Can I Get Paid As a Caregiver For a Family Member?
Key takeaways:
Under certain circumstances, individuals can get paid for their work as a caregiver to a family member.
Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Affairs programs are among the ways relatives can be compensated for their labor as family caregivers. Eligibility depends on your state and the condition of the person receiving care.
The average hourly pay rate for family caregivers in the U.S. ranges from $12 to $20, but you can receive a higher wage. Compensation can vary within regions, states, and local areas. Pay is determined by location, experience, and level of care.
Table of contents
One in five adults in the U.S. — about 53 million people — are caregivers who provide support for a relative or friend with an illness or disability. Many do so without financial compensation. The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP published a lengthy report on unpaid family caregivers in the U.S. — Caregiving in the U.S.: 2020 Report — based on data collected in 2019. Family caregivers are defined as people who have assisted children with special needs or adults at some point in the last 12 months.
It may come as a surprise that you can get compensated for caregiving services provided to a relative, but this is possible under certain circumstances. People have better overall health with trained and paid family caregivers, versus vocational caregivers, according to a 2022 study by the AARP Foundation and Aidaly, a service that helps family caregivers get trained and qualified to be paid. The same research also found that people with family caregivers had 33% fewer emergency room visits and half as many hospital visits.
Can you get paid to be a caregiver for a family member?
Yes. You can get paid in a variety of ways to be a caregiver for a family member. Compensation can come through a caregiving program, caregiver benefits, or an agreement with the person receiving care.
Programs, benefits, and arrangements that compensate family caregivers include:
Medicaid programs
Paid family leave
Personal care agreements
State-funded, non-Medicaid programs
Veterans programs
We will discuss each of these options in their own sections below.
Caregivers can feel rage and bitterness. Financial stress, social isolation, and sleep deprivation can trigger caregiver anger and resentment, which are common feelings.
Caregivers share tips to avoid burnout. Support, self-care, and meaningful breaks are ways to recharge from caregiving responsibilities to avoid burnout.
Therapy can help caregivers. Caregiver mental health can be supported and improved with therapy, which can make you stronger and healthier.
Long-term care insurance
If somebody you’re assisting has long-term care insurance, you may be eligible for pay from the plan as a caregiver. Benefits of these plans vary, and not all long-term care policies cover in-home care. Some plans cover pay for informal caregivers, which would be a relative or friend.
Medicaid programs
Medicaid has four primary programs that pay people caregiving for family members. States have distinct Medicaid caregiver programs with their own names, requirements, and benefits. For example, California’s In Home Supportive Services program allows spouses or friends to be paid as caregivers, while Washington state has similar programs that allow pay for caregivers who are related — but not spouses.
Based on broad federal guidelines, states can develop their own versions of these national programs:
Home and Community-Based Services; here is a state-by-state list of programs
Community First Choice, which is only available in a few states
Structured Family Caregiving, which is specifically for relatives — including spouses — providing care
Read more like this
Explore these related articles, suggested for readers like you.
Paid family leave
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (known to many people as FMLA) allows eligible workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid family leave. As of August 2024, 12 states and Washington, D.C., expanded FMLA to paid family leave for certain employees so they can take care of family members (though not all laws had been implemented at that time). Your workplace also may have paid family leave as an employee benefit.
Paid family leave for certain employees has been enacted in these locations:
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Oregon
Rhode Island
Washington state
Washington, D.C.
Wisconsin
Personal care agreements
Personal care agreements are legally binding documents between a caregiver and the person receiving care. The document should provide details about the work arrangement, including:
Duties
Frequency of service
Length of agreement
Pay
Having a formal care agreement can be very important if the person receiving care needs Medicaid long-term care benefits in the near future. That’s because the eligibility process reviews the previous 5 years of financial information. Any unexplained payments — especially to family members — could be interpreted as asset transfers made to make the person receiving care appear poorer to become eligible for Medicaid. A personal care agreement can also help you receive your final caregiving payment when the person under care dies and prevent your earnings from being considered an inheritance if you are a beneficiary of the deceased person’s estate.
State-funded, non-Medicaid programs
Aside from Medicaid, some states have additional programs that compensate family caregivers — particularly those taking care of people with dementia.
Veterans programs
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers three programs to compensate relatives or friends as family caregivers. Spouses may not be eligible family caregivers for all programs. Some caregiving experts advise veterans to pay family caregivers at least $20 an hour.
Veteran-Directed Care: The Veteran-Directed Care program allows an eligible veteran to hire their own caregiver and remain in their residence instead of living in a nursing home. You can use this Veteran-Directed Care locator to find a program near you.
Aid and Attendance Benefits: Eligible veterans and their survivors receiving a VA pension can access Aid and Attendance benefits or a Housebound allowance (but not both) to help pay for assistance with activities of daily living.
The Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers: This program provides healthcare services, respite relief, monthly stipends, and other benefits for family caregivers of eligible veterans who have incurred or aggravated a serious injury or illness and have at least a 70% service-connected disability rating. The stipend amount is determined by the locality pay rate where the veteran lives.
What is the role of a family caregiver?
Caregivers fulfill day-to-day tasks for people with long-term illness, disability, or age-related limitations. A family caregiver may serve in that role for a relative — or for a family member of choice, such as a friend, neighbor, or someone in their faith community.
Family caregivers may provide some or all of the following services:
Activities of daily living: These are household tasks including cooking, helping with eating, doing laundry, and performing home maintenance.
Hygiene: These tasks include bathing, grooming, brushing teeth, and toileting.
Medical needs: The caretaker’s responsibilities can include operating medical equipment, coordinating medications, giving injections, and providing wound care.
Mobility: These responsibilities include helping someone with transportation as well as assisting with getting in and out of bed, grocery shopping, dressing, and picking up medication.
Organizational tasks: Caregivers help manage finances, communicate with healthcare professionals, pay bills, and make medical appointments.
Social and emotional support: Caregivers can provide companionship, participate in leisure activities, respond to emotional needs, manage family conflict, and troubleshoot other problems.
Family caregiving compensation eligibility and requirements
Requirements for family caregivers to receive compensation for their services vary by program. Here are general guidelines that most family caregivers must meet to be eligible for compensation:
Age: Eligible family caregivers must be 18 years old.
Relationship to the person receiving care: They must either live with the person receiving care or be a relative, stepfamily member, or friend. Some programs consider spouses to be ineligible as paid family caregivers.
Background: A background screening is typically required.
Residency: Some programs require the paid family caregiver to reside with the person receiving care.
Training and education: Certain programs require individuals to complete educational courses and training before they are approved as paid family caregivers. This typically doesn’t include formal certifications and licenses.
Pay rates for family caregivers
Across the U.S., hourly pay for home health and personal care aides in May 2023 ranged from about $11 to more than $20 — with a national average of $16.05 an hour or a $33,380 annual salary, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Pay for family caregivers in the U.S. ranges from $12 to $20 an hour. The average compensation through Medicaid programs for a family caregiver is $15 to $16 per hour.
Salary.com has a family caregiver calculator to help you see the marketplace value of your time and efforts in taking care of a loved one.
Here are some factors that influence home healthcare pay rates and may help you determine your rate as a family caregiver:
Location: Where you reside and the cost of living there are reasons the average pay rate per state for family caregivers varies across the U.S.
Experience and qualifications: Caregivers who have more experience, formal education, and training can receive a higher pay rate.
Level of care: If the person receiving care requires more specialized services, such as home dialysis or extensive medication management, caregivers can expect to have a higher pay rate.
Number of expected working hours per week: This amount can vary depending on the needed care, but some programs or arrangements may allow you to charge a flat fee or live-in rate as a family caregiver.
Compensation can be structured in many ways, including:
Hourly rate: Most caregivers are paid hourly. Medicaid and other government programs pay an hourly rate.
Flat rate: Caregivers who work at a flat rate get paid a predetermined amount throughout a set period regardless of the number of hours worked.
Live-in rate: Live-in caregivers are available to provide care at any time. Housing is part of their compensation.
It’s important to remember that the value of the care provided by family caregivers far exceeds the compensation most people receive. A family caregiving valuation study conducted by Salary.com and published in 2024 found that — based on the care provided and hours worked — family caregivers attending to individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia would earn an average $114,000 annual salary if they were compensated accordingly.
Resources and support for caregivers
Many caregivers experience frustration and resentment due to financial stress and social isolation. These pressures can lead to burnout and reduce the quality of care provided to a loved one. Some programs, such as the VA’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers, are designed to support the people providing care.
Here are some tips to help caregivers manage stress and burnout:
Respite care: Like other workers, caregivers deserve to take breaks from their duties. Respite care provides a substitute caregiver or a temporary inpatient placement so that the primary caregiver can rest or take care of their own needs.
Self-care: Outside of caregiving, it’s important to take care of yourself. This includes exercising, eating well, connecting with people, and setting limits. Self-care can also include relaxation rituals, such as long baths, regular massages, or other spa treatments.
Support groups: There are various in-person and online support groups that can help sustain or improve the mental health of caregivers.
The bottom line
While many family caregivers are not financially compensated for their services, there are many ways you can receive payment for taking care of a loved one. Government sources including Medicaid, state programs, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provide avenues for compensating family caregivers. You may also find pay through long-term insurance benefits, paid family leave, and personal care agreements. Across the U.S., the average pay rates for family caregivers range from about $12 to $20 — but you could earn more — depending on factors such as location, experience, and level of care required.
Why trust our experts?
References
AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving. (2020). Caregiving in the U.S.
Abby Care. (2024). How much do family members get paid for caregiving?
Aidaly. (2022). Family care instead of hospital care.
American Council on Aging. (2023). How personal services contracts serve as a planning tool for long-term care Medicaid eligibility.
American Council on Aging. (2024). Medicaid Structured Family Caregiving program: Paying loved ones as caregivers.
At Peace Health Care Agency. (n.d.). Understanding family caregiver pay.
Boutilier, S. (2024). Family caregiver compensation: Long term care insurance. RubyWell.
California Caregiver Resource Centers. (n.d.). Can I get paid to care for my spouse? 7 programs for caregivers in California.
Called to Care. (n.d.). What is a caregiver? Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2024). Home- and community-based services.
D’Amore, P. M. (n.d.). Do family caregivers have a right to compensation?
Dementia Care Central. (2023). Programs that compensate family members to care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Family Caregiver Alliance. (n.d.). Family caregiver services by state.
Institute on Aging. (n.d.). Can a family member get paid to be a caregiver in California? Caring for aging loved ones.
Kennedy, J. B. (2024). Five ways family caregivers can get paid. National Council on Aging.
Medicaid.gov. (n.d.). Self-directed personal assistant services 1915 (j).
National Conference of State Legislatures. (2024). State family and medical leave laws.
Neufeld, J. (2024). How to become a paid caregiver for a family member. Today’s Caregiver.
Nolo.com. (2024). Understanding Medicaid’s Community First Choice Program.
Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. (2024). New study finds family caregivers would earn six figures if paid a salary.
Rodriguez, J. (2023). Does long-term care insurance pay family caregivers? CBS News.
Salary.com. (2024). Family caregiver calculator.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024). Occupational employment and wages, May 2023.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (n.d.). VA Caregiver Support Program.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2022). Veterans Affairs Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers: Eligibility criteria fact sheet.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2023). Veteran-directed care.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2024). The Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2024). VA Aid and Attendance benefits and Housebound allowance.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2024). Veterans Affairs Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers: Monthly stipend for primary family caregivers fact sheet.
