Every dollar of that $40,500 spread traces to pay: median wages run $12.68/hr in Shreveport-Bossier City against $22.40/hr in Longview-Kelso, with loaded rates from $15.47/hr to $27.33/hr. But the contract compresses the gap: wages in the priciest market are 76.7% higher, while its contract is only 36.5% higher, because fixed overhead does not scale with wages. Omaha, the median market, sits in between at $17.12/hr and $129,500 a year. That compression is the caution for buyers: identical work legitimately prices from $0.154 to $0.210 per sq ft per month, so a neighboring district's annual contract is a fair benchmark only if both districts draw labor from the same wage market. Check the local loaded rate first; the contract total follows from it.
How to use this against a bid. When reading a bid, benchmark it to your own metro's median wage and the $0.154–$0.210 per sq ft per month band — a neighboring district's contract proves nothing unless it draws from the same wage market.
The arithmetic underneath
One building — 60,000 sq ft, APPA Level 4, 185 session nights plus the summer block, 2,721 paid crew hours — costed against the median janitorial wage in 393 US metros. Identical in every row, so nothing moves but the labor market.
| Market | BLS median | Loaded | Per year | Per month | $/sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest on the mainland Shreveport-Bossier City, LA |
$12.68 | $15.47 | $111,000 | $9,259 | $0.154 |
| Median market Omaha, NE-IA |
$17.12 | $20.89 | $129,500 | $10,795 | $0.180 |
| Dearest Longview-Kelso, WA |
$22.40 | $27.33 | $151,500 | $12,620 | $0.210 |
And the same building with only the specification changed:
| Service level | Hours/night | Per year | $/sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| APPA Level 2 | 20.6 | $178,500 | $0.248 |
| APPA Level 3 | 15.4 | $148,500 | $0.206 |
| APPA Level 4 — the level most districts fund | 12.6 | $132,000 | $0.183 |
- $40,500
- a year between the cheapest and dearest mainland market
- $46,500
- a year between the top and bottom of the service ladder
- 158.315
- BLS price index for this service, August 2026 (+5.68% on the year)
- +3.4%
- CPI-U over the same twelve months
Wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (metropolitan areas), May 2025. The cost schedule — burden, relief, fixed overhead, G&A — is set out line by line on the pricing page, and the production rates are APPA's.