How to start a cleaning business in Illinois: 2026 guide

Chicago, suburban Cook County or downstate: why location decides your rules

In Illinois, the state rules are light and the local rules do the work. The state doesn’t tax cleaning or license cleaners. But Chicago and Cook County set their own minimum wages and paid leave rules, Chicago requires a business license, and Cook County adds a newspaper step to registering your name.

The Illinois checklist

1. Register an assumed name with your county clerk, or form an LLC with the Secretary of State.
2. In Chicago, apply for a business license. Elsewhere, ask your city or village clerk.
3. Buy general liability insurance, and tell your auto insurer you drive to jobs.
4. Set prices with no sales tax line.
5. Before your first hire: workers’ comp, IDES registration, new-hire reporting and a paid leave policy.

For services, equipment and your first homes, see our general guide on how to start a cleaning business.

Registering a business name in Cook County: $50 and three weeks of newspaper ads

Sole proprietors and partnerships using a name other than their own register it with the county clerk. In Cook County that means a $50 fee, then a legal notice in a local newspaper once a week for three weeks in a row.

The Cook County Clerk’s assumed business name page lays out the steps: register and pay $50, start publishing the notice within 15 calendar days, run it once a week for three consecutive weeks, and return proof of publication within 50 days of applying. Newspapers charge their own rates for the notice, so ask two or three for a quote. Other counties set their own fees and steps; call your county clerk.

Examples

• “Ana Kowalski” cleaning under her own name: no assumed name filing.
• “North Shore Sparkle” run by Ana Kowalski: register with the county clerk and publish.
• “Kowalski Home Services LLC” trading as “North Shore Sparkle”: the LLC files with the Secretary of State instead (next section).

Search the county’s assumed name records and the state’s business entity database before you publish anything. The cleaning business name generator can help you find a name that is free.

What an Illinois LLC costs: $150 to form, $75 every year

$150 for the Articles of Organization and $75 for each annual report. That is $450 over the first five years, more than many neighboring states, so decide whether the separation is worth it before you file.

Fees in the LLC Act

Section 50-10 of the Limited Liability Company Act sets the Articles of Organization at $150 and the annual report at $75, with a penalty if the report is late. Section 50-1 makes the report due in the 60 days before the first day of the LLC’s anniversary month. Form in June 2026 and your first report is due before June 1, 2027, with filing open from early April.

A second name for the LLC

If the LLC trades under another name, it files an assumed name with the Secretary of State. The fee is prorated by year under section 50-10: filed in a year ending in 1 or 6, it costs $120, so a 2026 filing is $120. Section 1-20 sets the term: the name runs to the anniversary month in the next year divisible by five (2030 for a 2026 filing), then renews for five years at $150.

Replacement tax for multi-member LLCs

An LLC taxed as a partnership or S corporation pays Illinois’ 1.5% personal property replacement tax on its net income, on top of the members’ 4.95% individual income tax, according to the Department of Revenue’s income tax rates page. A single-member LLC taxed as a sole proprietorship doesn’t file that return. Ask your accountant before you elect S corporation status.

An LLC keeps business debts away from your personal savings. It doesn’t pay for a cracked marble vanity; liability insurance does. Read our guide to LLCs for cleaning businesses before you decide.

Why a clean in Illinois carries no sales tax

Because Illinois does not tax services. The state’s sales taxes apply to tangible goods, so a house cleaning invoice has no tax line, in Chicago or anywhere else.

The Illinois Department of Revenue says it directly in its answer on services: Illinois does not tax sales of service. Its service occupation tax only reaches tangible goods transferred as part of a service. The Retailers’ Occupation Tax page describes the main sales tax as a tax on selling tangible personal property at retail.

Where tax touches a cleaner

• Supplies: you pay sales tax on the products and equipment you buy, at the rate where you buy them.
• Selling products: if you sell cleaning kits or products to clients, register with the Department of Revenue and collect tax on those sales.
• Income tax: your profit is taxed at the flat 4.95% individual rate. Set aside money for quarterly estimates.

So your quote is your price. The house cleaning price calculator gives you a starting point, and the pricing guide shows how to build hourly and flat rates.

Chicago’s business license for cleaners: $500 and a storage lease

Chicago requires a city business license, and for a cleaning service that is usually the Limited Business License. The city’s 2026 fee notice puts it at $500 for two years. If you run the business from home, you need a home occupation license and, for cleaning, a storage lease.

The Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection’s 2026 fee notice lists the Limited Business License at $500 for a two-year license from January 1, 2026. The city’s home-based business page says a license is required to run a business from your home, that home occupation licenses last two years, and that cleaning is one of the business types that must show a storage lease. That page still shows a $1,000 fee, so confirm the amount at the Small Business Center when you apply.

Before you apply

• Make sure the ID you bring shows your home address, which the home-based application requires.
• Rent a small storage unit if you plan to run the business from your apartment, and keep the lease.
• Get zoning approval, which the city handles as part of the application.

Outside Chicago, villages and cities set their own rules. Each suburb has its own process, so call the clerk before your first paid clean.

Three minimum wages: Illinois, Cook County and Chicago

$15.00 an hour statewide, $15.40 in suburban Cook County and $17.05 in Chicago, the last two from July 1, 2026. The small-employer exemptions you may read about don’t protect a house cleaning business, so treat these as your floor from the first hire.

The rates

• Illinois: the Department of Labor’s minimum wage page lists $15 for workers 18 and older and $13 for younger workers who work fewer than 650 hours a year.
• Cook County: the county’s minimum wage ordinance page sets $15.40 from July 1, 2026. It doesn’t apply in Chicago or in towns that opted out.
• Chicago: the city’s June 2026 announcement sets $17.05 from July 1, 2026. It rises each July 1 by inflation or 2.5%, whichever is lower.

Why the small-employer exemptions don’t help

The state law’s coverage section leaves out employers with fewer than four employees, but not for domestic workers. The Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights defines domestic work to include housekeeping and house cleaning (excluding people who regularly work 8 hours a week or less). Chicago’s minimum wage FAQ likewise covers domestic workers whatever the employer’s size. Our reading: a small cleaning company should pay the full rate from its first employee.

A Chicago visit priced out

A cleaner spends 3 hours in a Lincoln Park condo and 45 minutes getting there. At $17.05, that is 3.75 × $17.05 = $63.94 in wages before payroll taxes and paid leave. At $175 for the clean, labor is 37% of the price before insurance and supplies.

Paid leave in Illinois: one state law and two local ones

Every Illinois employer owes paid leave, whatever its size. Which law applies depends on where your employees work: Chicago and Cook County have their own ordinances, and the state law covers everyone else.

• Rest of Illinois: the Department of Labor’s Paid Leave for All Workers Act FAQ says employees earn 1 hour for every 40 worked, up to 40 hours a year, usable after 90 days, at employers of every size. It doesn’t apply where Chicago’s or Cook County’s ordinance does.
• Suburban Cook County: the county’s paid leave ordinance also accrues 1 hour per 40 worked, and any carryover cap must be at least 40 hours.
• Chicago: the city’s 2026 announcement says workers who put in at least 80 hours in a 120-day period get up to 5 days of paid leave and 5 days of paid sick leave, each accruing at 1 hour per 35 worked. Paid leave is usable by day 90 and sick leave by day 30. Since July 1, 2026, workers can sue to enforce it.

What to set up

1. Write a one-page leave policy that matches the law where each cleaner works.
2. Track hours from the first day; accrual is per hour worked.
3. Show balances on pay stubs or in your payroll system.

A crew that cleans in both Chicago and Evanston may fall under more than one ordinance. Ask a payroll provider to set it up correctly.

Workers’ comp, IDES unemployment tax and new-hire reports

Workers’ comp is required with one employee, even part-time. New janitorial-type employers pay 3.45% unemployment tax on the first $14,250 of each worker’s wages in 2026. New hires are reported within 20 days.

Workers’ comp

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission’s insurance page says employers must carry coverage even with a single part-time employee. Sole proprietors, partners and LLC members can exclude themselves. Knowingly going without coverage can bring fines of up to $500 a day (at least $10,000) and a stop-work order. Quote it with your liability policy; our guide to insurance for cleaners covers both.

Unemployment insurance

IDES’s 2026 rate notice sets the new-employer rate at 3.350% generally and 3.450% in NAICS sector 56 (administrative and support services, which includes janitorial services), with a taxable wage base of $14,250. At 3.45%, that is up to $491.63 per employee per year.

New-hire reporting

IDES’s new hire page says to report each employee within 20 days of their first day on payroll, with their name, address, Social Security number and hire date.

Paying cleaners as 1099 contractors doesn’t sidestep any of this if you control their schedule, supplies and methods. Get advice before you choose.

What does it cost to start a cleaning business in Illinois?

Downstate, a sole proprietor can start for a county filing fee. In Chicago, budget $500 for the city license plus the name filing, newspaper notices and possibly a storage unit.

Fees were checked on official Illinois pages on October 9, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our ranges, not quotes.

Landing Illinois clients, and where BroomBook fits

Pick a compact area first: a few Chicago neighborhoods on one side of the river, or two or three suburbs. Referrals, a Google Business Profile and neighborhood groups will fill a solo schedule faster than ads. Our guide on how to get clients for a cleaning business has the scripts.

We make BroomBook, booking, scheduling and crew software for residential cleaning businesses. You leave the optional sales tax setting off, since Illinois doesn’t tax cleaning. Bookings can be limited to a radius or a list of ZIP codes, handy for staying on one side of the Chicago city line while your license is pending. Each cleaner clocks in and out from a private link, and hours, tips and commission export to CSV, which gives your payroll provider the hours it needs for paid leave accrual. BroomBook doesn’t track leave balances, run payroll or sync with accounting software.

Plans are $29 a month on Solo (up to 2 cleaners) or $59 a month on Team (unlimited cleaners), with a 14-day free trial. See the cleaning payroll software page for how the export works.