What does Arizona require before you clean your first home?
Less than most states. There is no Arizona license for house cleaners and no sales tax on the service, so the start-up work is choosing a structure, protecting your name and buying insurance. The obligations grow when you hire, because Arizona’s minimum wage and sick time law both apply from the first employee.
The Corporation Commission’s own 10 steps to starting a business lays out the order: check name availability, pick an entity, file with the Commission, then check with the Department of Revenue and your city about transaction privilege tax and any city licenses. It also notes the Commission doesn’t issue business or occupational licenses at all.
A one-week launch plan
- Day 1: pick a name and check it on the Arizona Business Center (the Commission’s filing site). The cleaning business name generator helps if you are stuck.
- Day 2: file Articles of Organization for an LLC, or register a trade name with the Secretary of State if you’ll stay a sole proprietor.
- Day 3: get a free EIN from the IRS and open a business bank account.
- Day 4: ask your city whether it requires a general business license for a home-based service.
- Day 5: buy general liability insurance and set prices with no tax line.
For the parts that work the same in every state (services, supplies, pricing your first homes), read our general guide on how to start a cleaning business.
Arizona LLCs: $50, no annual report, and the newspaper rule
Articles of Organization cost $50, or $85 with expedited processing, and Arizona LLCs never file an annual report. The catch is publication: unless your statutory agent is in Maricopa or Pima County, you pay a newspaper to print a notice of the filing.
The fees
The Commission’s LLC fee schedule lists Articles of Organization at $50 ($85 expedited), a name reservation at $10 ($45 expedited), and Articles of Amendment at $25. Its business services FAQ answers the yearly question directly: LLCs are not required to file annual reports; only corporations are. So once it is formed, the state charges nothing to keep it.
Publication: who has to do it
Under A.R.S. § 29-3201, within 60 days after the Commission files your articles, one of two things must happen:
- A notice of the filing is published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county of your statutory agent’s street address, for three consecutive publications; or
- If that county has more than 800,000 people, the Commission posts the approval in its own database instead, at no cost to you.
Only Maricopa (Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale) and Pima (Tucson) counties are that large. So a cleaner forming an LLC in Flagstaff, Prescott, Yuma or Casa Grande, with a local statutory agent, pays a newspaper. The FAQ says the Commission sends a letter telling you whether publication is required, and filing the newspaper’s affidavit of publication with the Commission is optional but a good habit. Ask two or three qualifying papers for a price before you pick one.
Is an LLC worth it?
For $50 and no upkeep, many Arizona cleaners form one from the start. It separates business debts from your personal ones, but it is not insurance: a broken heirloom or a slip on a wet floor is a liability insurance claim. Read our guides to LLCs for cleaning businesses and insurance for cleaners before you decide.
Trade names and DBAs: the Secretary of State, not the Commission
Arizona registers trade names at the Secretary of State, for five-year terms. Registration is optional for sole proprietors, but it is the only state-level way to put a business name on record without forming an entity.
The Commission is clear that it doesn’t handle this: its FAQ says it does not register or recognize DBAs, and points to the Secretary of State for trade names and to the Maricopa County Recorder for recording DBA names. Its 10-step guide adds that a trade name is effective for five years and that a registered trade name holds the name for you, so you can later form an LLC under it.
A.R.S. § 44-1460.02 sets the term: five years from registration, renewable within six months before it expires, with the Secretary of State mailing a reminder in the last 60 days. Check the current fee on the Secretary of State’s trade name page when you file.
Which route fits
| Situation | What to file |
|---|---|
| Cleaning under your own name, “Rosa Molina” | Nothing required. |
| Sole proprietor using “Desert Bloom Cleaning” | Trade name with the Secretary of State (and, in Maricopa County, a DBA with the Recorder if your bank asks for one). |
| “Desert Bloom Cleaning LLC” | Articles of Organization ($50). The LLC name itself needs no trade name. |
| LLC trading as a second brand | Trade name registration for the second name. |
Do Arizona cleaners collect transaction privilege tax?
Not on cleaning. Arizona has no general sales tax; it has a transaction privilege tax (TPT) on the privilege of doing business in specific classifications, such as retail, contracting, restaurants and rentals. Cleaning a home is a service and doesn’t fall in any of them.
The retail classification, in A.R.S. § 42-5061, spells out that it does not include professional or personal service occupations or businesses that involve sales or transfers of goods only as inconsequential elements. The window cleaner, product and cloths you use on a job are part of your service, not a sale to the client.
When TPT does reach a cleaning business
- Selling products. Retail sales of cleaning kits, gift cards redeemed for goods or branded merchandise are taxable retail. Get a TPT license before you start selling.
- Work that turns into contracting. Repairs, painting or remodeling are a different classification. Keep to cleaning, or ask the Department of Revenue before you add handyman-type services.
- Your own supplies. You pay TPT-inclusive prices when you buy supplies, like any other customer.
Because cities run their own privilege taxes alongside the state, the Commission’s guide tells new businesses to register with their city for TPT purposes and for any city licenses. If you only clean homes and sell nothing, the usual result is that no TPT license is required, but get that answer from the Department of Revenue or your city in writing and keep it.
With no tax line, your price is the whole bill. Build it from your time, drive and supplies with the house cleaning price calculator; neighbors such as California work the same way, while Connecticut taxes house cleaning.
Hiring in Arizona: $15.15 an hour and paid sick time from the first hire
Arizona’s minimum wage is $15.15 an hour in 2026, and Flagstaff’s is $18.35. Every employee, at any size of business, earns paid sick time from their first day.
The wage floor
The U.S. Department of Labor’s table of state minimum wages lists Arizona’s basic rate at $15.15. Under A.R.S. § 23-363 the rate rises every January 1 with the consumer price index (August to August), rounded to the nearest five cents. The same law lets an employer pay up to $3.00 less to employees who customarily receive tips, but only with records proving tips bring them to the full minimum each week. Few house cleaners average that, so plan on the full rate.
Flagstaff sets its own. The city’s minimum wage page lists $18.35 an hour from January 1, 2026 and $18.95 from January 1, 2027. If you clean in Flagstaff, ask your accountant how the city rule applies to hours your crew works there.
What a visit costs in wages
| Where | Hourly floor | 3.5 paid hours (3-hour clean plus drive) |
|---|---|---|
| Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa and most of Arizona | $15.15 | $53.03 |
| Flagstaff (2026) | $18.35 | $64.23 |
| Flagstaff (2027) | $18.95 | $66.33 |
Those are wages alone, before payroll taxes, workers’ comp and supplies. Our guide to how much house cleaners make shows what Arizona crews actually earn above the floor.
Earned paid sick time
Arizona’s Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act, at A.R.S. § 23-372, covers every employer. Employees earn at least 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, from the day they start:
- Fewer than 15 employees: up to 24 hours a year can be accrued or used, unless you choose a higher limit.
- 15 or more employees: up to 40 hours a year.
- You may make a new hire wait until their 90th calendar day before using it.
- A cleaner rehired within nine months gets their unused hours back.
Example: a part-time cleaner working 20 hours a week earns about 34 hours over a year, but at a business with 6 employees can only accrue or use 24. Track it from the first paycheck; the payroll service you choose can usually do this for you.
Workers’ comp, unemployment tax and new-hire reports in Arizona
Workers’ comp is required for every regularly employed worker, part-time or seasonal included. Unemployment tax starts after $1,500 of wages in a quarter or 20 weeks with an employee, at 2% of the first $8,000 for a new employer. New hires are reported within 20 days.
Workers’ comp
A.R.S. § 23-902 makes every person who employs any workers regularly employed in the same business subject to the workers’ compensation law, and defines “regularly employed” to include work for only part of the year. There is no minimum headcount: your first part-time cleaner counts. The same section explains how a written agreement can support an independent contractor relationship, but it also says contractors doing work that is a routine part of your business, under your supervision, are treated as your employees. A cleaning company that sends “contractors” to clean homes on its schedule should assume they count.
Unemployment insurance
- When you become liable: A.R.S. § 23-613 covers employers that pay $1,500 or more in wages in any calendar quarter, or have at least one employee in each of 20 different weeks, in the current or previous year.
- Rate: under A.R.S. § 23-729, an employer whose account hasn’t been chargeable with benefits for a full 12-month period pays the reduced rate of 2%.
- Wage base: A.R.S. § 23-622 taxes the first $8,000 of each employee’s wages a year (since 2023).
That works out to at most $160 per employee per year (2% of $8,000). Employees pay nothing toward it.
New-hire reports
A.R.S. § 23-722.01 requires employers to report each employee within 20 days after they are hired, rehired or return to work. The report goes to the state’s new hire directory, which is used to enforce child support orders.
City rules across Phoenix, Tucson and the rest of Arizona
Most of the local work is checking two things: whether your city wants a general business license, and whether your home office fits its home-occupation zoning. Arizona cities don’t levy income tax.
- Business licenses vary by city. Some Arizona cities license only regulated trades and rely on privilege tax registration for everyone else; others require a general license for any business located in town. Call the city clerk or licensing office where your business is based, and ask specifically about a home-based cleaning service with no retail sales.
- Home occupation zoning. Running bookings from a spare room is normally fine. Storing large amounts of chemicals, parking several work vehicles or having staff meet at your house can need a home occupation permit.
- HOA rules. Many Phoenix-area neighborhoods have homeowner associations that restrict signage and commercial vehicles. Check yours before you wrap a car.
- Flagstaff wages. The one local cost most likely to change your pricing, covered above.
Heat matters in Arizona too, even if it isn’t a filing: summer cleans in unshaded Phoenix homes run hotter and slower. Schedule large deep cleans for mornings from May to September, and price them so the time isn’t lost.
What does it cost to start cleaning houses in Arizona?
State fees can be as low as $50 for an LLC in Maricopa or Pima County, with nothing due afterward. Outside those counties, add the newspaper notice. Insurance and supplies are the larger costs.
Government fees were checked on official pages on October 9, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our ranges, not quotes.
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LLC Articles of Organization | $50 ($85 expedited) | Optional. No annual report afterward. |
| LLC publication | $0 in Maricopa and Pima; newspaper rates elsewhere | Three consecutive publications within 60 days. |
| Name reservation | $10 | Optional. Holds a name for 120 days. |
| Trade name (sole proprietor) | Check the Secretary of State’s current fee | Five-year term. Optional. |
| TPT license | Not needed for cleaning alone | Needed if you sell products. |
| Unemployment tax | Up to $160 per employee per year | 2% of the first $8,000 for new employers. |
| Workers’ comp | Get quotes | Required from the first regular employee. |
| General liability insurance | $350 to $900 a year (estimate) | Depends on limits and payroll. |
| Starter supplies and equipment | $250 to $600 (estimate) | See our supplies list. |
| Booking, scheduling and payments software | $0 to $60 a month | BroomBook is $29 a month for up to 2 cleaners. |
A solo cleaner in Phoenix can realistically launch for $700 to $1,600 (our estimate), most of it insurance and equipment. Run your numbers through the cleaning business profit calculator before you set prices.
Landing your first Arizona clients, and where BroomBook fits
Arizona gives you two good markets: growing suburbs full of busy homeowners, and short-term rental and seasonal owners who need reliable turnovers. Start with neighbors and referrals, then a Google Business Profile listing the towns you serve, and approach property managers and realtors for move-in and move-out cleans. Our guide on how to get clients for a cleaning business has scripts for each.
We make BroomBook, scheduling and online booking software for residential cleaning businesses. With no tax on cleaning in Arizona, you leave its optional sales tax setting off and clients see one price. Clients book online with an instant price, you can limit bookings to a distance or a list of ZIP codes (handy for keeping the crew out of a long drive to Buckeye or Queen Creek), cards are charged after the clean through Stripe with no cut taken by BroomBook, and cleaners clock in from a private link whose hours export to CSV for payroll. It doesn’t track sick time balances or calculate withholding. Plans are $29 a month (up to 2 cleaners) or $59 a month (unlimited), with a 14-day free trial; see the scheduling software page.