Will AI replace Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
3/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 8% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 6% of the work
What the job involves
Keep buildings in clean and orderly condition. Perform heavy cleaning duties, such as cleaning floors, shampooing rugs, washing walls and glass, and removing rubbish. Duties may include tending furnace and boiler, performing routine maintenance activities, notifying management of need for repairs, and cleaning snow or debris from sidewalk.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(1)
- Requisition supplies or equipment needed for cleaning and maintenance duties.
Out of reach(20)
- Notify managers concerning the need for major repairs or additions to building operating systems.
- Gather and empty trash.
- Service, clean, or supply restrooms.
- Clean building floors by sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, or vacuuming.
- Follow procedures for the use of chemical cleaners and power equipment to prevent damage to floors and fixtures.
and 15 more
Also called
Janitor · Cleaner · Custodian · Commercial Cleaner · Building Custodian · School Custodian · Floor Waxer · Home Restoration Service Cleaner
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics