Best programs to become a first-line supervisor
1 college programs and 97 schools train First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $49,100 median wage, 178,760 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 97 schools train first-line supervisors of housekeeping and janitorial workers, graduating 2,461 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Building/Property Maintenance. The job pays a median of $49,100 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About first-line supervisors of housekeeping and janitorial workers
Directly supervise and coordinate work activities of cleaning personnel in hotels, hospitals, offices, and other establishments.
Best programs to study to become a first-line supervisor
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 46.0401 | 2,461 | 100.0% | 97 | $31,641 | $9,500 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
What first-line supervisors of housekeeping and janitorial workers earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | $47,490 | 5,550 | 0.98× | 12 | 673 |
| Illinois | $49,410 | 5,090 | 0.73× | 9 | 249 |
| Virginialimited | $48,660 | 5,900 | 1.25× | 1 | 210 |
| Texas | $41,660 | 13,370 | 0.83× | 6 | 138 |
| Louisiana | $38,640 | 2,470 | 1.11× | 5 | 127 |
| Kansaslimited | $49,780 | 1,570 | 0.95× | 2 | 85 |
| New Jerseylimited | $55,170 | 5,600 | 1.14× | 2 | 71 |
| Oklahoma | $40,460 | 2,290 | 1.17× | 9 | 70 |
| Tennessee | $46,800 | 3,510 | 0.93× | 5 | 69 |
| Ohiomoderate | $46,110 | 5,730 | 0.90× | 4 | 68 |
| Pennsylvaniamoderate | $46,920 | 6,250 | 0.90× | 4 | 53 |
| Wisconsinmoderate | $49,070 | 2,740 | 0.81× | 4 | 47 |
| Michiganmoderate | $46,770 | 3,870 | 0.76× | 4 | 42 |
| Minnesotamoderate | $53,510 | 2,270 | 0.67× | 3 | 40 |
| Massachusettslimited | $59,760 | 4,000 | 0.96× | 1 | 38 |
| Kentuckylimited | $45,860 | 2,920 | 1.27× | 2 | 36 |
| Coloradolimited | $55,100 | 4,070 | 1.23× | 1 | 31 |
| Arizonalimited | $48,610 | 3,050 | 0.82× | 2 | 30 |
| Washingtonlimited | $63,550 | 2,910 | 0.71× | 2 | 30 |
| Missourimoderate | $45,660 | 3,130 | 0.93× | 3 | 27 |
| Mississippimoderate | $42,230 | 1,550 | 1.16× | 3 | 27 |
| New Yorklimited | $60,580 | 11,620 | 1.04× | 2 | 19 |
| New Mexicolimited | $44,840 | 890 | 0.89× | 1 | 17 |
| Floridalimited | $45,770 | 15,320 | 1.34× | 2 | 11 |
| Delawarelimited | $50,750 | 790 | 1.42× | 1 | 9 |
| Georgialimited | $46,070 | 5,810 | 1.03× | 1 | 9 |
| Arkansaslimited | $37,500 | 1,490 | 1.00× | 2 | 8 |
| Nebraskalimited | $48,870 | 1,260 | 1.07× | 1 | 4 |
| Californialimited | $61,470 | 18,060 | 0.86× | 1 | 1 |
| Nevadalimited | $50,080 | 4,100 | 2.30× | 1 | 1 |
Skills and knowledge
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Supervise in-house services, such as laundries, maintenance and repair, dry cleaning, or valet services.
- Select the most suitable cleaning materials for different types of linens, furniture, flooring, and surfaces.
- Advise managers, desk clerks, or admitting personnel of rooms ready for occupancy.
- Inspect work performed to ensure that it meets specifications and established standards.
- Perform or assist with cleaning duties as necessary.
- Plan and prepare employee work schedules.
- Establish and implement operational standards and procedures for the departments supervised.
- Inspect and evaluate the physical condition of facilities to determine the type of work required.
Skills
- Speaking3.3
- Monitoring3.3
- Active Listening3.1
- Critical Thinking3.1
- Learning Strategies3.1
- Reading Comprehension3.0
- Writing2.9
- Active Learning2.9
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service4.4
- English Language3.9
- Administration and Management3.7
- Education and Training3.4
- Public Safety and Security3.3
- Personnel and Human Resources3.2
Abilities
- Oral Expression3.9
- Oral Comprehension3.6
- Problem Sensitivity3.3
- Near Vision3.3
- Information Ordering3.3
- Speech Clarity3.3
Core activities
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.5
- Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others4.4
- Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials4.4
- Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates4.4
- Training and Teaching Others4.3
- Getting Information4.2
How to get in
How to become a First-Line Supervisor
- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Work experience needed
- Less than 5 years
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 46.0401Building/Property Maintenance
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become a First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping?+
High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Building/Property Maintenance, which awarded 2,461 degrees in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Building/Construction Finishing. Together they graduate about 2,461 people a year.
How much do first-line supervisors of housekeeping and janitorial workers earn?+
The median is $49,100 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $35,520 at the 10th percentile to $76,430 at the 90th. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for first-line supervisors of housekeeping and janitorial workers growing?+
BLS projects a +2.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 33,000 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
97 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do first-line supervisors of housekeeping and janitorial workers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Executive Housekeeper, Maintenance Supervisor, Housekeeping Supervisor, Environmental Services Supervisor (EVS) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 37-1011.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024-25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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