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Cleaning is one of the lowest-barrier businesses to start, which is exactly why the rules that do apply get missed: whether your state or city requires a general business license, whether cleaning services are subject to sales tax where you operate, and the point at which hiring triggers workers’ compensation. Each guide below walks through the licenses, registrations, insurance and costs for a cleaning business in that state, sourced to the state’s own agencies.
Pick your state
How to Start a Cleaning Business — guides for all 50 states and D.C.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
What every state guide covers
- Whether the state requires a general business license — and what your city or county requires instead (see the 51-state table).
- Entity registration with the Secretary of State, and the filing fee.
- The cleaning business’s own licenses and permits — which agency issues them, in what order, and what they cost.
- Insurance the state actually mandates, separated from what is merely advisable.
- Sources — every fee and rule is linked to the agency page or statute it came from.
Related
- Cleaning business insurance requirements by state — what each state mandates before you open.
- Business license requirements by state — which states require a general license and what the rest require instead.
- Workers’ comp requirements by state — the employee threshold that triggers coverage in each state.
Step one in every state above: the entity
The license, the permits and the insurance all attach to a registered business. ZenBusiness files your LLC for $0 plus the state fee, in any state.
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