What Move-In Cleaning Costs in 2026, by Home Size

A professional move-in cleaning in 2026 typically costs $400 to $735 for an average home, with a median of $552. Those figures come from 614 move-in and move-out cleans we completed between January and October 2026, and they are what customers actually paid, add-ons included.

A studio can come in under $300, and a large house with several add-ons can pass $1,000. The rest of this guide explains where your home is likely to land, which extras push the total up, and how to get a price that holds on moving day.

The short answer: our 2026 numbers

We track every completed job. Because move-in and move-out cleans use the same checklist and the same line items, our records group them together. Across those 614 jobs, the median total was $552. A quarter of jobs came in under $397 and a quarter came in above $735, which makes $397 to $735 a fair picture of the typical range.

Two caveats matter. First, these are whole-job totals, so they include anything the customer added, from inside-appliance cleaning to carpets. Second, they reflect a real mix of conditions, from barely used apartments to homes that had not been cleaned in a long time. The base price on our prices page is where a straightforward job starts; the medians below show where real jobs end up.

Move-in cleaning cost by home size

Bedrooms are the clearest predictor of price, because more rooms mean more floors, closets, baseboards and windows. Here is how our 2026 jobs broke down.

Home size	Published starting range	Median paid	Low to high paid	Jobs
Studio	$180 to $250	$267	$170 to $761	16
1 bedroom	$200 to $300	$340	$150 to $1,300	89
2 bedrooms	$240 to $360	$460	$245 to $1,152	103
3 bedrooms	$300 to $450	$594	$239 to $5,345	210
4 bedrooms	$380 to $580	$689	$372 to $1,435	126
5+ bedrooms	$480 to $720	$1,006	$504 to $1,610	44

The published range is the base clean only. The median sits above it because most customers add at least one extra. The very high figures, such as the $5,345 three-bedroom job, are rare outliers that combined heavy condition with a long list of add-ons; they are not what a normal move-in costs. If your home is in average condition and you add one or two extras, the median for your size is the most useful number to plan around.

What the base price covers

A move-in clean is built for an empty home, so the cleaner can reach everything a furnished clean skips. Our standard scope includes:

• Kitchen: cabinets and drawers inside and out, counters, backsplash, sink, stovetop and range hood, microwave inside and out, and appliance fronts.
• Bathrooms: toilet, tub, shower and sink disinfected, hard-water scale removed, grout scrubbed, vanity and medicine cabinet cleaned inside.
• Bedrooms and closets: closet shelves and rails, baseboards, doors and frames, switches, sills and window tracks.
• Living areas: light fixtures and fans dusted, vents and returns dusted, stairs and railings, and every floor vacuumed and mopped edge to edge.

What is not in the base price: the inside of the oven, refrigerator and dishwasher, carpet shampooing, full wall washing, exterior windows, and garages or basements. Those are priced as add-ons, which is why two homes with the same bedroom count can end up with very different totals.

The add-ons that move the total

Our job records show exactly what customers chose to add. Across the 614 move-in and move-out cleans, these were the most common extras:

Add-on	Jobs that included it	Share of jobs	Typical price
Appliances cleaned inside and out	402	65%	From $40 per appliance
Walls and ceilings dusted and wiped	310	50%	Quoted
Deep carpet cleaning (rooms)	189	31%	From $45 per room
Laundry room cleaning	155	25%	Quoted
Pet hair removal	91	15%	Quoted
Garage cleaning	91	15%	Quoted
Exterior windows	85	14%	Quoted

Inside-appliance cleaning is the big one. Two out of three customers added it, which makes sense: a previous occupant's oven grease and refrigerator spills are the first thing most people notice in a new kitchen. If you only add one extra, make it the refrigerator, since that is where your food goes on day one. Standalone appliance cleaning is also available if you want it done separately.

Carpet cleaning was added to almost a third of jobs. Rooms are never emptier than they are before you move in, so it is the cheapest moment to have carpets extracted. Our carpet cleaning runs $45 to $70 for a typical room and $70 to $120 for a living room.

What else drives the price

Beyond size and add-ons, four things decide whether your total lands near the low end or the high end.

1. Bathrooms. Bathrooms are the most labor-intensive rooms. A two-bedroom with two full baths takes noticeably longer than one with a single bath.
2. Condition. Heavy grease, thick soap scum, hard-water scale, nicotine film or pet hair all add time. A home the previous occupant left in good shape costs less to clean than one that was left as is.
3. Whether the home is truly empty. Furniture, boxes or a crew working in the next room slow the clean down. Booking before your belongings arrive is faster and cheaper.
4. Timing. Move dates cluster at the end and start of the month and in summer. Booking a week or two ahead gives you the widest choice of slots; same-day work depends on availability.

Square footage matters too. A three-bedroom at 1,400 square feet and one at 2,600 square feet are not the same job, so give the size if you know it.

Is move-in cheaper than move-out?

Slightly, on paper. Our published move-in prices start at $180 and move-out at $190, because a move-out clean is built around a landlord's inspection checklist. In practice the two land in the same place once add-ons are counted, which is why our records treat them as one category. If you are leaving one home and moving into another the same week, booking both together is usually the easiest way to coordinate; our move-in vs move-out guide explains how the checklists differ.

How to get an exact quote

A vague request gets a vague price. These five steps get you a number that holds on the day.

1. Count rooms accurately: bedrooms, full and half bathrooms, and any extra spaces such as a dining room, laundry room, basement or garage.
2. Take photos of the kitchen, the inside of the oven and refrigerator, each bathroom and any problem areas. Photos remove most of the guesswork about condition.
3. Decide on add-ons now. Appliances, carpets, walls and windows are easy to price in advance and harder to add on the day.
4. Confirm access and timing: keys or a lockbox, parking, elevator rules and whether utilities are on. A cleaner cannot do much without water and power.
5. Ask what happens if something is missed. We offer a 36-hour re-clean promise, so if something on the checklist is not right, we come back.

You can request a free quote with photos, and your price is confirmed before you book.

Ways to keep the cost down

• Book before the movers arrive, so the clean is faster and nothing needs moving.
• Choose add-ons deliberately. The refrigerator and oven matter more than exterior windows if the budget is tight.
• Ask the seller or landlord whether a clean is already scheduled, and what it covers, so you do not pay twice for the same rooms.
• Book online: we take 10% off when you book through the site.

When to hand it to a pro

A move-in clean done yourself means a full day of scrubbing in a home you have not lived in yet, usually in the same week as packing, utility setup and the move itself. For a small, lightly used apartment, a careful afternoon with your own supplies can be enough. For anything larger, or a home where the kitchen and bathrooms clearly need work, a professional move-in cleaning is often worth it.

At Hello Cleaners, the median job for a home your size is a realistic budget, and you can book online once your price is confirmed. Call (307) 263-5458 if you would rather talk it through.