Personal Care Aide Wages
In 2016, approximately 918,000 personal care aides around the country assisted older adults and people living with disabilities with daily tasks, such as dressing, bathing, and eating. They also helped their clients with housekeeping and assisted them with errands, appointments, and social engagements outside of the home. Despite their critical role, the low wages of personal care aides leave many of them in poverty and often drives them out of the sector. Here’s how they’ve changed over the years.
| RANK | STATE | WAGE |
| 1 | Alaska | $14.63 |
| 2 | North Dakota | $14.02 |
| 3 | Massachusetts | $12.36 |
| 4 | Delaware | $12.06 |
| 5 | Hawaii | $11.92 |
| 6 | Connecticut | $11.89 |
| 7 | New Jersey | $11.67 |
| 8 | Washington | $11.17 |
| 9 | District of Columbia | $11.05 |
| 10 | New York | $10.98 |
| 11 | Maryland | $10.92 |
| 12 | New Hampshire | $10.87 |
| 13 | Minnesota | $10.84 |
| 14 | Rhode Island | $10.77 |
| 15 | Oregon | $10.76 |
| 16 | Vermont | $10.73 |
| 17 | Iowa | $10.61 |
| 17 | Nebraska | $10.61 |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | $10.44 |
| 20 | Montana | $10.39 |
| 21 | California | $10.34 |
| 21 | Wyoming | $10.34 |
| 23 | Illinois | $10.32 |
| 24 | Wisconsin | $10.30 |
| 25 | Maine | $10.28 |
| 26 | Nevada | $10.20 |
| 27 | Colorado | $10.11 |
| 28 | Arizona | $10.00 |
| 29 | Kansas | $9.87 |
| 30 | Florida | $9.82 |
| 31 | South Dakota | $9.80 |
| 32 | Michigan | $9.65 |
| 33 | Utah | $9.62 |
| 34 | Ohio | $9.46 |
| 35 | Kentucky | $9.35 |
| 36 | North Carolina | $9.18 |
| 37 | Idaho | $9.16 |
| 37 | Indiana | $9.16 |
| 39 | South Carolina | $9.13 |
| 40 | Georgia | $9.06 |
| 41 | Missouri | $9.00 |
| 42 | New Mexico | $8.97 |
| 43 | Tennessee | $8.91 |
| 43 | Virginia | $8.91 |
| 45 | Oklahoma | $8.82 |
| 46 | Arkansas | $8.63 |
| 47 | Louisiana | $8.58 |
| 48 | Alabama | $8.57 |
| 48 | West Virginia | $8.57 |
| 50 | Texas | $8.51 |
| 51 | Mississippi | $8.46 |
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 PCAs in Alaska was below 200% FPL; the median wage for PCAs in Hawaii was below 133% FPL.
