New York City / Custodian
Role across New York City
Custodian
Operate, maintain, and repair equipment or facilities, performing skilled hands-on work.
320 people hold the Custodian role across 9 departments in New York City, with a median total compensation of $59,048. Among 18 jurisdictions where this role is reported, New York City ranks #7 by median pay.
- Employees
- 320
- Median pay
- $59,048
- Departments
- 9
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #7 of 18
Compared with the local labor market
Custodian pay vs. the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ area
Across all employers in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ area, the median wage for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners — about 183,030 people — is $42,840. New York City pays a median base salary of $44,583 for this role, 4% above that figure — about the 55th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where New York City sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners across every employer in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows New York City’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners — about 2,209,760 people — is $36,840. New York City’s median base salary is 21% above that national figure, about the 76th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 301 of 320 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at New York City is $59,048, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
Custodian pay in other jurisdictions
Where Custodians are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Custodian roles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.
Within New York City
Departments with this role
Largest New York City departments for this role
Departments in New York City employing the most people in this role. Each bar links to that department’s page for the role.