Caregiver Pay Rates by State in 2026

The typical caregiver in the U.S. earns $17.21 an hour. Caregiver pay rates are the hourly wages paid to home health and personal care aides. The $17.21 figure is the May 2025 median wage for home health and personal care aides, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on May 15, 2026 (BLS OEWS news release). State medians run from $10.83 in Louisiana to $22.95 in Washington, so the national number only tells you so much.

This page gives you the full 51-row table (50 states plus D.C.), pulled straight from the official BLS state file. It is built for agency owners who want to check a wage offer against the local market. You will also see how aide pay compares with the retail and warehouse jobs your applicants weigh against you, and where minimum wage laws set the floor.

Key Takeaways

• The U.S. median caregiver hourly rate was $17.21 in May 2025, up 2.6% from $16.78 a year earlier, across 4.3 million aide jobs (BLS OEWS).
• Washington pays the most ($22.95 median) and Louisiana the least ($10.83), a spread of $12.12 an hour for the same job.
• Stockers ($17.95) and laborers ($19.35) earn more than aides nationally, so a warehouse job can outbid your offer before another agency does.
• In California the median aide wage equals the 2025 state minimum wage of $16.50, a sign that pay there clusters at the legal floor.

Key Findings

The May 2025 data shows how much aide pay depends on the state you operate in. These are the patterns that stand out in the 51 state estimates.

1. The middle half of states pays $15.02 to $18.53. That $3.51 band covers 27 of the 51 areas. The national figure is weighted by job counts, so large states like California and New York pull it toward their own pay levels.
2. The top state pays 2.1 times the bottom state. Washington's $22.95 median is more than double Louisiana's $10.83.
3. Minimum wage laws visibly shape the bottom of the pay scale. In California, Delaware, and Missouri, the 10th and 25th percentile wages equal each state's 2025 minimum wage exactly.
4. Most states pay a mean above the median. In 41 of 51 areas the mean hourly wage is higher than the median. A smaller group of higher-paid aides pulls the average up.
5. Pay rose almost everywhere. 48 of 51 areas saw their median rise from May 2024. California and Utah dipped slightly, and New Jersey was flat.

Methodology

We used the official BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 state file for one occupation code, SOC 31-1120, Home Health and Personal Care Aides. BLS released it on May 15, 2026, which makes it the newest release available on this page's publish date.

We downloaded the state workbook, filtered it to code 31-1120, and ranked the areas by median hourly wage. Then we picked five states at random and pulled the same figures from the separate BLS Public Data API. All ten values (median and mean for each state) matched the workbook to the cent.

Limitations to keep in mind:

• OEWS counts wage and salary jobs at private businesses and government employers, including publicly funded programs, not just private-pay agencies. It leaves out the self-employed and workers hired directly by private households, so some consumer-directed aides are missing (BLS OEWS technical notes).
• The code combines home health aides and personal care aides, so it mixes medical and non-medical roles.
• A state median hides big local gaps. A metro area can pay well above its state figure, and a rural county well below it.
• These are May 2025 wages. Any raise or minimum wage change since then is not in the numbers.

Which States Pay Caregivers the Most and Least?

Washington, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington D.C., and Vermont pay the highest median caregiver wages, all at $20 an hour or more. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas pay the least, all under $12.

The gap is not only about cost of living. Texas has the third-largest aide workforce in the country at 329,590 jobs, yet its median sits at $11.65. California employs 970,150 aides, more than a fifth of the national total of 4.3 million. Its median of $16.50 sits in the middle of the pack despite high living costs.

What this means for you: compare your offer with your own state's column, not the national figure. If you run an agency in Pennsylvania, the $14.14 state median is your real benchmark. In Minnesota it is $18.45.

How Does Aide Pay Compare With Competing Jobs?

Nationally, aides earn less than stockers, laborers, and nursing assistants, and only slightly more than retail salespeople. That is the comparison applicants make when they choose between your job post and a warehouse or store.

The research group PHI found that direct care workers' median wages trail those of competing occupations with similar entry requirements in all 50 states plus D.C. It also reports that 59% of home care workers receive some form of public assistance (PHI, Direct Care Workers in the United States: Key Facts 2025).

Low pay also shows up in turnover. Activated Insights, a home care benchmarking firm, reported caregiver turnover of 75% in its 2025 Benchmarking Report, its lowest level in five years (PR Newswire, July 1, 2025). Our guide to the cost of caregiver turnover shows how to put a dollar figure on each caregiver who leaves.

What this means for you: a raise of $0.50 an hour may matter less than beating the local warehouse on schedule flexibility, guaranteed hours, or faster pay. But you have to know where you stand on the wage first.

Where Do Minimum Wage Laws Set the Floor?

In three states, the bottom of the aide pay scale lands exactly on the state minimum wage. California's 2025 minimum was $16.50, Delaware's was $15.00, and Missouri's was $13.75, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's state table (DOL, archived May 2025). In each of those states, the BLS 10th and 25th percentile aide wages equal those numbers to the cent.

In California, even the median equals $16.50. At least half of the state's aides earned the legal minimum or close to it. We suspect this reflects publicly funded programs that pay near the floor, but the BLS data cannot confirm the cause.

State minimum wages vary widely. As of July 2026, about 30 states and D.C. set a minimum above the federal $7.25. Five states, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee, have no state minimum, so the federal rate applies (DOL state minimum wage table, archived July 2026). Many states also schedule yearly increases, so check your state labor department each January.

Federal overtime rules are in motion too. Under a 2013 Labor Department rule, agencies that employ caregivers must pay federal minimum wage and overtime. In July 2025 the Department of Labor proposed letting third-party employers claim the companionship exemption again (Federal Register, 90 FR 28976). As of this writing it is a proposal, not a final rule, and state overtime laws still apply. This is general information, not legal advice.

How Do Medicaid Wage Pass-Through Rules Affect Pay?

A federal Medicaid rule is set to tie part of agency revenue to caregiver pay. The 2024 Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services rule sets the target. States must ensure providers spend 80% of Medicaid payments for homemaker, home health aide, and personal care services on direct care worker compensation (42 CFR 441.302(k), eCFR).

The requirement applies six years after July 9, 2024, so it starts in July 2030. States may set a different standard for small providers. Compensation includes wages, benefits, and the employer share of payroll taxes.

What this means for you: if you bill Medicaid, this rule could require you to spend a set share of that revenue on caregiver pay, a rule your private-pay rivals do not face. Ask your state Medicaid agency how it plans to report and enforce the rule.

Surprises and Outliers

Two results stood out as we worked through the file.

Vermont jumped $3.53 in one year. Its median rose from $16.47 in May 2024 to $20.00 in May 2025, a 21% increase. No other state came close. Small-state estimates can swing between survey rounds, so treat any single-year jump with caution until the next release confirms it.

California fell slightly. It was one of only two states where the median dipped, from $16.64 to $16.50. The drop lands the median exactly on the minimum wage, which fits the floor effect described above.

What this tells us: state pay levels move for policy reasons, like minimum wage laws and Medicaid rates, as much as for market reasons. Watch both.

What Should Agency Owners Do With This Data?

Use your state median as a floor for your starting offer, not a target. If you pay at or below the median, about half of the aides in your state already earn at least as much as your offer.

1. Find your state row. Note the median and the 75th percentile. The 75th percentile is what a well-paid aide in your state earns.
2. Check the jobs you lose people to. Compare your offer with local warehouse and retail postings, not just other agencies.
3. Put the rate in the job post. A clear hourly range filters in the right applicants. Our caregiver job description template shows where it goes.
4. Revisit each year. BLS publishes new OEWS data each spring, and minimum wages often rise in January.

Pay is only one step in the hiring process. For the full sequence, from job post to first shift, see our guide on how to hire caregivers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average caregiver hourly rate in 2026?

The most recent official figure is the May 2025 BLS estimate, released in May 2026. The median was $17.21 an hour and the mean was $17.36 for home health and personal care aides nationwide.

Which state pays caregivers the most?

Washington, with a median of $22.95 an hour. Oregon ($21.35), Rhode Island ($21.00), and Washington D.C. ($20.53) follow.

Which state pays caregivers the least?

Louisiana, with a median of $10.83 an hour. Mississippi ($11.47) and Texas ($11.65) are next.

How was this data collected?

BLS surveys employers every six months and combines three years of responses into each estimate. We used the May 2025 state file for SOC 31-1120 and checked five random states against the BLS Public Data API.

Is this the same as what agencies bill clients?

No. These are wages paid to aides. The hourly rate an agency bills a family is higher, because it covers payroll taxes, insurance, training, scheduling, and overhead.

When will this data be updated?

BLS usually releases new OEWS estimates each spring. We plan to refresh this table when the May 2026 figures come out.

Get to Applicants Before the Next Agency Does

A competitive wage gets applicants to apply. Calling them back first is what gets them hired. OpsHarbor's AI recruiting agent calls new caregiver applicants within minutes, screens them, and books interviews in your scheduler.

Data Appendix: Caregiver Pay Rates by State

Home health and personal care aides (SOC 31-1120), May 2025, ranked by median hourly wage. Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 state estimates, released May 15, 2026. Tied states share a rank.

National figures for the same period: median $17.21, mean $17.36, and 4,305,810 aide jobs.

Citation format: OpsHarbor, "Caregiver Pay Rates by State in 2026," August 4, 2026, https://opsharbor.io/caregiver-pay-rates-by-state.html. Underlying data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.