Open
Personal care caregiver needed in Fullerton, CA
$20.00/hr offeredPosted Sep 30, 2026
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Costa Mesa, California · Orange County
Caregiver Jobs in Costa Mesa, CA
Costa Mesa has a free, three-class Personal Care Aide certificate at Orange Coast College that includes a dementia course. Postings from families around the city are listed below as they go live, and applying takes one free profile.
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Finding in-home caregiver jobs in Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa is a city of 109,436 people (Department of Finance, 1 January 2026) between Santa Ana and the coast, and its caregiver market looks different from its inland neighbors. Residents are younger (median age 36.7) and the share aged 65 or over is 13.2%, below the county's 16.3%; only 24.4% of households include someone that old (ACS 2020–2024). Older Costa Mesans are more likely to live alone than in a multigenerational home: 3.9% of households are a man over 65 living alone and 5.3% a woman, against 2.0% and 3.3% in Santa Ana. So a posting may well come from an adult child arranging care, sometimes from a distance, for a parent who still lives in their own house or apartment.
Because the senior population inside the city is modest, set your radius to take in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Irvine and Santa Ana; the postings above show each family's city and distance. Families arranging care from a distance want a caregiver who communicates: say on your profile how you report back (texts after each shift, a written log), whether you drive, and which languages you speak. 27.0% of residents speak Spanish at home.
Live postings
Families looking for private caregivers near Costa Mesa, CA
Real postings from families on CaregiverConnect, matched to Costa Mesa by distance. 6 caregivers within 50 miles already have profiles here.
Open
Post-surgery recovery care caregiver needed in Los Angeles, CA
$32.00/hr offeredPosted Oct 12, 2026
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Showing 2 of 2 open postings within 50 miles of Costa Mesa, newest first. Family names and care-recipient details are shown after you sign in. Postings are removed from this page as soon as a family hires or closes them.
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Types of caregiver jobs
Types of caregiver jobs in Costa Mesa
Common requests are a few weekday hours of help for someone living alone (meals, light housekeeping, medication reminders, shopping), rides to medical appointments, and a few weeks of support once a parent comes home from Hoag in Newport Beach. Companionship and errands are the honest start without experience; the Orange Coast College certificate is the local step up to personal care.
Senior caregiving · Personal care · Companion care · Dementia care · Respite care · Live-in · Overnight · Part-time and full-time
Pay
Caregiver pay in Costa Mesa: how much caregivers make
Public figures first, then what they mean for private work. Statistics describe employed aides across the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim, CA metro (covers Orange County); private rates on CaregiverConnect are agreed between each caregiver and family and are not tracked by any agency.
| Measure | Hourly | Source and coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Home health and personal care aides, Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim, CA metro (covers Orange County) | $16.50 median ($17.25 mean) | BLS OEWS, May 2025; 385,530 jobs; concentration 2.22× national |
| IHSS provider wage, Orange County | $18.90 | CDSS; effective January 1, 2026 |
| California minimum wage | $16.90 | effective January 1, 2026 |
Who is the employer. A family that hires you directly is your employer under California's Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. The state minimum wage ($16.90 an hour from 1 January 2026; some cities set more, for example $17.75 in the City of San Diego) is the legal floor, and a personal attendant earns overtime at 1.5× after 9 hours in a day or 45 in a week. The main exceptions are IHSS recipients and an employer's own parent, spouse or child. Source: California DIR, Domestic Worker Bill of Rights FAQ.
Orange County projection: 53,070 aide jobs in 2023 to 69,870 in 2033 (+31.7%), about 106,340 openings over the decade including replacements (California EDD, 2023–2033 projections (Anaheim–Santa Ana–Irvine Metropolitan Division)). Openings are not the same as net new jobs.
The $16.50 BLS median covers Los Angeles and Orange counties together. EDD's Orange County file is the better local guide: a $17.11 median for aides in the Anaheim–Santa Ana–Irvine division, 106,340 projected openings between 2023 and 2033, and 31.7% growth against 7.9% for the county's workforce overall. Costa Mesa has no minimum wage ordinance of its own (none appears for any Orange County city in the UC Berkeley Labor Center inventory), so the floor is the state $16.90; IHSS pays $18.90. Costa Mesa's median household income ($111,505) is higher than Santa Ana's or Garden Grove's and only 8.6% of residents over 65 are in poverty, so expect more private-pay arrangements, with rates negotiated family by family.
How to enroll as a provider in Orange County, with the office phone lines and orientation steps, is in the IHSS Orange County guide. IHSS wages for every county we cover, with effective dates, are in the IHSS pay by county guide.
How the public numbers relate to private rates, and what affects them, is covered in the caregiver pay guide.
Rules
Caregiver requirements in California, applied to Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa applies California's rules as they stand. Non-medical caregivers hired directly by a family need no license, and may add themselves to the CDSS Home Care Aide Registry for $35 plus Live Scan if they want a credential to show; aides employed by licensed agencies must be on it. To work IHSS hours you register with Orange County's Public Authority (its office is in Santa Ana), finishing online orientation and the SOC 426 and SOC 846 forms before an in-person ID appointment and a Live Scan on the Public Authority's form. The Orange Coast College Personal Care Aide certificate is a training credential, not a state license. CNAs certify through CDPH after an approved course. Report suspected elder abuse to Orange County APS, (800) 451-5155, 24 hours. The requirements guide has more.
Local resources
Training and career resources near Costa Mesa
Verified training and support near Costa Mesa; check current schedules before you enroll.
- Orange Coast College, Personal Care Aide certificate2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa 92626. Free: three noncredit, tuition-free classes with materials provided, Personal Care Aide I (ALH A001N) and II (ALH A002N) on Saturday mornings in spring 2027 and PCA: Assist Alzheimer/Dementia (ALH A009N) live on Zoom on Thursday evenings. Includes local employer visits and job referrals. Adult Education office (714) 432-6897.
- Orange Coast College, Allied Health programsMedical Assisting, Emergency Medical Services, Pharmacy Technician, Respiratory Care and other programs for caregivers who want a clinical next step; OCC does not list a CNA course. Allied Health program assistant (714) 432-5702.
- Golden West College, Certified Nurse AssistantOCC’s sister college in the Coast Community College District runs a noncredit CNA certificate: 60 theory hours and 100 practicum hours leading to the state certification test.
- Orange County IHSS Public Authority2020 W. Walnut St., Santa Ana 92703, Monday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm. Enrollment (714) 825-3195, registry (714) 825-3202. Its provider training page carries UCI School of Nursing materials on falls, diabetes and personal care.
- OC Workforce SolutionsCountywide job centers in Brea and Laguna Niguel, (866) 500-6587, weekdays 9 am to 6 pm and Saturday 9 am to 1 pm.
The area
Costa Mesa in numbers
Costa Mesa is a renters' city: only 39.6% of homes are owner-occupied, the median rent is $2,446 and owner-occupied homes have a $1,115,100 median value (ACS 2020–2024). 22.2% of workers work from home, and the rest average a 22.4-minute commute, shorter than in Santa Ana (24.5) or Garden Grove (28.5). 36.6% of residents are Hispanic or Latino and 36.5% of residents older than four use some language besides English in the home. Among residents over 65, 31.6% report a disability.
The only hospital in the city in the CMS hospital file is College Hospital Costa Mesa on Victoria Street, which has no emergency department. Emergency departments nearby include Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian at One Hoag Drive in Newport Beach, Coastal Communities Hospital on South Bristol Street in Santa Ana and Orange Coast Medical Center, a MemorialCare hospital in Fountain Valley. The Costa Mesa Senior Center at 695 W. 19th Street runs case management and support groups. Nearby markets: Huntington Beach, Irvine and Santa Ana; families post on the Costa Mesa families page.
How it works
How to find private caregiver jobs in Costa Mesa (no agency)
CaregiverConnect is a marketplace, not an agency. Families post what they need, caregivers apply, and the two of you work out the arrangement directly.
- Tell us about your experience
- Set your availability and rate
- Create your account
- Browse, apply or respond
- Agree on the details
Applying to open postings and starting a new conversation are part of Caregiver Premium ($7.99/month, cancel anytime). Replying to a family who contacts you is always free. CaregiverConnect takes no cut of what you earn.
¿Hablas español? El sitio está disponible en español, ruso, tagalo y vietnamita: cambia el idioma en el menú después de crear tu cuenta.
Widen your search
Caregiver jobs near Costa Mesa
Families often post from neighbouring towns. Set your travel radius in your profile and you will appear in their searches too.
Costa Mesa is part of Orange County; the hub pages list every town and area they cover.
- Caregiver jobs in Huntington Beach, CA6 mi
- Caregiver jobs in Santa Ana, CA6 mi
- Caregiver jobs in Irvine, CA8 mi
- Caregiver jobs in Garden Grove, CA8 mi
- Laguna Beach, CA11 mi
- Caregiver jobs in Anaheim, CA12 mi
- Caregiver jobs in Lake Forest, CA13 mi
- Laguna Hills, CA13 mi
Elsewhere in Orange County: Fullerton · San Clemente · Laguna Niguel · Mission Viejo
Guides
Useful reading
How to become a caregiver in California: requirements, HCA registry, IHSS and CNA explained · How much do caregivers make in California and Arizona? BLS, IHSS and minimum wage (2026) · Private caregiver jobs near you: how to find them without an agency · Caregiver interview preparation: questions families ask and how to answer them
Sources (checked 2026-10-14):
- BLS OEWS May 2025, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (31-1120)
- California EDD, 2023–2033 occupational projections, Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County)
- CDSS, IHSS wages by county
- California DIR, minimum wage FAQ
- UC Berkeley Labor Center, inventory of local minimum wage ordinances
- California Department of Finance, E-1 2026
- U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024 5-year (DP02–DP05), Costa Mesa city, Santa Ana city and Orange County
- Orange Coast College, Personal Care Aide
- Orange Coast College, Allied Health
- Golden West College, Certified Nurse Assistant certificate (catalog)
- Orange County IHSS Public Authority, enrollment and training
- County of Orange SSA, reporting elder or dependent adult abuse
- CDSS, Home Care Aide application process
- OC Workforce Solutions, locations
- Orange County Office on Aging, 2026 senior center list
- CMS Care Compare, hospital general information
Questions
Caregiver jobs in Costa Mesa: frequently asked questions
Is the Orange Coast College caregiver training free?
Yes. The Personal Care Aide certificate is three noncredit classes with no tuition and materials provided; one of them covers assisting people with Alzheimer’s and dementia and meets live online.
Does Orange Coast College offer a CNA course?
Its Allied Health page does not list one. Golden West College, in the same district, runs a 160-hour noncredit CNA certificate, and Santa Ana College has a tuition-free CNA course.
What do caregivers in Costa Mesa get paid?
The floor is $16.90 and Orange County IHSS pays $18.90; private rates are set with each family and are usually higher for personal care and driving. See the pay guide.
Is it worth driving to Newport Beach or Huntington Beach for work?
If the drive works, yes. The 65-plus share in Costa Mesa is below the county’s, so a wider radius gives you more postings to choose from.
Do families here want daily updates?
When the person posting does not live with the parent, a short written update after each shift is the easiest way to keep their trust. Offer it on your profile.
Ready to find caregiver work in Costa Mesa?
Create your free caregiver profile in about ten minutes. Families in Orange County can find you as soon as it is live.
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