Bellingham
Bellingham's minimum wage is $19.13 an hour as of January 1, 2026, which is $2.00 above Washington's $17.13 state rate. The city resets it every January 1 at $2.00 above the state minimum, and it applies to all hours employees work within Bellingham city limits. The city's page doesn't post a 2027 rate yet.
Bellingham ties its wage to Washington's with a fixed $2.00 gap, so the state's announcement sets the timing for the city's number. This page covers how that works, who the city rate reaches, a note on Washington sales tax, and what it means for your books. For payroll registration and the rest of the state picture, see bookkeeping for Washington cleaning businesses.
The City of Bellingham's minimum wage page, last updated January 1, 2026, lists $19.13 an hour for 2026. The rate resets each January 1 at $2.00 above the applicable Washington minimum wage, and the city sets it within two weeks of the state publishing its new rate. It applies to all hours worked by employees within city limits, and the page lists no hours threshold and no employer-size exemption. For employers based outside Bellingham, the page says how the ordinance applies can only be decided by a reviewing court. Coverage questions for your crews go to the city or an employment attorney.
Source: City of Bellingham, City Minimum Wage (page last updated January 1, 2026)
Washington's Department of Labor & Industries has announced a state rate of $17.73 an hour starting January 1, 2027, up from $17.13. Bellingham's page doesn't show its 2027 rate yet, and this page won't state one until the city posts it.
Source: Washington Department of Labor & Industries, 2026 Minimum Wage Announcement
Washington has a retail sales tax and a business and occupation (B&O) tax on gross receipts. For retail sales tax, routine janitorial work is excluded, while specialized or non-repetitive cleaning, such as fire or flood clean-up, stays a retail sale. House cleaning is conditional only by inference: no Department of Revenue source names it, and a January 2020 Department of Revenue appeals determination on residential hot tub cleaning says the statute makes no residential/commercial distinction. The full lists are on my Washington sales tax page. This page doesn't cover local sales tax rates or B&O tax, and how any of it applies to your jobs is a question for your CPA.
Source: Washington State Department of Revenue, Det. No. 20-0012, 41 WTD 24 (published February 4, 2022)
The January number isn't posted yet, and that can feel like planning blind. Don't panic. The rule is fixed. We'll book it when it lands. Wages go in at what each person is actually paid for Bellingham hours, kept apart from work outside city limits, so the city rate shows up as its own labor cost. Here's how I set up payroll for cleaning businesses.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I keep wages and labor costs recorded; tax questions go to your CPA, and coverage questions go to the city or an employment attorney.
Rules checked against the sources above as of October 20, 2026. Rates and rules change; confirm current figures with the agency or your CPA.
About Figure Eight Financial
Figure Eight Financial is Dave Gordon’s bookkeeping practice for residential and commercial cleaning companies. I work with owners in Bellingham and across the country, and I’m a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor.
Before bookkeeping I studied computer science at Penn State and spent a career at IBM as an engineer, so I build the books as a system: data comes in once, lands in the right place, and ties back to a statement. I’m a bookkeeper, not a CPA or Enrolled Agent. I keep the books your CPA works from, and the tax decisions stay with your CPA.
Credentials and memberships reported by Figure Eight Financial.
More about DaveHow I Help
Bellingham's rate follows the state's with a $2.00 gap, so the January change comes after Washington publishes its number. Hours worked inside city limits are recorded at the wage actually paid, separate from jobs elsewhere, so the city rate shows up in your labor cost. Book a short call below and bring the Bellingham contracts you want to check.
The core service. Transactions recorded and categorized, every account reconciled so the books and the bank agree, and monthly reports that arrive explained, split by residential and commercial and sliceable per contract.
The full picture of how this works for a cleaning companyFor the months where nothing got entered at all. I fill in the missing periods from the ground up, pulling bank feeds, statements, and receipts until every month has a complete set of records.
How catch-up bookkeeping worksFor books that exist but can’t be trusted. I audit what’s there, fix the unreconciled accounts, duplicate transactions, and wrong categories, and tie every balance back to a statement.
How cleanup bookkeeping worksYour crews paid on time, every pay period, with each payroll run recorded in the books so labor shows up against the jobs it belongs to.
How payroll worksRecurring invoices that match your contracts, an aging report you can trust, and follow-up on slow payers handled by a process instead of your evenings. Built for net-60 commercial accounts.
How invoicing and receivables workA file built right for a cleaning company from day one, or rebuilt after the DIY version drifts, and then I teach you to run it. I’m a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, and this is honestly my favorite part of the job.
How a proper setup worksWe start with a short call about your business and where the books stand. The first conversation doesn’t cost anything.
I take a look at what you’ve got, your QuickBooks file, your spreadsheet, whatever exists.
You get a written proposal with the price, so the decision is yours with the number in hand.
Let's Connect
Running Bellingham jobs and want the city hours separated from the rest before January? Tell me how your payroll is set up now. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
