Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers Salary

The median laundry and dry-cleaning workers salary in the United States is $34,890 per year ($16.78/hour). Salaries range from $27,440 at the entry level to $43,190+ for the top 10% of earners. There are 198,040 laundry and dry-cleaning workers jobs nationwide. Employment is projected to grow 5.4% through 2034.

Last updated: June 2026 Β· Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Median Salary
$34,890
per year
Hourly Rate
$16.78
per hour
Employment
198,040
jobs in the U.S.

Salary Distribution

10th percentile
$27,440
25th percentile
$30,360
Median
$34,890
75th percentile
$37,560
90th percentile
$43,190

Job Growth (2024-2034)

+5.4%
Faster than average

Annual Openings

31,900
jobs/year (growth + replacements)

Education Required

No formal educational credential

Training Needed

Short-term on-the-job training

Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers Career Guide

Interview questions, resume templates, and a career ladder written specifically for laundry and dry-cleaning workerss.

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers run industrial washers, dryers, ironers, pressers, and folding equipment for hospital linens, hotel bed-and-bath, restaurant napkins, and uniform-rental programs. Employers span industrial laundry (Cintas, UniFirst, Aramark Uniform Services, Alsco) that process 8-25 million pounds of textiles per plant per week, healthcare-linen specialists (ImageFIRST, Angelica, Crothall Healthcare) with HLAC-accredited hospital-linen plants, hotel-linen operations (Prudential Overall Supply, Ridgewells laundry contracts), and retail dry cleaners (1-800-DryClean, Tide Cleaners, Comet Cleaners). BLS national median is $34,890 (about $16.77/hr); p10 sits at $27,440 and p90 at $43,190, with 198,040 workers nationally. The p90 tier is dominated by industrial laundry mechanics, HLAC hospital-linen leads, shift supervisors at Cintas / UniFirst plants, and route-service leads on uniform-rental programs.

Core Skills Hiring Managers Screen For

Wash chemistry & wash formula management
Industrial laundry uses 5-10 wash formulas depending on soil type: hotel bath towels (heavy soil, chlorine bleach OK), hospital linens (biohazard, oxygen bleach only, thermal disinfection), restaurant napkins (grease + food stain, high-alkali detergent). Overdose caustic and you burn the fabric; underdose and you fail the retention test. A skilled wash-tunnel operator at Cintas or UniFirst commands $18-24/hr.
HLAC / TRSA compliance for healthcare linens
Hospital linens must be processed to the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) standard and the TRSA Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification β€” includes thermal disinfection (71Β°C / 160Β°F for 25 min minimum), microbial retention limits, and full traceability. Failing an HLAC audit at an ImageFIRST or Crothall plant means losing the hospital contract, which is often 40-70% of plant revenue.
Tunnel washer operation (Milnor, Kannegiesser, JENSEN)
Modern industrial plants run 12-20 compartment tunnel washers processing 3,000-6,000 lbs/hour. Load balancing, formula selection, and chemical injection are all HMI-managed. A senior tunnel operator diagnoses and clears jams, chemical-pump faults, and thermal-cycle deviations without a maintenance call.
Ironer / flatwork feeding & folding
Feed sheets, tablecloths, and pillowcases into a Chicago Skyline, Kannegiesser IRONMASTER, or JENSEN ironer at 15-45 units/min. Alignment matters β€” a feed error means a wrinkled or edge-burned unit that gets rejected at pack-out. Feeders and folders are hourly and often bilingual English/Spanish or Kreyol.
Dry-cleaning solvent handling (perc, hydrocarbon, silicone)
Perc (perchloroethylene) is being phased out in CA, MA, and IL; most retail dry cleaners are moving to GreenEarth silicone (D5) or hydrocarbon (Stoddard/DF-2000). Solvent still, distillation, filter change, and PFAS waste handling are OSHA and EPA regulated. Certified Environmental Drycleaner (CED) credential is standard for retail leads.
Stain removal & spotting
Retail dry cleaners live or die on stain removal. Understanding tannin, protein, oil-based, and dye-based stain chemistry β€” which solvent or spotter goes on which stain, in what order, at what temperature β€” is what separates a $14/hr counter clerk from a $22/hr master spotter. Wet-cleaning + dry-cleaning hybrid skills add $2-4/hr.
Route-service partnership (uniform rental)
Cintas, UniFirst, Aramark, and Alsco run route trucks that deliver clean uniforms and pick up soiled ones. Plant workers coordinate with route sales reps (RSRs) on garment counts, damaged-garment MRB, and customer-specific finish specs. RSRs sell into customers; plant workers keep them supplied.

How to Become a Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers

  1. 1
    High school diploma or GED
    Preferred but not always required. Physical stamina is essential β€” 8-12 hour shifts, standing, lifting 30-70 lb linen carts, working in 85-105Β°F wash-floor heat.
  2. 2
    Apply to a major industrial laundry
    Cintas, UniFirst, Aramark Uniform Services, and Alsco hire year-round at $14-17/hr for entry positions (sort, feed, fold). Healthcare specialists (ImageFIRST, Crothall, Angelica) start $15-18/hr with HLAC training on the clock.
  3. 3
    Cross-train across sort, wash, dry, iron, and pack stations
    Workers who can run 3+ stations become 'flex' and earn a $1-2/hr differential. Most plant leads promote from flex operators because they know the whole flow.
  4. 4
    Get bloodborne pathogens (BBP) certified for healthcare-linen work
    OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1030 requires BBP training annually for anyone handling used healthcare linens. ImageFIRST and Crothall run in-plant training on the clock. Adds $1-2/hr differential.
  5. 5
    For retail dry cleaning: DLI or IFI training + Certified Environmental Drycleaner (CED)
    Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI) and Institute of Fabricare Institute (IFI) offer certifications from Certified Professional Drycleaner (CPD) to Certified Master Drycleaner (CMD). CED is required in states with strict solvent regulation. Master-level spotters at high-end dry cleaners earn $22-28/hr.
  6. 6
    Move into shift lead β†’ plant supervisor β†’ plant manager / route service manager
    3-6 years in, promote to shift lead at $19-24/hr; 6-12 years to plant supervisor at $58-88k salaried. Plant managers at Cintas, UniFirst, and Aramark clear $95-150k with bonus. Route service managers on the uniform-rental side clear $75-115k + car + commission.

Career Progression

Laundry Sort / Feed / Fold Operator
0-2 yrs$28k-36k ($13.50-17/hr) + shift differential
  • β€’Sort incoming soiled linen by product type (bath, bed, food service, healthcare) and soil grade
  • β€’Feed sheets, tablecloths, napkins, and pillowcases into ironers at 15-45 units/min
  • β€’Fold and stack finished flatwork for pack-out; verify count per bundle to route or customer spec
  • β€’Complete BBP training if the plant processes healthcare linens; wear PPE for biohazard-designated sort areas
Next: Sr operator or wash-tunnel operator at 12-24 months with cross-training on 3+ stations.
Wash Tunnel Operator / Sr Ironer Feeder
2-5 yrs$36k-46k ($17-22/hr) + shift differential + OT
  • β€’Run a Milnor, Kannegiesser, or JENSEN tunnel washer processing 3,000-6,000 lbs/hour
  • β€’Select and adjust wash formulas by soil type and customer spec; monitor chemical injection and thermal cycles
  • β€’First-line troubleshooting on jams, chemical-pump faults, and thermal deviations
  • β€’For healthcare plants: verify HLAC thermal-disinfection cycle (71Β°C / 160Β°F for 25 min) on every batch
Next: Shift lead or dry-cleaning master at 4-7 years.
Shift Lead / Dry-Cleaning Master Spotter
4-8 yrs$46k-60k ($22-28/hr) + shift differential + OT (industrial); $45-58k salary (retail dry cleaner)
  • β€’Lead a shift of 15-45 operators across sort, wash, dry, iron, and pack; hit throughput and quality targets
  • β€’Own daily HLAC / TRSA audit-readiness on healthcare linen; sign off on thermal-cycle logs
  • β€’For retail dry cleaner: own stain-removal, garment-inspection, and customer-facing quality issues
  • β€’Coach and cross-train operators; discipline attendance and safety violations
Next: Plant supervisor or route service supervisor at 7-12 years.
Plant Supervisor / Route Service Supervisor
7-12 yrs$58k-88k salaried + bonus + OT (some roles) or car allowance (route service)
  • β€’Own 2-3 shifts and 60-140 operators across a plant, or 8-14 route trucks and RSRs across a service area
  • β€’Meet plant throughput target (typically 8-25 million lbs / week for industrial; 800k-2M lbs / week for healthcare)
  • β€’Own labor cost, overtime approvals, and shift-differential payouts
  • β€’Lead safety huddles, incident investigations, and OSHA / EPA compliance walk-throughs
Next: Plant manager or district service manager at 12-16 years.
Plant Manager / District Service Manager
12+ yrs$95k-150k salaried + 15-25% bonus + car + LTIP at large operators
  • β€’Own all plant operations (or a multi-branch service district): 100-300+ operators, 8-30 route trucks
  • β€’Own P&L, capex, safety, quality, environmental (Title V air permits for solvent, wastewater discharge)
  • β€’Report to Region Ops VP; peer to sales GM on route-service programs
  • β€’Lead capex-funded upgrades (tunnel washer replacement, ironer replacement), new-customer onboardings, and expansions

Interview Questions & Answers

5 free questions below. Career Kit unlocks 15 total plus resume bullets for every level.

Q1. Walk me through a healthcare linen wash cycle at an HLAC-accredited plant like ImageFIRST or Crothall.technical
Soiled linens come in bagged and color-coded by source hospital, sorted in a biohazard-designated area with full PPE (gowns, gloves, eye protection, mask). Sort by product and soil grade β€” heavily soiled OR linens go on one formula, standard bed linens on another. Load the tunnel washer (Milnor or Kannegiesser) at the target compartment sequence; the HMI selects the wash formula. HLAC requires thermal disinfection at minimum 71Β°C / 160Β°F for at least 25 minutes at some point in the cycle, plus microbial retention limits. Chemical injection is automatic β€” oxygen bleach for hospital work, no chlorine (damages proteins in wound-adjacent linens). Extract and dry to finished moisture spec (typically 3-5%), iron flatwork, fold and stack, place in clean-side transport carts, and ship back to the hospital. Every batch is logged with time, temperature, chemical dose, and operator sign-off for HLAC audit.
Q2. It's 98Β°F on the wash floor and one of your operators is showing early heat-illness signs. What do you do?situational
Stop them from working, get them to a cool break area, hydrate them, notify the plant safety officer and the plant manager. OSHA doesn't yet have a federal heat standard (rulemaking in progress) but many states do β€” CA Cal/OSHA 3395 mandates access to shade or a cool break area, water within 10 feet, and a 10-minute break every 2 hours above 95Β°F. If the operator can't recover in 15-20 minutes, or if they show confusion or stop sweating, that's a 911 call. Then I review the shift schedule and rotate operators off the highest-heat stations (tunnel washer, dryer discharge, ironer feed) more frequently. Every large employer (Cintas, UniFirst, Aramark, ImageFIRST) has heat-illness protocols in writing; a supervisor who pushes through a heat-illness event costs the company an OSHA recordable and often gets fired.
Q3. Describe a time you caught a wash-chemistry or quality issue that prevented a customer chargeback.behavioral
STAR. Situation: I was operating a Kannegiesser tunnel washer at a Cintas plant running restaurant napkins for a national quick-service chain. Task: monitor chemical injection and thermal-cycle logs during a normal shift. Action: the alkali injection was reading 20% low on the HMI trend β€” a pump-diaphragm was starting to fail. I flagged it to the shift lead within 15 minutes, tested a finished bundle against the customer's Delta-E color spec, and confirmed we were drifting toward the reject threshold. Result: maintenance replaced the pump diaphragm during the shift changeover (28 minutes downtime). The 8,000 lbs already in the tunnel got rerun on a partial rewash cycle; zero customer chargebacks. Chargebacks on national accounts run $8-25k per incident and repeat chargebacks lose the contract.
Q4. Why laundry work instead of warehouse, fast food, or hospitality at similar pay?culture
The promotion ladder is real. At Cintas, UniFirst, and Aramark you can move from feeder to wash-tunnel operator to shift lead to plant supervisor to plant manager in 12-15 years and that's a $95-150k salary tier with bonus and a company car. Warehouse and fast food don't have the same ladder for someone who isn't going to college. The technical skills also stack β€” HLAC and BBP training move with me between employers, wash-chemistry fluency on Milnor and Kannegiesser tunnels is portable to any industrial plant, and dry-cleaning DLI certifications are recognized industry-wide. Retail dry cleaners are also a franchise/ownership path β€” I know two people at 1-800-DryClean who own their own store.
Q5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?closer
Shift lead by year 3-4 at a large industrial plant (Cintas, UniFirst, or a healthcare specialist like ImageFIRST), with BBP + HLAC training current and cross-trained on wash tunnel and ironer operation. Plant supervisor by year 6-8, which is $65-85k salaried. To get there I'll pick up an OSHA 30 certification, an entry-level Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (many plants pay for it), and I'll cross-train on the maintenance side β€” mechanics at Cintas start at $28-36/hr and move into engineering-track roles. Long term I want to move into plant supervisor and then plant manager, ideally at a healthcare-linen plant where the HLAC discipline creates a compensation premium over general industrial.

Resume Template β€” Laundry Sort / Feed / Fold Operator (0-2 yrs)

Copy these bullets into your resume as a starting point. Career Kit includes bullets for every level of the ladder.

Laundry Sort / Feed / Fold Operator (0-2 yrs)
  • β–ΈCross-trained on sort, ironer feed, and fold stations at Cintas industrial plant (Charlotte NC); hit shift throughput target 96% of shifts.
  • β–ΈFed sheets and tablecloths at 32 units/min avg into Chicago Skyline ironer; zero customer rejects on flatwork alignment in 11 months.
  • β–ΈBBP-certified current for biohazard sort area on healthcare-linen days.
  • β–ΈBilingual English/Spanish. Forklift + pallet jack certified. $15.75/hr + $1.50 3rd-shift differential.

What Gets You Rejected

  • βœ—Skipping BBP PPE (gown, gloves, eye protection) on soiled healthcare linens β€” OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1030 violation, potential HLAC decertification, and personal biohazard exposure.
  • βœ—Overdosing caustic or bleach to compensate for soil β€” burns fabric, causes tensile-strength loss, and lands customer chargebacks that get traced to the operator.
  • βœ—Ignoring a thermal-cycle deviation on a healthcare wash β€” HLAC requires 71Β°C / 160Β°F for 25 min minimum; missing this is a documented audit failure.
  • βœ—Attempting a wash-tunnel or dryer jam clearance without lock-out/tag-out β€” hydraulic and steam hazards on industrial equipment kill and maim people every year.
  • βœ—For retail dry cleaners: skipping the CED (Certified Environmental Drycleaner) refresher in a solvent-regulated state (CA, MA, IL, NY) β€” a state EPA inspection can shut the store immediately.
  • βœ—Chronic attendance issues β€” the #1 firing reason in this trade because plant throughput is scheduled to headcount and a no-show at 4 a.m. leaves the whole line down.

Salary Negotiation Levers

  • βœ“Cross-training on 3+ stations (sort, wash tunnel, dryer, ironer, fold, pack) at an industrial plant is worth a $1-2/hr flex differential β€” always ask about the flex program at hire.
  • βœ“BBP + HLAC training current adds $1-2/hr and opens the healthcare-linen plants (ImageFIRST, Crothall, Angelica) which pay a premium over general industrial.
  • βœ“Shift differential is real: 2nd shift adds $1-2/hr, 3rd shift adds $1.50-3/hr, weekend nights can add $2-4/hr at plants running 24/6.
  • βœ“Wash chemistry fluency on the specific tunnel-washer OEM (Milnor, Kannegiesser, JENSEN) is portable β€” moving between employers with certification is a $2-4/hr lift.
  • βœ“For retail dry cleaners: DLI Certified Professional Drycleaner (CPD) adds $2-3/hr; Certified Master Drycleaner (CMD) adds $4-6/hr; the master spotter role commands $22-28/hr in metro markets.
  • βœ“Route service supervisor path pays $75-115k + car + commission β€” the sales side of uniform rental (Cintas, UniFirst, Aramark, Alsco) is a strong compensation lever if you have the customer-facing temperament.
  • βœ“OT is heavy at industrial plants running 24/6 β€” 45-55 hour weeks are common at Cintas and UniFirst plants, and time-and-a-half plus doubletime on Sunday adds $8-16k annually.
  • βœ“Sign-on bonuses of $1,500-4,000 are standard at plants running under target headcount.

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Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers Salary by State

Best Cities (cost-adjusted) β†’

Salary Map β€” Click a state for details

$27K
$40Kβ–  No data

Top Paying States

Washington
$40K
+13%
Oregon
$38K
+8%
California
$38K
+8%
District of Columbia
$38K
+8%
Colorado
$38K
+8%
Minnesota
$38K
+8%
Massachusetts
$37K
+7%
North Dakota
$37K
+7%
Maine
$37K
+7%
Vermont
$37K
+7%
Vertical line = national median. Click a state for full details.
StateMedianvs. National
Washington$39,590+13.5%
Oregon$37,800+8.3%
California$37,790+8.3%
District of Columbia$37,790+8.3%
Colorado$37,680+8.0%
Minnesota$37,580+7.7%
Massachusetts$37,490+7.5%
North Dakota$37,470+7.4%
Maine$37,380+7.1%
Vermont$37,300+6.9%
1–10 of 51

Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers Salary by Metro Area

Metro AreaMedianvs. National
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA$44,410+27.3%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA$43,610+25.0%
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$43,310+24.1%
Napa, CA$42,600+22.1%
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA$41,080+17.7%
Bismarck, ND$39,760+14.0%
Vallejo, CA$39,680+13.7%
Boulder, CO$39,430+13.0%
Bellingham, WA$39,320+12.7%
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA$39,290+12.6%
1–10 of 366
Data Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Data reflects the most recent annual survey.
How does this compare to pro athletes?
A laundry and dry-cleaning workers earning $34,890/year would need 1708 years to match Stephen Curry's NBA salary, or 1834 yearsto match Patrick Mahomes' NFL contract.
See all sports & celebrity salaries β†’
πŸ“ˆ See how laundry and dry-cleaning workers salaries have changed over the past decade.
View Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers salary trend (2011–2024) β†’