Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Worker Career Assessment
Steady indoor work that hospitals cannot run without
Welcome
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers wash, press, and finish linens and garments in commercial laundries, hospitals, hotels, and dry cleaners.
It pays about $3.50 an hour more than fast food, needs no school, and about 140 positions open in North Dakota each year.
This takes about 15 minutes.
What is a Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Worker?
You sort incoming items, load and run industrial washers and dryers, press and fold or hang the finished work, check for stains and damage, treat what needs treating, and get everything back to where it belongs on schedule. In a hospital laundry you also handle soiled linen under infection-control rules, which is the part that actually matters.
The Reality: If nobody runs the laundry, a hospital runs out of clean sheets and gowns inside a day. That is not an exaggeration — a hospital laundry is a genuine link in patient care, and the people who do it are almost never thought of that way. The work is hot, humid, and repetitive. Industrial dryers make a laundry room a different climate from the rest of the building, and you are on your feet in it. Lifting wet linen is heavier than people expect. Handling soiled hospital linen is part of the job in medical settings, and it is not pleasant; the training exists for good reasons and you should take it seriously.
Your Responsibilities:
- Sort incoming laundry by type, color, and soil level
- Load and operate industrial washers and dryers
- Measure and handle chemicals correctly
- Press, fold, and hang finished items
- Check for stains and damage and treat or remove items
- Handle soiled linen under infection-control rules in medical settings
- Track and deliver finished items on schedule
- Keep the equipment clean and report faults
- Maintain counts so departments do not run short
Linen arriving where it is needed, on time and clean, is a schedule somebody has to actually run.
A Day in the Life
6:00 AM — Clock in. Check what came in overnight and what is due out.
6:15 AM — Sort incoming. Soiled linen handled separately and properly.
7:00 AM — First loads running. Start pressing yesterday’s dried work.
9:00 AM — Break.
9:15 AM — Fold and pack. Flag two damaged items out of service.
11:00 AM — Lunch.
11:30 AM — Afternoon loads. Deliver finished linen to the departments.
2:00 PM — Clean lint traps, log counts, set up for tomorrow.
A steady routine against a delivery schedule, mostly indoors and mostly on your own.
Training in North Dakota
No school needed. Trained on the job within a week or two. You learn the machines, the chemicals, and the sorting rules by doing them. Hospital laundries add infection-control training, which the employer provides.
Training Pathways:
- Hospital and care home laundries: The steadiest and usually best-paid end of this work, with day shifts and real benefits.
- Hotel laundries: Often part of a housekeeping department, and sometimes an easier shift than cleaning rooms.
- Commercial laundries and dry cleaners: Smaller operations, more variety, and dry cleaning involves learning garment and chemical handling properly.
- Pressing and finishing: The skilled end of a dry cleaner, and it pays better than washing and sorting.
Where to Train in North Dakota:
Before You Start: No diploma or experience required. You need to stand in a hot, humid room for a full shift and lift wet linen, which is heavy. Employers provide chemical safety and, in medical settings, infection-control training.
Tip: Most of these jobs need no school, so the cost of starting is not tuition — it is the things you need in the first month. Non-slip shoes, work clothes or a uniform, a way to get to work, and getting through the two or three weeks before the first paycheck arrives. Ask the employer first: many will supply a uniform, some give a shoe allowance, and some pay weekly rather than every two weeks, which matters a lot at the start. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like work clothes, boots, tools, or getting to work. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you start rather than after.
Certification & Licensing
No license or certificate is required. Nothing official is needed to start. Required safety training is the employer’s responsibility and they provide it.
Provided by the employer:
- Chemical safety training — required by law for the detergents and solvents you handle
- Bloodborne pathogen training — required in hospital and care home laundries
- Infection control training — provided in medical settings, and the reason the job matters
- Dry cleaning solvent handling — specific training for dry cleaners, provided on the job
The Exams: None required to start work.
Cost: Nothing. Required safety training is employer-provided.
Keeping It Current: Safety and infection-control training is normally repeated each year.
Salary & Job Outlook
North Dakota Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Worker Pay (May 2025):
- Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $14.92–$16.17/hour ($31,040–$33,640/year)
- Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $18.01/hour ($37,470/year)
- Experienced (top 25–10%): $19.33–$21.94/hour ($40,210–$45,630/year)
What that means: Hospital and care home laundries generally pay above this median and offer steadier hours and better benefits than hotels or small dry cleaners. The top of the range is usually a laundry lead or a skilled finisher. Apply to healthcare first.
Jobs in North Dakota: About 850 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 910 (about 7% growth). Expect about 140 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is growing about as fast as average.
Outlook: Modest growth of about 7% in North Dakota, with roughly 140 openings a year. It is a small job in this state, so you may wait for an opening — but healthcare laundry is the steadiest work in this whole area.
Who Hires in ND: Hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living, hotels, commercial and industrial laundries, dry cleaners, and uniform rental companies.
Work Setting: Indoors, hot and humid near the equipment, loud. Mostly day shifts in healthcare. You generally work alone or with a small crew rather than with the public.
Physical Demands: High. Standing in heat and humidity for a full shift, lifting wet linen, repeated loading and folding, reaching and bending.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 51-6011); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.
Where This Leads
Path 1: Laundry Worker — Where you start.
Path 2: Presser or Finisher — The skilled end of a dry cleaner, and better paid.
Path 3: Laundry Lead or Supervisor — Running the schedule, the counts, and a small crew.
Path 4: Hospital Environmental Services — Same setting, broader role, usually better paid.
Path 5: Housekeeping Supervisor — Common move in hotels, where laundry sits under housekeeping.
Path 6: Freight and Material Mover — If you want out of the heat — median about $4 an hour higher.
The Real Talk
What's Great:
- Pays about $3.50 an hour more than fast food
- No school, diploma, or experience needed
- Mostly day shifts in healthcare, with few nights
- You work on your own or with a small crew, not with the public
- Hospital laundries are steady, with real benefits
- The work is genuinely necessary and visibly finished at the end of a shift
What's Hard:
- Hot and humid for the whole shift
- Wet linen is heavier than people expect
- Repetitive loading, folding, and pressing
- Handling soiled linen is part of medical laundry work
- A small job in North Dakota — only about 140 openings a year
- Loud enough that hearing protection is sometimes needed
Be Honest: Can you work a full shift in heat and humidity? Can you handle soiled hospital linen properly and without fuss? And can you keep a routine accurate when it is the same routine every day?