Home Health Aides
Also called: Caregiver, CHHA (Certified Home Health Aide), CMA (Certified Medical Aide), Home Care AideMonitor the health status of an individual with disabilities or illness, and address their health-related needs, such as changing bandages, dressing wounds, or administering medication. Work is performed under the direction of offsite or intermittent onsite licensed nursing staff. Provide assistance with routine healthcare tasks or activities of daily living, such as feeding, bathing, toileting, or ambulation. May also help with tasks such as preparing meals, doing light housekeeping, and doing laundry depending on the patient's abilities.
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What the data says: AI could halve the time on 1 of its 15 tasks, and jobs are projected to grow 18.1% by 2035. How to think about this →
About this projection
BLS builds AI into its projections where the research supports it: “BLS generally applies adjustments based on this research conservatively, where there is convincing evidence for a change.”
It also notes a limit: “BLS projection methods are not designed to capture extremely rapid technological change.”
On its AI exposure groups, BLS says exposure “does not imply job loss.”
BLS figures cover the broader occupation “Home health and personal care aides”, which includes this one and others.
Recent conditions
- In 2024, 4.7% of people in this work were unemployed, against 3.8% across all occupations Census ACS 2024
- From Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, 5.0 hires for every 10 job openings in health care and social assistance, which employs about 98% of people in this work, against 7.3 across all industries BLS JOLTS
One box per opening, filled for each hire; hires beyond the openings are added in a lighter shade. Higher can mean openings get filled, or that people leave often; lower, that jobs go unfilled, or hiring is slow.5.0 this industry7.3 all industries
Median pay by state BLS OEWS May 2025, state estimates
Tap a state for its figures.
Median pay in every state
| State | Median | Middle half earn | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $27,840 | $26,190 to $30,170 | 20,930 |
| Alaska | $39,740 | $36,640 to $44,340 | 6,530 |
| Arizona | $36,420 | $33,570 to $38,620 | 74,540 |
| Arkansas | $27,660 | $26,230 to $29,250 | 19,840 |
| California | $34,320 | $34,320 to $36,550 | 970,150 |
| Colorado | $38,540 | $37,130 to $43,360 | 44,650 |
| Connecticut | $38,990 | $35,510 to $44,240 | 49,510 |
| Delaware | $34,320 | $31,200 to $37,350 | 11,820 |
| District of Columbia | $42,700 | $40,050 to $43,270 | 12,810 |
| Florida | $33,800 | $31,540 to $35,880 | 90,170 |
| Georgia | $29,270 | $27,140 to $34,870 | 50,870 |
| Guam | $26,500 | $22,460 to $31,300 | 100 |
| Hawaii | $38,110 | $35,730 to $43,580 | 6,150 |
| Idaho | $34,790 | $29,360 to $37,180 | 20,770 |
| Illinois | $38,060 | $36,810 to $38,700 | 134,100 |
| Indiana | $35,060 | $31,030 to $36,680 | 57,050 |
| Iowa | $36,080 | $33,570 to $39,630 | 25,800 |
| Kansas | $31,260 | $29,240 to $35,250 | 25,350 |
| Kentucky | $36,440 | $30,950 to $45,450 | 31,260 |
| Louisiana | $22,520 | $20,800 to $27,090 | 45,060 |
| Maine | $38,580 | $36,580 to $43,660 | 18,630 |
| Maryland | $38,040 | $35,490 to $43,150 | 46,560 |
| Massachusetts | $40,910 | $39,650 to $43,740 | 117,940 |
| Michigan | $35,000 | $30,560 to $37,040 | 95,020 |
| Minnesota | $38,370 | $36,600 to $43,830 | 128,680 |
| Mississippi | $23,860 | $23,070 to $27,300 | 21,800 |
| Missouri | $33,080 | $28,600 to $37,060 | 94,810 |
| Montana | $36,630 | $31,100 to $43,120 | 10,400 |
| Nebraska | $36,150 | $34,270 to $38,570 | 13,660 |
| Nevada | $33,670 | $29,050 to $34,880 | 17,940 |
| New Hampshire | $38,760 | $36,190 to $45,270 | 9,440 |
| New Jersey | $37,090 | $34,680 to $44,580 | 117,080 |
| New Mexico | $28,520 | $26,970 to $30,730 | 38,910 |
| New York | $39,620 | $38,660 to $43,780 | 663,140 |
| North Carolina | $31,240 | $28,400 to $35,520 | 58,880 |
| North Dakota | $39,440 | $37,110 to $45,800 | 7,730 |
| Ohio | $34,460 | $30,140 to $36,690 | 106,940 |
| Oklahoma | $27,710 | $25,750 to $30,250 | 20,310 |
| Oregon | $44,410 | $39,400 to $48,360 | 42,330 |
| Pennsylvania | $29,420 | $28,390 to $34,430 | 257,370 |
| Puerto Rico | $21,840 | $21,840 to $22,480 | 10,170 |
| Rhode Island | $43,680 | $38,470 to $45,690 | 7,490 |
| South Carolina | $30,110 | $27,960 to $33,960 | 40,750 |
| South Dakota | $37,740 | $36,400 to $43,600 | 4,210 |
| Tennessee | $32,130 | $29,920 to $35,280 | 35,950 |
| Texas | $24,230 | $22,820 to $27,520 | 329,590 |
| Utah | $35,880 | $33,850 to $38,830 | 17,130 |
| Vermont | $41,600 | $36,120 to $46,410 | 7,700 |
| Virgin Islands | $29,860 | $28,690 to $31,130 | 110 |
| Virginia | $30,300 | $28,420 to $35,860 | 70,070 |
| Washington | $47,730 | $44,620 to $48,630 | 103,260 |
| West Virginia | $28,010 | $23,540 to $29,350 | 18,890 |
| Wisconsin | $36,340 | $30,550 to $38,450 | 82,430 |
| Wyoming | $33,190 | $30,210 to $37,290 | 3,410 |
Nationally: $35,800. State figures are for BLS's “Home health and personal care aides”. Shades run from the lowest state median to the highest; a territory below that range takes the lightest. How to read this
How AI touches the work
What AI could speed up, task by task, and where people already use it.
AI could halve the time on 1 of its 15 tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Not much | Plan, purchase, prepare, or serve meals to patients or other family members, according to prescribed diets. | Not published |
| AI + software | Maintain records of patient care, condition, progress, or problems to report and discuss observations with supervisor or case manager. | Not published |
| Not much | Care for patients by changing bed linens, washing and ironing laundry, cleaning, or assisting with their personal care. | Not published |
| Not much | Check patients' pulse, temperature, and respiration. | Not published |
| Not much | Bathe patients. | Not published |
| Not much | Provide patients with help moving in and out of beds, baths, wheelchairs, or automobiles and with dressing and grooming. | Not published |
See all 15 tasks
| Not much | Provide patients and families with emotional support and instruction in areas such as caring for infants, preparing healthy meals, living independently, or adapting to disability or illness. | Not published |
| Not much | Entertain, converse with, or read aloud to patients to keep them mentally healthy and alert. | Not published |
| Not much | Direct patients in simple prescribed exercises or in the use of braces or artificial limbs. | Not published |
| Not much | Accompany clients to doctors' offices or on other trips outside the home, providing transportation, assistance, and companionship. | Not published |
| Not much | Administer prescribed oral medications, under the written direction of physician or as directed by home care nurse or aide, and ensure patients take their medicine. | Not published |
| Not much | Perform a variety of duties as requested by client, such as obtaining household supplies or running errands. | Not published |
| Not much | Change dressings. | Not published |
| Not much | Massage patients or apply preparations or treatments, such as liniment, alcohol rubs, or heat-lamp stimulation. | Not published |
| Not much | Care for children with disabilities or who have sick parents or parents with disabilities. | Not published |
Ordered by how important O*NET's respondents rate each task (1 to 5) times the share who say it is part of their job. The ordering is ours. 0 of the 15 have a published share of Claude conversations; “not published” means too few conversations for Anthropic to publish a figure.
Where people already use AI
The tasks above say what AI could speed up. This shows what people are using it for. Its 15 tasks fall under 8 work activities that many occupations share, and Microsoft counted how often each one came up in 200,000 conversations with its Copilot assistant in 2024.
| Work activity | This occupation's tasks under it | People asked AI for help in 10,000 conversations |
AI did it for them in 10,000 conversations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assist individuals with special needs | |||
| Administer basic health care or medical treatments | |||
| Train others on health or medical topics | |||
| Escort others | |||
| Teach life skills | |||
| Evaluate patient or client condition or treatment options | |||
| Administer therapeutic treatments | |||
| Maintain health or medical records |
How to read this
Work activities come from O*NET, which links every task to the broader activities it involves. Microsoft's figures are for the activity across everyone who used Copilot, not for home health aides specifically. Copilot is a general chat assistant; dedicated coding tools are not included, so programming help is under-counted here. Activities are listed by how many of this occupation's tasks fall under them.
The task ratings say whether AI could halve the time a task takes: on its own (“AI alone”), or with software built on it (“AI + software”). They were made by people in 2023 (Eloundou et al.). Claude's share is the task's share of all Claude.ai conversations in May 2026; Anthropic doesn't publish a task with too few conversations. None of these add up to the BLS exposure group, which combines five research measures.
More in the Guide: task ratings · task order · work activities · Copilot figures · Claude
High exposure doesn't mean fewer jobs
BLS projects most occupations in its two most exposed groups to grow: 141 of 206 rated Very high and 165 of 206 rated High. Each dot is one of the 831 occupations BLS rates.
Career moves into and out of this occupation
From moves between occupations found in online resumes, 2002–2016. Career changes only: a first job after school isn't a move.
Where people moved next
of 324,696 moves out
- 1 Nursing Assistants Low +2.6% 5%
- 2 Customer Service Representatives Very high -5.3% 4%
- 3 Managers, All Other (2010 group) an older group BLS has since split; no exposure group today 4%
- 4 Registered Nurses High +5.6% 3%
- 5 Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive Very high -6.0% 3%
Where people moved in from
of 283,045 moves in
- 1 Nursing Assistants Low +2.6% 6%
- 2 Customer Service Representatives Very high -5.3% 6%
- 3 Cashiers High -6.5% 5%
- 4 Retail Salespersons Very high -0.3% 4%
- 5 Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive Very high -6.0% 3%
Combined from the 2010 occupations “Home Health Aides” and “Personal Care Aides”, which BLS merged into yours. Resumes over-represent younger, white-collar job-seekers and moves into management. Schubert, Stansbury and Taska (resume data).
Education and training for the occupation
Census survey (American Community Survey)
- 16% less than high school
- 37% high school
- 24% some college
- 9% associate's
- 11% bachelor's
- 3% master's
Census ACS 2024, all workers in this occupation · 20,824 people surveyed.
Median pay by highest degree full-time, year-round · Census ACS 2024, all workers in this occupation
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
93.8% this occupation
45.3% all occupations
| By kind | This occupation | All occupations |
|---|---|---|
| a license | 40.5% | 19.1% |
| a certification | 23.7% | 5.8% |
| an educational certificate | 13.7% | 2.8% |
Share of jobs whose employer requires it. BLS doesn't say which credential. How to read this
Look up certifications, training and licenses U.S. Department of Labor
- Certification Finder ↗ certifications CareerOneStop lists for this occupation
- Training Finder ↗ schools and programs, nationwide; narrow the place there
- License Finder ↗ licenses by state
- Apprenticeship Finder ↗ DOL lists 6 registered apprenticeships in this occupation. Apprenticeship.gov can't be linked to one occupation, so search for “Home Health Aides” there.
These open in a new tab and send only the occupation's public code. More in the Guide
BLS AI exposure categories (Aug 2026) · BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 · O*NET 31.0 · Task ratings: Eloundou et al., Science (2024) · Microsoft "Working with AI" v1.1 · Anthropic Economic Index (2026-06-26) · Schubert, Stansbury and Taska · NCES CIP–SOC · Census ACS 2024 · BLS JOLTS
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