Florida's minimum wage rises from $14.00 to $15.00 per hour on 30 September 2026, the final fixed step of Amendment 2. For a two-person cleaning crew, a $1 raise adds about $7–$8 to the labor cost of a typical three-hour job. A 5–6% price increase covers it; the smarter move is to also cut office labor, not cleaner hours.
What is the Amendment 2 schedule, and what happens after 2026?
Florida voters approved Amendment 2 in November 2020 with 60.82% of the vote, just over the 60% supermajority the state requires. It raised the minimum wage by $1 every 30 September:
| Effective date | Minimum wage | Tipped cash wage (tip credit $3.02) |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Sep 2021 | $10.00 | $6.98 |
| 30 Sep 2022 | $11.00 | $7.98 |
| 30 Sep 2023 | $12.00 | $8.98 |
| 30 Sep 2024 | $13.00 | $9.98 |
| 30 Sep 2025 | $14.00 | $10.98 |
| 30 Sep 2026 | $15.00 | $11.98 |
Hoodline, citing a Florida Policy Institute analysis, reports the increase affects about 2.5 million workers, over a quarter of the state's workforce.
After this step the fixed dollar increases stop. Under the amendment text, wage adjustments "revert to being adjusted annually for inflation starting September 30th, 2027," using CPI-W (the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers). The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association's summary describes the mechanics: each 30 September the state calculates the change from the preceding 12 months of CPI-W, and the new rate takes effect the following 1 January. So the first indexed rate is calculated on 30 September 2027 and applies from 1 January 2028. Plan on the wage moving every year from then on, by roughly the inflation rate, rather than by a round dollar.
The tipped wage matters less for cleaners than for restaurants, but if any of your staff receive tips through your booking software, the cash wage floor is $11.98 from 30 September, per OnPay's Florida summary.
What does a $1 raise do to a two-person crew's cost per job?
The math is simple; the point is to do it per job, not per year, because per job is how you price.
Assumptions (replace with your own): two cleaners per crew, both currently at $14.00; a standard recurring clean takes 3.0 hours on site plus 0.5 hours of paid drive and setup time; employer payroll burden (FICA, FUTA, Florida reemployment tax, workers' comp) of 12% on top of wages. Burden varies by carrier and claims history, so check yours.
| Line | Before (at $14) | After (at $15) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid hours per job (2 × 3.5) | 7.0 | 7.0 | – |
| Wages per job | $98.00 | $105.00 | +$7.00 |
| Payroll burden at 12% | $11.76 | $12.60 | +$0.84 |
| Labor cost per job | $109.76 | $117.60 | +$7.84 |
| Labor as % of a $150 job | 73% | 78% | +5.2 pts |
Per crew, per month, at three jobs a day for 21 working days (63 jobs): +$494. Two crews: about +$990 a month, or roughly $11,900 a year. That is with nobody else's wage moving.
They will move. If your lead cleaner is at $16 and your new hire jumps from $14 to $15, the $2 gap that justified the lead role becomes $1. Most owners end up giving experienced staff something too, which is why the real number is usually higher than the table. Budget for compression.
If your cleaners are already above $15, the direct effect is zero, but the market wage in your area still shifts upward, and so will what a new hire expects.
How should you reprice: percent or flat, recurring or new?
The $7.84 per-job increase is 5.2% of a $150 job. That gives you three workable options:
| Approach | Example on a $150 recurring clean | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Percent increase (5–6%) | $150 → $158–$159 | Scales with job size; covers larger homes properly | Odd numbers; feels calculated |
| Flat increase ($10) | $150 → $160 | Clean number; over-covers small jobs | Under-covers big jobs (a $300 job needs +$16) |
| Tiered flat by job size | +$8 under $175, +$12 to $250, +$16 above | Fair to you and clients | More to explain |
Whichever you choose, two rules from Jobber's 2026 Home Service Trends Report are worth knowing: 65% of home-service businesses raised prices in the last year, so an increase is normal, and labor was the second most-cited reason after inflation. You are not the outlier.
New clients: quote the new rate from the day you decide, ideally before 30 September. There is nothing to explain; it is simply your price.
Recurring clients: give 30 days' notice in writing, tie it to the date, and hold the line. Clients who pay every two weeks value reliability over $8. Losing one client to a price letter costs far more than the $8 you were trying to protect.
Quotes already given: honor them for 30 days, then requote.
Price-increase notice template
Send by email or text 30 days before the new rate applies. Keep it short.
Subject: Small change to your cleaning rate from November 1
Hi [First name],
On September 30, Florida's minimum wage rises to $15 an hour, the last step of the increase voters approved in 2020. We pay our team above the minimum and are raising their wages with it.
To cover that, your [biweekly] clean will move from $[150] to $[159] starting with your visit on [November 1]. Nothing else changes: same team, same checklist, same schedule.
If you have any questions, reply here or call us. Thank you for trusting us with your home.
[Owner name], [Company]
Two things it does deliberately: it gives an external, dated reason, and it names the cleaners as the beneficiaries. Homeowners who like their cleaner rarely object to that cleaner earning more.
Where can you cut cost without touching cleaner pay?
Cleaner wages are your product. Cut them, or cut hours, and quality and retention drop. The line to look at instead is the one that does not clean anything: the phone.
A part-time office hire to answer calls, quote, book and send reminders is now a $15-an-hour role at minimum. Twenty hours a week at $15 with 12% burden is $336 a week, about $1,450 a month, and it covers only 20 of the 168 hours in which customers call. Jobber's report says 69% of home-cleaning businesses miss calls while on-site; a part-timer narrows that gap but does not close it.
An AI receptionist for house cleaning does the same admin work for every hour of the week: answers in under a second, quotes from your price list (including the new one, consistently, from day one), books into your live schedule, sends confirmation and reminder texts, and takes messages or warm-transfers when a call needs you. It also handles the "why did my price go up?" call with the exact wording from your notice, every time, without the awkward pause a person makes.
Zela's pricing is set by call volume after a free demo, so the honest comparison is your own quote against $1,450 a month for 20 hours of coverage. For Florida operators, the Florida page covers local call patterns, including the snowbird season that starts the same week the wage changes. Other states and trades are on the locations and industries pages.
The order of operations for the next eight days:
- Run the per-job table above with your real hours and burden.
- Pick percent, flat or tiered and set the new-client rate now.
- Send the recurring-client notice by 1 October for a 1 November start.
- Move phone and booking admin off payroll so the raise goes to cleaners, not to the office.
FAQ
Does the $15 rate apply to part-time and new cleaners? Yes. Florida's minimum wage applies to covered employees regardless of hours or tenure. The only lower floor is the $11.98 cash wage for tipped employees, and it applies only when tips make up the $3.02 difference.
When is the next Florida minimum wage increase after $15? Under Amendment 2, the first inflation adjustment is calculated on 30 September 2027 from the 12-month change in CPI-W, and takes effect on 1 January 2028. After that it repeats annually. The amount depends on inflation, so it will not be a round dollar.
How much should I charge for house cleaning in Florida in 2026? There is no single right number; it depends on your labor cost, drive times and market. Use the per-job table: at $15 an hour, a two-person, three-hour clean costs about $118 in labor. Most owners target labor at 50–60% of price, which puts a job like that at roughly $200–$235. If you are at $150, you are running at 78% labor after 30 September and need to move.
Sources
- Wikipedia, "2020 Florida Amendment 2" (amendment text, vote result, schedule; accessed 22 Sep 2026): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Florida_Amendment_2
- Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, "Current Florida Minimum Wage" (accessed 22 Sep 2026): https://frla.org/minimum-wage/
- Hoodline, "Florida minimum wage hits $15 this month, capping six-year climb from voters" (10 Sep 2026): https://hoodline.com/2026/09/florida-minimum-wage-hits-15-this-month-capping-six-year-climb-from-voters/
- OnPay, "Florida Minimum Wage 2026: $15 Rate and Tipped Worker Rules" (2026): https://onpay.com/insights/minimum-wage-by-state-summary/florida/
- Jobber, 2026 Home Service Trends Report (Mar 2026): https://www.getjobber.com/home-service-trends-report/