Carpet
Carpet cleaning cost
Cleaning three bedrooms, a hallway and a flight of stairs costs about $227 by hot-water extraction — about $50 a room, with a job minimum near $150. A sofa is about $120; pet treatment about $35 a room. Renting a machine is about $101, and replacing the same carpet would be $4,141.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-30 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Carpet cleaning cost calculator
The rooms, the stairs and the extras
Carpet cleaning is priced by the room with a job minimum; hallways, stairs and extras are added on top.
A carpet cleaning company.
Dry in 6–12 hours.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
3 rooms, hallway, 13 steps
$227
$0.36 a square foot · $162–$341
About $76 a room, all in
The per-room price once hallways, stairs and extras are shared out.
Clean or replace
$4,141 to replace it.
A mid-range carpet and pad, installed, with the old one taken up — as on the carpet installation page. Cleaning pays until the pile is crushed flat or the smell comes back after cleaning.
Hired, low-moisture, yourself — or new carpet
The carpet only, no upholstery or extras.
What the carpet cleaner charges for
- 3 rooms
About $50 a room up to 250 sq ft.$150 - 1 hallway
Half a room each.$25 - 13 steps
About $4 a step.$52
What it costs
National average. 3 rooms of about 180 sq ft, hallways and stairs, hot-water extraction (steam). Not included: water-damage drying, re-stretching, repairs.
Taking it up instead: carpet removal; the ducts the dust comes from: duct cleaning.
Worth knowing
- 3 rooms at about $50. Companies advertising a low price per room make it back on the minimum, the hallway, the stairs and the pet treatment, so ask for the price of the whole job.
- Hot-water extraction (steam): Hot water and detergent sprayed in and extracted by a truck-mounted or portable unit. The deepest clean, and the method most warranties name. Dry in about 6–12 hours.
- Most carpet warranties ask for professional cleaning every 12–18 months — every 6–12 with pets or small children. Keep the receipt.
- Replacing this carpet with a mid-range carpet and pad would be about $4,141 — $6.48 a square foot against $0.36 to clean it. Cleaning is worth it until the pile is crushed flat or the backing smells after cleaning.
On this page — 4 sections
By the room, with a minimum
The short version
- Three rooms, hall and stairs: $227.
- About $50 a room, minimum $150.
- Rented machine: $101.
- Replacing it: $4,141.
Carpet cleaners price by the room — about $50 for one up to 250 sq ft — with a minimum for the visit. Hallways count as about half a room and stairs are priced by the step. The low price per room in an advertisement is real; the minimum, the stairs and the pet treatment are where the total grows.
| Hot-water extraction | Per sq ft | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 room | $150 | $0.83 |
| 3 rooms, hall, stairs | $227 | $0.36 |
| 5 rooms, hall, stairs | $327 | $0.33 |
| 5 rooms + pet, protector, furniture | $777 | $0.78 |
$227
3 rooms
Hall and stairs
$150
1 room
The minimum
$101
Rented
Yourself
$4,141
Replace
Same carpet
MaterialsEstimator, Carpet and upholstery cleaning price survey · checked 2026-09-30
Steam or low-moisture
| Dry in | 3 rooms, hall, stairs | |
|---|---|---|
| Hot-water extraction (steam) | 6–12 hours | $227 |
| Low-moisture (encapsulation) | 1–2 hours | $204 |
Hot-water extraction is the deep clean and the method most carpet warranties ask for, every 12–18 months. Low-moisture cleaning is quicker to dry and good for maintenance between deep cleans. Either way, what makes carpet dirty again quickly is detergent left in it — a good cleaner rinses.
IICRC / Carpet and Rug Institute, IICRC S100 Standard for Professional Cleaning of Textile Floor Coverings, and CRI maintenance guidance · checked 2026-09-30
Clean or replace
Replacing the same 639 sq ft with a mid-range carpet and pad, installed and with the old one taken up, is about $4,141 — the carpet installation page’s own prices. At $0.36 a square foot, cleaning is the better spend until the pile is crushed, the backing delaminates or the pad smells after cleaning.
MaterialsEstimator, Carpet price survey · checked 2026-09-16
What goes wrong
Before the cleaner comes
- Vacuum thoroughly — it is half the result.
- Small items off the floor.
- Pets and children out of the way until it dries.
- Ask for the whole job's price, not the per-room rate.
- Fans on and windows open afterwards.
01Choosing on price per room
Minimums and add-ons decide the total.
Instead — Compare whole-job prices.
02Over-wetting
The pad stays wet and smells.
Instead — Good extraction, fans, and not walking on it.
03Leaving soap in
It attracts dirt and resoils fast.
Instead — A rinse pass.
04Cleaning urine-soaked pad
The smell returns with humidity.
Instead — Enzyme treatment — or replace the pad.
- 01Count the roomsEach room up to about 250 sq ft counts once; bigger rooms count as more.
- 02Add hallways and stairsA hallway is about half a room; stairs are priced by the step.
- 03Decide on extrasPet treatment, protector, moving furniture.
- 04Add upholstery and rugsSofas and chairs by the piece, rugs by the square foot.
- 05Check the minimumOne or two rooms usually pay the job minimum.
- 06Ask for the whole jobNot the price per room: the total with stairs, hallway and extras.
New carpet and pad by the room, with seams, stairs and removal.
If it is past cleaning- Hot-water extraction
- The 'steam cleaning' most companies sell: hot water and detergent injected and sucked back out, by a truck-mounted or portable unit.
- Truck-mounted unit
- A cleaning machine in the van with hoses run into the house: more heat and suction than a portable, so the carpet dries faster.
- Low-moisture cleaning
- Encapsulation: a foaming detergent worked in with a rotary machine, crystallizing the dirt for vacuuming. Dry in an hour or two.
- Pre-spray
- A detergent sprayed on traffic lanes and stains before extraction to loosen oily soil.
- Enzyme treatment
- A treatment for pet urine that breaks down the proteins causing the odor, worked down into the pad.
- Carpet protector
- A fluorochemical spray applied after cleaning to help the fibres resist stains and soil.
- Resoiling
- Carpet getting dirty again quickly after cleaning, usually from detergent left in it.
Common questions
- How much does carpet cleaning cost?
- About $227 for three bedrooms, a hallway and 13 stairs by hot-water extraction — $0.36 a square foot. Five rooms with the same hallway and stairs are $327. A single room pays the job minimum, about $150.
- How much does carpet cleaning cost per room?
- About $50 a room up to 250 sq ft ($35–$75), with a job minimum near $150. Once hallways, stairs and extras are shared out, three rooms come to about $76 each.
- How much does it cost to clean carpet on stairs?
- About $4 a step — $52 for a 13-step flight — usually added to a room job; on its own it pays the minimum, $150.
- How much does pet stain and odor treatment cost?
- About $35 a room on top of the cleaning for an enzyme treatment worked into the pad. Five rooms with pet treatment, protector and furniture moved come to $777.
- How much does upholstery cleaning cost?
- About $120 for a sofa and $60 a chair — a sofa and two chairs are $240. On its own, a sofa pays the job minimum, $150.
- Is steam cleaning or dry cleaning better?
- Hot-water extraction cleans deeper and is what most carpet warranties name; the carpet is damp for 6–12 hours. Low-moisture cleaning is a little cheaper — $204 against $227 here — and dry in 1–2 hours, but less thorough on heavy soil.
- Is it cheaper to rent a carpet cleaner?
- Yes: about $101 for a day's rental, solution and pretreatment, against $227 hired, and about 2.1 hours of work. A rented machine has less heat and suction than a truck-mounted unit, so the carpet stays wetter and gets less of the deep soil out.
- How often should carpet be cleaned?
- Professionally every 12–18 months, which is what most carpet warranties ask for, and every 6–12 months with pets or small children — vacuuming in between.
- Should I clean or replace my carpet?
- Replacing this carpet with a mid-range carpet and pad would be about $4,141 — $6.48 a square foot against $0.36 to clean it. Clean until the pile is crushed flat, the backing is failing or the pad smells even after cleaning.
Send this to whoever is paying
The link carries your measurements, so whoever opens it sees the same numbers you are looking at — and you can come back to it yourself tomorrow with the delivery note in front of you.
Plain links, no tracking scripts. Nothing here reports back that you shared it.
About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
More about how this site is edited