Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
In short: today's best AI models could do about 3% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 97% of the time, stays with people.
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.
2,209,760 people do this job in the US. $36,840 a year.
Reviewed on September 30, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on1 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people39 h
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 1 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 39 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Requisition supplies (under an hour); Tell managers about needed repairs (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 1%
- 2%
- 2%
- 0%
- 95%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 3% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 3%. Today's estimate: 3%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
None of this job's 21 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 97% of this job's working time as physical work. For 73% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 39% in a purpose-built cell, 32% in a structured facility, 2% in any setting. 1.08 of 3, the 87th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 3%
- No robot shown 24%
- In a purpose-built cell 39%
- In a structured facility 32%
- In any setting 2%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
97% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Sweep, mop and vacuum floors, the hands-on work, 16%
- Gather and empty trash, the hands-on work, 13%
- Clean and supply restrooms, the hands-on work, 10%
- Clean windows and mirrors, the hands-on work, 8%
- Clean and polish furniture, the hands-on work, 7%
- Dust furniture and equipment, the hands-on work, 6%
What becomes checking the machine
No desk work within reach by then in tasks where a mistake costs something. Another 3% is desk work that is small if wrong, which can be handed over with lighter checks.
What to learn
- The hands-on craft. About 95% of the time is hands-on work, which no model here does; robots are rated separately on this page.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 21 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clean building floors by sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, or vacuuming.Cleaning floors by hand or machine.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Tennant T7AMR (BrainOS) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Gather and empty trash.Carrying trash out.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Tesla Optimus; Loki Robotics cleaning robot (survey of state of the art) (Epoch AI) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 13% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Service, clean, or supply restrooms.Cleaning and restocking by hand.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Clean windows, glass partitions, or mirrors, using soapy water or other cleaners, sponges, or squeegees.Washing glass by hand.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Hytron (Primech AI) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Clean and polish furniture and fixtures.Polishing by hand.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Dürr EcoClean car body cleaning systems (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 29 min13 min to 1.1 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Dust furniture, walls, machines, or equipment.Dusting by hand.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Dürr EcoClean / EcoRS Clean F feather-duster cleaning systems (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Monitor building security and safety by performing tasks such as locking doors after operating hours or checking electrical appliance use to ensure that hazards are not created.Walking the building to lock doors and check appliances.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Networked electronic access control with electrified locks (electric strikes, maglocks, electrified mortise locks) (Teleco (integrator) / lock manufacturers) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Clean chimneys, flues, and connecting pipes, using power or hand tools.Cleaning with power and hand tools.Done yearly or less by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, StoneAge AutoBox 3L with Sentinel Automation Technology (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.7 h38 min to 4.2 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Drive vans, industrial trucks, or other vehicles required to travel to, or to perform, cleaning work.Driving a van or truck to the job.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a structured facility, Gatik autonomous box trucks (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Set up, arrange, or remove decorations, tables, chairs, ladders, or scaffolding to prepare facilities for events, such as banquets or meetings.Moving tables, chairs and staging by hand.Done more than monthly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, ALORE (Unitree B2 legged manipulator with Z1 arm) (Academic research group) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Follow procedures for the use of chemical cleaners and power equipment to prevent damage to floors and fixtures.Following the procedure while doing the cleaning.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, BrainOS Clean 2.0 / SelfPath AI on Tennant X-series robotic floor cleaners (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Move heavy furniture, equipment, or supplies, either manually or with hand trucks.Moving things by hand or hand truck.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Aethon TUG (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 3% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 3% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Requisition supplies (100% of the task's time now); and Tell managers about needed repairs (40% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Sweep, mop and vacuum floors; Gather and empty trash; and Clean and supply restrooms. Together such tasks are about 95% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are the hands-on craft. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 97% of the working time stays with people, 0% becomes checking a model's work and 3% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 97% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 73% of the working time, 2% in any setting. Its index is 1.08 of 3. One example: Yarbo Snow Blower (S1 core + snow blower module) for "remove snow". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 21 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on September 30, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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