ThumbtackHome Resource CenterWhat America's Homeowners Are Paying to Maintain Their Homes

What America's Homeowners Are Paying to Maintain Their Homes

Data from our Q2 ’26 report reveals home maintenance costs are finally beginning to stabilize

Jack Erb•Thumbtack's Economist •Last updated Jul 14, 2026

Last updated Jul 14, 2026

After several years of steep increases, annual home maintenance costs are showing their first meaningful signs of stabilization. According to Thumbtack’s latest Home Care Price Index, homeowners now spend an average of $11,196 each year to maintain a single-family home, just 2% more than a year ago, the smallest annual increase we’ve reported since 2022.

The slower pace of growth suggests that many of the labor and material cost pressures that drove sharp increases over the past several years are beginning to ease. While homeowners shouldn’t expect maintenance costs to return to pre-pandemic levels, the data points to a more stable pricing environment than we’ve seen in recent years.

Thumbtack’s Home Care Price Index is an estimate of the annual cost of maintaining a home using hired professionals in cities across the country. We calculate this based on data from more than a million home projects started on Thumbtack that are essential to keep your home running smoothly and avoid costly repairs.

While single-family home maintenance costs are beginning to level off, owners of townhomes and condos aren’t seeing quite as much relief. Annual maintenance costs rose 3.7% for townhomes and 5.9% for condos year-over-year, reaching $9,354 and $3,532, respectively.

The Biggest Movers in Home Maintenance Costs

While overall maintenance costs are easing, homeowners are still seeing significant price swings depending on the project. Here’s a look at which maintenance projects experienced the biggest increases and decreases, and what’s likely driving those changes.

Deck staining and sealing saw the largest increase, up 16.51% YoY, followed by central air conditioning repair and maintenance (+13.07%) as homeowners invest in protecting outdoor spaces and keeping cooling systems running amid hotter summers. Recurring services also became more expensive, with house cleaning (+7.35%) and lawn mowing (+6.98%) both up year-over-year, likely reflecting continued labor cost pressures and steady demand. At the same time, several maintenance projects became more affordable. Tree trimming and removal saw the sharpest decline, down -15.75%, potentially reflecting fewer major storm cleanup needs than a year ago. Pest control (-5.39%), tile and grout cleaning (-3.02%), fireplace and chimney cleaning (-2.54%), and gutter cleaning (-1.08%) also declined, suggesting demand for some seasonal and preventative services has begun to normalize.

L.A. set a new record for U.S. home maintenance spending.

While inflation in home maintenance costs is slowing nationally, homeowners in most major metros are still paying more than they did a year ago. Annual upkeep costs increased in 25 of the 30 largest U.S. metros, though in many cases the increases were more modest than those seen over the past several years.

Los Angeles experienced by far the largest jump, with annual home maintenance costs rising 25.12% to $13,783 — the highest annual home maintenance cost of any major U.S. metro. The sharp increase likely reflects a mix of regional factors, including wildfire-related recovery efforts, strong demand for home services, and persistently high labor costs. Sacramento (+7.44%), Charlotte (+7.26%), Portland (+7.14%), and Denver and Minneapolis (both +7.13%) rounded out the largest year-over-year increases.

The variation across cities reflects the highly local nature of home maintenance costs. Factors such as regional labor markets, the age of the housing stock, climate-related wear and tear, and local demand for home services all influence how much homeowners pay to maintain their homes. Five metros — including Seattle (-3.08%), Atlanta (-2.89%), Houston (-1.71%), New York (-1.41%), and Boston (-0.03% ) — saw costs decline year over year, suggesting some markets are beginning to normalize after several years of elevated price growth.

Summer Is the Time to Get Ahead on Home Maintenance

Summer offers homeowners an ideal window to tackle preventative maintenance before seasonal wear turns into expensive repairs. Air conditioning tune-ups, deck staining and sealing, gutter cleaning, window washing, and routine lawn care all help protect a home’s value while reducing the likelihood of larger issues later in the year. With several of these services — including deck maintenance, A/C repairs, lawn mowing, and house cleaning — seeing above-average price increases this year, scheduling work before peak demand can also help homeowners avoid higher costs and longer wait times.

Looking ahead, elevated mortgage rates continue to keep many owners in their current homes longer, making regular upkeep a smarter investment than moving. While inflation has cooled across much of the economy, heightened energy prices driven by ongoing global conflicts continue to put upward pressure on costs, which means interest rates could remain higher for longer. Against that backdrop, aging homes, increasingly extreme weather, and higher labor costs make preventative maintenance one of the most effective ways homeowners can protect both their budgets and one of their largest financial assets.

Your home makes so much of life possible, and caring for it shouldn’t be another source of stress. With a proactive maintenance plan and the right support, homeowners can spend less time worrying about what might go wrong and more time enjoying everything their home makes possible.

Download the Thumbtack app to receive personalized home maintenance guidance and connect with trusted pros to help keep your home — and your life — running smoothly.

Methodology: The Home Care Price Index incorporates Thumbtack categories that are deemed essential annual tasks for home maintenance, taking into account the frequency with which projects need to be completed. We also added additional maintenance projects to create a more in-depth picture of best practices for home maintenance.

Pricing data is based on millions of projects requested on Thumbtack between January 1, 2022 and July 1, 2026 reported directly by the independent service professional or individual customer. The cost is a weighted index of home maintenance projects, based on recommended yearly frequency, on a quarterly basis using a moving average. Outliers were removed if the reported price was 3x the standard deviation from the mean within each individual category. Regional reporting is based on the pricing data for requests in that specific geographic area. For regional data, if there were not enough pricing estimates for a specific category, national averages were used instead.