Laundry service cost

What It Means

Laundry service cost is what a household pays a business to clean clothes and linens for them. Wash and fold services may charge by the pound or by the bag, dry cleaners by the item, and a service that picks up and delivers may add a fee for it. The people doing the work are counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as laundry and dry-cleaning workers, whose median wage was $16.78 an hour in May 2025.

How People Say It at Work

• "The laundry service picks up Monday and brings it back Wednesday."
• "They charge by the pound, so heavy towels cost more."
• "Can I drop the bag off before work?"

The Breakdown

The dated figure. The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median wage for laundry and dry-cleaning workers at $16.78 an hour in May 2025. That is what the workers earn, and a service's price is a separate figure, so use the wage for context.

Worked example. A household sends out an example 15 pounds a week at an example $2 a pound, with a $5 pickup and delivery fee:

What moves the price (Buhata's own list)

• Pricing by the pound, by the bag or by the item
• Pickup and delivery fees, and any minimum order
• How quickly you want it back
• Extras such as hang-drying, ironing or stain treatment
• Bulky items like comforters

Getting an accurate quote. Weigh one normal week's laundry on a bathroom scale before you compare services, since a price per pound means little until you know your own pounds.

Good to Know

A laundry business that does the work in its own shop, with its own equipment, sets its own methods and serves the public, so under the IRS's household employeeHousehold employeeA worker you hire to do household work, such as a nanny or housekeeper, when you control both what work they do and how they do it. See more test in Publication 926 it generally isn't your employee. Hiring a person who does your laundry in your home, under your direction, is different, and the household employer rules in Publication 926 can apply. Read the care labels on anything delicate before you send it, and ask the service how it handles items that need special care.

Related Terms and Categories

• Laundry sorting

  Dividing dirty laundry into loads that can be washed together safely, by color, how dirty it is, lint and the care each fabric needs.

• Cleaning service

  A business or person you pay to clean your home, usually by the visit or by the hour, on a one-time or regular schedule.

• House cleaner cost

  What you pay to have someone clean your home, quoted by the hour or as a flat price per visit, which is more than the cleaner's own hourly wage.

Pay, rates and costs