly to the cleaner. Cash in an envelope with their name on it works if you won't be home; leave it somewhere obvious and mention it in your booking notes.
- Not through Wrenly's checkout. Our online checkout charges the visit price only and doesn't take tips, so nothing is deducted and nothing passes through us.
- A note counts. A two- or three-sentence thank-you is a common addition to a holiday tip[1], and a fine thank-you on its own.
Illinois law says gratuities to employees are the property of the employees and employers may not keep them[4]. The cleaners who work Wrenly jobs are independent local pros and small companies we subcontract with, not our employees, but our rule is the same: any tip you give is 100% theirs.
How common are tips for house cleaners?
Less common than in restaurants, according to the Treasury's own data. In the tax-year-2023 figures published with the April 2026 tipped-occupation rules, among W-2 employees in the occupation code related to house cleaning (SOC 37-2012, maids and housekeeping cleaners, which also includes hotel housekeepers)[2]:
| Occupation (related SOC code) | Share with $100+ of reported tips | Reported tips as % of wage compensation (those with tips) |
|---|---|---|
| Maids and housekeeping cleaners (37-2012) | 2.7% | 10.6% |
| Wait staff (35-3031), for comparison | 74.5% | 63.5% |
Limits: the figures cover employees only (not self-employed cleaners, who are common in house cleaning), only tips that were reported on a W-2 or Form 4137, and the whole SOC code, which is wider than house cleaning. Treat them as a rough signal, not a norm.
Tips and taxes: "no tax on tips" for house cleaners
Tips are taxable income for the person who receives them. Under the 2025 federal tax law, employees and self-employed individuals may deduct qualified tips for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024 and before January 1, 2029[2]:
- Up to $25,000 a year; it phases out above $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income ($300,000 for joint filers), married people must file jointly, and a valid Social Security number is required[3].
- For the self-employed, the deduction can't exceed net income from the business where the tips were earned[3].
- The occupation must be on the Treasury list. Home Cleaning Service Workers (TTOC 407) is on it: "perform any combination of light cleaning duties to maintain private households", with house cleaner listed as an example[2].
For you as the customer, nothing changes: you don't report a tip you give. If you employ a cleaner directly as a household employee, see our guide to hiring a house cleaner for the employer rules.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have to tip a house cleaner?
No. A tip is a voluntary thank-you, not part of the price. The IRS itself defines qualified tips as voluntary payments from customers. At Wrenly Home our listed prices are the full price, and nothing on the bill assumes a tip.
How much should I tip my house cleaner?
There's no fixed rule. If you want to tip, pick an amount you're comfortable with and keep it consistent; as a reference, 10% of a $165 every-two-weeks visit (3-bed home) is $16.50 and 20% is $33. Another option on a regular plan is to skip per-visit tips and give one holiday tip instead.
How much should I tip a house cleaner at Christmas or the holidays?
The Emily Post Institute's holiday tipping guide suggests cash and/or a gift for a housekeeper or cleaner, up to the amount of one week's pay and/or a small gift, and says a handwritten note is always a good addition. With a cleaning service, where you don't pay the cleaner a wage directly, a reasonable equivalent is up to the price of one regular visit, or less if that doesn't fit your budget.
How much to tip house cleaners for a deep clean?
A deep clean is a longer, one-time job, so if you tip, a bit more than for a regular visit is reasonable. As arithmetic only: 10% of a $269 deep clean (3-bed home) is $26.90, 15% is $40.35. It's still optional.
How much to tip house cleaners for a move-out cleaning?
Same idea as a deep clean: optional, and if you tip, a little more than a regular visit is reasonable because it's the longest clean (inside the fridge, oven, cabinets and drawers). 10% of a $289 2-bed move-out clean is $28.90; 10% of a $369 3-bed move-out is $36.90.
How do I give the tip, and does Wrenly keep any of it?
Hand it to your cleaner directly (cash in an envelope with their name works well if you're not home). Our online checkout doesn't take tips, so there's no fee and nothing passes through us: all of it is theirs. Illinois law (820 ILCS 115/4.1) says gratuities to employees are the employees' property; our cleaners are independent pros we subcontract with rather than employees, but our policy is the same.
Do house cleaners pay tax on tips? What is "no tax on tips"?
Tips are income to the cleaner. Under the 2025 federal law, employees and self-employed people in occupations on the Treasury's list can deduct qualified tips for tax years 2025 through 2028, up to $25,000 a year, phasing out above $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income ($300,000 joint). "Home Cleaning Service Workers" (Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 407, which includes house cleaners) is on the final list published April 13, 2026. This is general information, not tax advice.
How common is it for house cleaners to get tips?
Federal data suggest it's less common than in restaurants. In the Treasury's tax-year-2023 data for W-2 employees in the related occupation code (SOC 37-2012, maids and housekeeping cleaners, which also covers hotel housekeepers), 2.7% had at least $100 of reported tips, and for those who did, reported tips were 10.6% of their wage compensation. The data cover employees only, not self-employed cleaners, and only tips that were reported.
Sources
- Emily Post Institute, Holiday Tipping Guide (row "Housekeeper/Cleaner"). https://emilypost.com/advice/holiday-tipping-guide. Accessed 2026-10-22.
- U.S. Treasury / IRS, final regulations "Occupations That Customarily and Regularly Received Tips; Definition of Qualified Tips", 91 FR 19026 (April 13, 2026), TTOC 407 and Table A (tax year 2023). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/13/2026-07104/occupations-that-customarily-and-regularly-received-tips-definition-of-qualified-tips. Accessed 2026-10-22.
- IRS, What the "No Tax on Tips" deduction means for you (March 5, 2026; last reviewed 21-Sep-2026). https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/what-the-no-tax-on-tips-deduction-means-for-you. Accessed 2026-10-22.
- Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, 820 ILCS 115/4.1 (Gratuities). https://www.ilga.gov/Documents/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001150K4.1.htm. Accessed 2026-10-22.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, SOC 37-2012 Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_37900.htm. Accessed 2026-10-22.
If anything here is out of date, email landonking0809@gmail.com and we'll correct it.