Caregiver costs in California: 2026 wage rules, rates by city and monthly budgets

California caregiver pay and price figures for 2026

In 2025 the median aide in California earned exactly the state minimum, so the BLS median shows what employers of aides commonly paid, not necessarily what an experienced private caregiver will accept. The agency median is more than twice the aide median; the difference funds the agency's employer costs and margin. The Santa Ana, San Diego and Carlsbad pages quote metro figures from a different release of the same survey, the California EDD's OEWS tables for the first quarter of 2025, so their aide medians are labelled with that source and period and will not match these May 2025 BLS numbers exactly.

Local minimum wages in Los Angeles and San Diego

Some California cities and counties set a minimum above the state rate, and the highest rate that applies at the work address is the one you must pay. These are the local rates verified for the five cities with cost pages:

Long Beach, Santa Ana and Carlsbad are not listed here because no local general minimum was verified for them on this page; their city pages set out what applies. Whether an ordinance reaches a private household depends on its wording, which the city pages examine.

Overtime for caregivers in California: the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights

California's overtime rules for home caregivers depend on whether the caregiver is a personal attendant. The Labor Commissioner's FAQ defines a personal attendant as someone employed by a private householder, or by a third-party employer recognized in the health care industry, to work in a private household supervising, feeding and dressing a child, or someone who needs that help owing to old age, a physical disability or a mental deficiency. Someone spending over 20 percent of the time on other tasks (housecleaning, cooking, laundry) does not qualify.

• Excluded relatives. The Bill of Rights does not cover a parent, grandparent, spouse, sibling or child of the employer, among other exclusions listed by the Labor Commissioner.
• Hours worked. In Wage Order 15, time counts as hours worked whenever the worker is under the employer's control, including all time they are suffered or permitted to work, whether or not required to. A caregiver told to stay in the home overnight and respond to calls is under your control for that time.
• Federal rules still apply. The 45-hour figure is California's personal-attendant rule, not a federal one. A live-out caregiver whose day is mostly bathing, dressing and other hands-on care is not an exempt companion (29 CFR 552.6), so federal law adds time and a half from the 41st hour of the week (29 U.S.C. 207(l); 29 CFR 552.100), and an agency employer can never claim that exemption (29 CFR 552.109). Live-in workers are outside federal overtime (29 U.S.C. 213(b)(21)), which does not excuse the state overtime above (29 U.S.C. 218). The national cost page explains the exemptions.

Paid sick leave for household caregivers

California's paid sick leave law covers employees who work at least 30 days for the same employer within a year in California, including part-time workers and IHSS providers. Since January 1, 2024, the yearly minimum an employer must let a worker use is 40 hours or five days, whichever is more; for someone on 10-hour days that is 50 hours. Under an accrual plan the employee earns at least one hour for every 30 hours worked, and the employee must complete a 90-day employment period before using it. Use may be capped at 40 hours or five days a year, and accrual at 80 hours or ten days.

Illustrative cost: five 8-hour days of leave at $20.40 an hour is 40 × $20.40 = $816 a year. Cities can add their own rules, as San Diego's combined ordinance does.

Household employer taxes and insurance in California

State payroll taxes (EDD)

• Registration with EDD is due no later than 15 days after your cash pay to household workers reaches $750 in a calendar quarter. Noncash pay such as meals and lodging is left out of that test.
• From $750 to $999.99 in a quarter, State Disability Insurance comes out of the employee's wages. At $1,000 or more you also pay Unemployment Insurance and the Employment Training Tax.
• Once over a threshold, you keep withholding or paying through that year and the next.
• Withholding state income tax is optional, but each employee's wages must be reported, and you may withhold if the employee asks and you agree.
• Households paying $20,000 or less a year can elect to file annually instead of quarterly (form DE 89).

Federal taxes (IRS)

At $3,000 or more in cash wages to one household employee in 2026, Social Security and Medicare apply at 7.65% each for employee and employer, and federal unemployment tax applies once cash wages pass $1,000 in a quarter, both reported on Schedule H (IRS Tax Topic 756).

Workers' compensation

The Department of Industrial Relations states that California employers are required to have workers' compensation insurance even if they have only one employee.

IHSS: when the state pays for in-home care

In-Home Supportive Services pays for help at home for eligible older, blind and disabled Californians so they can stay home rather than move to out-of-home care. A person qualifies by living in California in their own home, having been found eligible for Medi-Cal, and sending in a Health Care Certification (SOC 873). A county social worker visits, assesses which tasks the person cannot safely do, and authorizes a number of hours a month for each service (CDSS).

The person receiving care then picks a provider and acts as that provider's employer, training, supervising and if necessary dismissing them, while the program pays the county wage shown above for authorized hours only. County detail is in IHSS pay by county, with local guides for Los Angeles County, Orange County and San Diego. Families asking whether a relative can be the provider will find that covered in paid family caregiving in California.

Weekly and monthly caregiver budgets in California

Illustrative calculations, not quotes. Four hourly inputs are used, each cited above: the $16.90 state minimum, the $18.42 City of Los Angeles minimum, $20.40 (the San Diego County IHSS wage, used here only as a stand-in for a private rate above the floor), and the $40 CareScout agency median. Monthly = weekly × 52 ÷ 12.

In the live-in row, each 10-hour day has 1 hour over the 9-hour daily limit, so the week has 45 regular and 5 overtime hours under the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. Room and board are extra, and someone still has to cover the other two days.

Employer extras on the 40-hour row at $20.40 (illustrative): the employer's Social Security and Medicare contribution is $816 × 7.65% = about $62.42 a week, about $270 a month. A quarter of 13 weeks is $10,608 in wages, above EDD's $1,000 quarterly line, so Unemployment Insurance and Employment Training Tax also apply, along with workers' compensation premiums and paid sick leave. The agency column already includes the agency's own payroll costs.

Longer coverage is worked through in the live-in care cost, overnight care cost and 24/7 in-home care cost in California guides.

Caregiver costs in California cities

The city pages apply these rules to local inputs and open with a box of the hourly rates caregivers nearby have listed on CaregiverConnect, or a note when too few have.

• Los Angeles and Long Beach, both in Los Angeles County.
• Santa Ana, in Orange County.
• San Diego and Carlsbad, in San Diego County.

When you are ready to compare people rather than numbers, browse caregivers in California. CaregiverConnect is not the employer and does no background checks; the family hires directly. The hiring guide and interview questions cover the rest.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. California Labor Commissioner, Minimum Wage FAQ (2026 rate and history)
2. City of Los Angeles, Office of Wage Standards (Wages LA), minimum wage chart
3. Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, Minimum wage
4. Los Angeles County DCBA, 2026 new minimum wage notice
5. City of San Diego, Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance
6. California Labor Commissioner, Domestic Worker Bill of Rights FAQ
7. California Industrial Welfare Commission, Wage Order 15 (household occupations)
8. California Labor Commissioner, Paid Sick Leave FAQ
9. EDD, Household employers
10. IRS Tax Topic 756, Employment taxes for household employees
11. California DIR, Workers’ compensation: employer information
12. CDSS, In-Home Supportive Services program
13. CDSS, County IHSS wage rates (workbook, sheet "IP Effective 10-1-2026")
14. O*NET OnLine, Home Health and Personal Care Aides local wages, California (BLS OEWS May 2025 data)
15. CareScout, Cost of Care Survey 2025, Median Cost Data Tables (PDF)
16. U.S. Code, 29 U.S.C. 207 (overtime for domestic service), via GovInfo
17. U.S. Code, 29 U.S.C. 213 (companionship and live-in exemptions), via Cornell LII
18. eCFR, 29 CFR Part 552 (domestic service: 552.6 companionship, 552.100 overtime, 552.109 third-party employers)
19. U.S. Code, 29 U.S.C. 218 (higher state standards prevail), via GovInfo