Home Health Aide Wages
In 2016, approximately 657,000 home health aides around the country assisted older adults and people living with disabilities with daily tasks such as dressing, bathing, and eating. They also performed clinical tasks such as blood pressure readings and assistance with range-of-motion exercises. Despite their critical role, the low wages of home health aides leave many of them in poverty and often drives them out of the sector. Here’s how they’ve changed over the years.
Notes
Inflation-adjusted wages are derived from the median hourly wage reported by the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Program and the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (1982‐84=100), Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor.
Poverty thresholds reflect FPL for two-person households in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia. Due to higher cost of living, Hawaii and Alaska have separate federal poverty guidelines. In 2014, the median wage for HHAs in Alaska was below 200% FPL; the median wage for HHAs in Hawaii was below 133% FPL.
