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Rug Cleaning Companies in New York City

Browse rug cleaning companies serving the five boroughs by service and borough, or start from your neighborhood. Persian and Oriental washing, silk, antique restoration, pet odor treatment, repair, and pickup and delivery are different trades — the guide below explains how to match the company to the rug. RugRate takes no payment for placement or ranking, so the order you see is not for sale.

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Rolled rugs standing side by side against a workshop wall, each with a paper tag tied to it

The RugRate Score is ours, out of 5 — how it is calculated. Star ratings are each platform’s own figures; “highest rated” uses the rating backed by the most reviews.

Companies in New York City

16 companies — services and service areas as each company publishes them, with their ratings on Google, Yelp and other platforms.

Ratings link to each platform’s listing and are shown as published there, checked Sep 17, 2026. Details come from each company’s own website. RugRate has not yet verified these companies — confirm licence and insurance when you call. How we handle reviews.

Ranked by RugRate Score

The same companies, ordered by the RugRate Score and written up one by one — what each is rated, how many reviews stand behind it, how long it has traded and what it publishes.

Before you book, ask every company

  • Is the quoted price the all-in price, and what is not included?
  • Which cleaning method will be used, and why that one?
  • Is the rug dusted before washing, and where is the work done?
  • How long will it take, door to door?
  • Is the rug insured while it is in your care?
  • What happens if you find damage or a limitation after pickup?

Rug Cleaners by Specialty

The most common expensive mistake in this category is hiring a general carpet cleaning company for a hand-knotted rug. They are different trades using different equipment, and the second one is not a subset of the first.

  • Persian and Oriental rug cleaners

    Hand-knotted rugs with natural dyes need colourfastness testing before washing, cold water, and controlled drying. Dye bleed is permanent. Look for in-plant washing and an IICRC Rug Cleaning Technician on staff.

  • Silk rug cleaners

    Genuine specialist work. Silk loses strength when wet and cannot tolerate heat or alkaline chemistry. Fewer NYC shops do this properly than claim to — ask specifically how many silk rugs they handle in a month.

  • Antique and heirloom rug restoration

    Reweaving, reknotting, foundation repair, and conservation cleaning. This is closer to textile conservation than to cleaning, and it is a very short list of qualified shops in the city. Never accept a flat per-square-foot price on an antique sight unseen.

  • Wool rug cleaners

    The most common rug in NYC homes and the most commonly mishandled. Wool felts and shrinks in hot water and is damaged by alkaline detergents. WoolSafe Approved status is a meaningful signal here.

  • Viscose and "art silk" specialists

    Viscose is the single most damage-prone floor covering sold — it yellows and loses pile on contact with water, and it is frequently sold as silk. Very few companies will take the liability. If a shop treats a viscose rug like wool, the damage is not repairable.

  • Pet odor and urine decontamination

    Urine is a chemistry problem, not a stain. It has to be flushed from the foundation, not surface-treated, which means full immersion. Any company promising to fix pet odor on-site in your apartment is selling you a temporary mask.

  • Rug repair, fringe, and binding

    Fringe replacement, edge serging, reweaving, moth damage repair. Some washing plants do this in house; many subcontract it. Ask which.

  • Companies offering pickup and delivery

    Most NYC rug cleaners include free pickup and delivery within the five boroughs. Confirm coverage at the outer edges — Staten Island and far eastern Queens sometimes carry a fee.

How RugRate Checks Companies

A directory is only worth as much as its worst listing. This is the standard a company has to meet before it carries a verified badge — verification is being carried out borough by borough.

  • What we check

    Business registration and active status; general liability insurance, plus bailee coverage for any company that takes rugs off-site — the policy that pays out if your rug is damaged or lost in their custody; a physical facility address for any company claiming in-plant washing; the stated service area against actual ZIP-code coverage; and certifications confirmed with the issuing body rather than copied from the company’s own website.

  • What we never do

    Accept payment for ranking, placement or a badge. No company can buy its way up this directory, buy a competitor out of it, or buy the removal of unfavourable information.

  • What a listing does not guarantee

    That every job goes well. Verification confirms a company is who it claims to be and is insured to do the work — it is not a warranty on the outcome. Get a written estimate, photograph your rug before it leaves your home, and keep the paperwork.

How to Choose from This List

Four checks, in order, will get most people to the right shop in about ten minutes.

  1. Method first

    For wool, silk, Persian, Oriental, or anything hand-knotted, keep only companies that wash in-plant. This removes most of the list and nearly all of the risk.

  2. Then by specialism

    Match the company to your actual fibre. A shop that does excellent work on wool may decline viscose entirely — and a shop that declines viscose is telling you something honest.

  3. Then by logistics

    Pickup coverage for your address, turnaround you can live with, and whether they can meet your building's certificate-of-insurance requirement.

  4. Then, last, by price

    Only compare price between companies offering the same service. A $180 quote and a $450 quote for the same rug are usually not the same job.

For a fuller breakdown of what to weigh and the ten questions to ask before booking, see how to compare rug cleaners. For what the work should cost, see the rug cleaning cost calculator.

Red Flags in an NYC Rug Cleaning Listing

Treat a company showing these patterns with caution, wherever you find it.

  • A flat price per rug quoted sight unseen, with no dimensions or fibre asked
  • "$99 any rug, any size" — the real price appears after they have your property
  • No physical address, or a refusal to say where the plant is
  • Same-day or one-hour turnaround promised on a hand-knotted rug
  • No certificate of insurance, or reluctance to produce one
  • Refusal to give a written estimate before pickup
  • A batch of reviews all posted within the same fortnight

We document specific reported tactics on Scam Watch.

Compare the same job, not three different scopes

Describe the rug or rooms, access and treatments once, then compare written, all-in quotes.

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Choosing a Company — FAQs

How do I find a good rug cleaning company in NYC?

Start with method rather than reviews. For wool, silk, Persian, Oriental, or hand-knotted rugs, filter to companies that wash in-plant — collected, dusted, dye-tested, submerged, rinsed, and dried under controlled conditions — rather than cleaning on-site in your apartment. Then match the company to your specific fibre, confirm insurance and pickup coverage, and compare price only between companies offering the same service.

Are rug cleaning companies licensed in New York City?

There is no rug-cleaning-specific licence in NYC, which is precisely why verification matters. What a legitimate company will have is active business registration, general liability insurance, and bailee coverage for rugs taken off-site. Voluntary certifications such as the IICRC Rug Cleaning Technician or WoolSafe Approved Service Provider are the closest thing the trade has to a professional standard.

Does RugRate charge companies for better placement?

No. No company can buy a higher position, a badge, or the removal of a data point.

What is the difference between a rug cleaner and a carpet cleaner?

Different trades. Carpet cleaners work on wall-to-wall carpet, usually on-site with extraction equipment. Rug cleaners wash area rugs in a facility with dusting machines, a wash floor with drainage, and a controlled drying room. Many companies advertise both, but only some have an actual plant. For any rug of value, hire the one with the plant.

Do NYC rug cleaners pick up and deliver?

Most do, and most include it free within the five boroughs. Where it is charged, expect $20 to $75 per trip, and expect it more often for Staten Island and outer-edge ZIP codes. Confirm it is included before comparing two quotes — it is the most common hidden line item.

How many rug cleaning companies are in New York City?

Several hundred businesses advertise rug cleaning across the five boroughs, but far fewer operate an actual washing plant, and a smaller number again specialise in hand-knotted, silk, or antique rugs. Much of the citywide advertising is fronted by companies that subcontract the washing to a handful of plants, mostly in Queens and industrial Brooklyn.

Should I use a local neighborhood rug cleaner or a citywide company?

Either works, because nearly all of them collect citywide. Your neighborhood affects pickup scheduling and occasionally delivery fees, not quality. Judge on method, specialism, and insurance rather than on proximity — a shop two subway stops away with no plant is a worse choice than one in Queens with a proper facility.

What certifications should I look for?

The IICRC Rug Cleaning Technician (RCT) is the relevant one — specific to rugs, covering fibre identification, dye testing, and washing method. IICRC Certified Firm status and WoolSafe Approved Service Provider are also strong signals. Note that IICRC Carpet Cleaning Technician (CCT) covers carpet rather than rugs, so a CCT-only company is not a rug specialist.

How do I know if a company's reviews are genuine?

Look at distribution over time rather than the average. A cluster of reviews arriving within the same fortnight is a common signature of purchased batches. Reviews describing the actual process — dusting, drying time, how a problem was handled — are more informative than generic praise, and how a company answers its negative reviews tells you how it will treat you when something goes wrong.

Can a company get itself removed from this directory?

Yes. A company can ask for its listing to be removed, and it comes down. What a company cannot do is keep the listing while having specific unfavourable information taken out of it.