How Much Does Air Duct Cleaning Cost in New York City? [2025 Data]

Duct cleaning in New York costs homeowners $371 on average, but it commonly ranges from $267 to $488. This cost comes from a few different factors—the main two being labor hours and ductwork size. However, New York is a unique city, and with it come unique influences on price. Learn how licensing, duct material, and seasonal demand can all impact what you’ll pay. 

Air Duct Cleaning Cost Factors 

Homeowners in New York, NY, need to keep their ducts clean to avoid expensive ductwork repairs and other issues with their homes. The good news is that this project only costs a few hundred dollars and doesn’t need to happen all too often. Unsurprisingly, the two biggest factors that affect pricing are duct size and the hours required to clean them.

Total Square Footage of Vents

The more ductwork you have, the more you'll pay for cleaning. Some local air duct cleaners base their price on the property’s square footage since the larger your home is, the more ductwork you'll have.

The cost of cleaning ductwork is $0.15 to $0.30 per square foot. So, to clean vents in a 1,500-square-foot house, expect to pay between $225 and $450. Here’s a breakdown of the average air duct cleaning costs based on the size of your home:

Number of Vents

As with ductwork, the more vents you have, the more it’ll cost to clean them. On average, vents cost $35 each to clean, with most homeowners paying between $25 and $50 per vent. To get a ballpark estimate for the cost of vent cleaning, count the vents in your home and multiply that by $35.

New York tends to have smaller houses than other parts of the country, which means fewer individual vents to clean. Here’s how the number of vents affects your air duct cleaning cost:

Type of Ductwork

If you have flex ducts, expect to pay toward the upper end of the range. Unlike metal ducts, flex ducts require special cleaning equipment, so you’ll pay more to clean them. Rigid metal ducts are easy to clean with a vacuum, air hose, or power brush, so they cost less to clean.

Labor Cost

Most ductwork pros charge by the hour, with duct cleaning services priced between $90 and $125 per hour. Depending on the size of your home, the type of ductwork you have, and how accessible the ducts are, most cleaning jobs require three to eight hours of labor.

Accessibility

If you ensure that vents are easy to reach with vacuuming equipment, accessibility shouldn’t be a problem. But some ductwork designs make accessing them difficult, especially if you don’t have floor vents. If air duct technicians have to work harder or take additional steps to reach your vents, it can result in additional labor charges.

Inspections

Some vent problems, like noticeable mold or nests, don’t require an inspection before cleaning. However, if you aren’t sure about the state of your vents, consider arranging a professional inspection. These inspections are often bundled together as part of an HVAC inspection, which costs an average of $300 but can fall under $100 for simple systems.

Level of Cleanliness or Contamination

Duct cleaning is offered as a package with set labor costs, but extremely dirty jobs will cost extra. If the ducts have never been cleaned and need a lot of work to remove dust and buildup, expect additional fees.

Air Duct Cleaning Pro Costs

The majority of your duct cleaning costs come down to labor. Here’s how that breaks down. 

Labor in New York

Professional duct cleaners in New York work during typical business hours. It’s extremely rare that duct cleaning is an emergency, so know that even in the city that never sleeps, any work done outside common working hours will include, at the very least, a 50% markup. Other than that, try to hire pros in the same neighborhood to avoid travel costs. If you live in Harlem, hire from Harlem—Midtown from Midtown, etc.   

Talk to an air duct cleaner in New York to discuss their pricing structure and availability. Don’t be afraid to talk to a few different companies in order to average out your quotes.

Licensing

In New York City, any HVAC work that costs more than $200 requires a home improvement contractor (HIC) license. Make sure your pro has one, as marketing duct cleaning services without the proper licensure is unfortunately common. Work completed without proper licensing can void your warranty or home insurance—a serious problem in case of expensive fire damage. 

Tipping

Tipping in New York for services is more common than in other cities, but it’s not the norm when paying for duct cleaning. We recommend tipping only if you experience exceptional service, your pro cuts you a deal on the labor, or they perform the work outside their normal hours (but charge you normal rates). Tipping 10% is what we recommend for pros who go above and beyond, but again, it isn’t ordinary or expected.  

General Contractor 

You might not know that you need your ducts cleaned until pros are in your home working on a different project. Some general contractors are familiar with the work and can clean basic ductwork, like sheet metal ducts. That being said, we strongly recommend you stick to dedicated New York duct cleaning pros, especially since pricing is similar to what general contractors charge per hour.  

Does Air Duct Cleaning Increase Home Value?

No, cleaning air ducts won’t increase your home’s value. That being said, no buyer wants to perform maintenance immediately after purchasing a home, so having your ducts in good shape can make your home more attractive in a buyer’s market. 

The main reason cleaning won’t increase value is that homeowners consider clean ducts a safety requirement. Clean ducts mean cleaner air, but they also mean less risk of fire or the spreading of contaminants. Due to common air quality concerns, the state of your ductwork is more important in New York than in other cities.

How Angi Gets Its Cost Data

Home is the most important place on earth, which is why Angi has helped more than 150 million homeowners transform their houses into homes they adore. To help homeowners with their next project, Angi provides readers with the most accurate cost data and upholds strict editorial standards. We’ve surveyed thousands of real Angi customers about their project costs to develop the pricing data you see, so you can make the best decisions for you and your home. We pair this data with research from reputable sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, academic journals, market studies, and interviews with industry experts—all to ensure our prices reflect real-world projects. 

Want to help us improve our cost data? Send us a recent project quote to [email protected]. Quotes and personal information will not be shared publicly.