By Naomi Foster · Health Writer, Senior Care CostsUpdated 2026-07-09
By Naomi Foster · Health Writer, Senior Care CostsMany seniors want to stay in their own home, and in-home care makes that possible by bringing help to them. It is priced by the hour, which makes it flexible and affordable in small doses, and costly when care is needed around the clock.
In-home care, whether a homemaker who helps with household tasks or a home health aide who assists with personal care, commonly runs around $30 to $35 per hour depending on your area and the level of help. The CareScout Cost of Care Survey (Genworth Financial, published March 2, 2026, 2025 data) put the national median non-medical caregiver rate at $35 an hour.
The math changes quickly when care is needed all day. A few hours of help a few days a week is manageable for many budgets. Continuous, 24-hour care is a different matter: at roughly $30 an hour, around-the-clock support can reach $15,000 to $20,000 or more per month. At that point, a facility often costs less for the same intensity of care, which is the tradeoff families weigh.
Skilled medical care at home, like nursing visits, is a separate and higher-cost service, sometimes covered by Medicare for a limited time when ordered by a doctor.
For light support, in-home care is usually the cheaper and more comfortable choice, and it keeps a person in familiar surroundings. As needs grow toward full-time care, the hourly model becomes more expensive than assisted living or a nursing home, which spread staffing across many residents. Comparing the two honestly is the key decision. See our care cost comparison.
Most in-home care is private pay. Long-term care insurance often covers it, some veterans benefits apply, and Medicare may cover limited skilled home health care when medically ordered, but not ongoing personal care. Our guide to paying for senior care lays out the private-pay, insurance, and benefit options in more detail.
How you hire changes both cost and responsibility. An agency charges more per hour, but it vets caregivers, handles payroll and taxes, carries insurance, and sends a substitute when someone is sick. Hiring an independent caregiver directly costs less per hour, but you effectively become an employer, responsible for taxes, backup coverage, and the risks if something goes wrong. The lower rate is not the whole comparison.
The most recent CareScout Cost of Care Survey, released by Genworth Financial in March 2026 using 2025 data, pegged the national median for a non-medical caregiver at $35 an hour, up a few dollars from where it sat a couple of years earlier. Your actual rate depends heavily on where you live and whether you go through an agency or hire someone directly.
Once care is needed all day and night, hourly billing stops making sense financially. At around $30 an hour, round-the-clock coverage can run $15,000 to $20,000 a month or higher, since someone is essentially being paid in shifts, 24 hours a day. Many families find a residential facility costs less for the same amount of support at that point.
A homemaker sticks to household support: cooking, light cleaning, errands, and company, without any hands-on personal care. A home health aide goes further, helping with bathing, dressing, and getting around safely. If skilled nursing is needed, like wound care or medication management by a nurse, that is a separate and more expensive service on top of either role.
Only in a narrow way. Medicare can pay for short stretches of doctor-ordered skilled care at home, such as nursing visits or physical therapy, but it will not pay for an aide who helps with bathing or meals on an ongoing basis. Most families cover in-home care privately, sometimes with help from long-term care insurance or veterans benefits.
Naomi tracks how home care agencies set hourly rates and where those numbers come from. She has sat through enough caregiver contracts to know which line items families miss on the first read.