Caregiver costs in San Diego, CA

San Diego’s minimum wage ordinance and who it covers

The City's Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance (San Diego Municipal Code Chapter 3, Article 9, Division 1) has been in effect since 11 July 2016. It applies to employees who perform at least two hours of work in one or more calendar weeks of the year inside the geographic boundaries of the City, and the City's page states that all employers must pay at least the city rate for each hour worked there. The schedule it publishes:

The test is where the work happens, not where you or the caregiver live. The City offers an interactive boundaries map for checking an address. For an address in the county that falls beyond the City line, the page says state minimum wage and sick leave law govern instead; in 2026 the state rate is $16.90 (Department of Industrial Relations). So a caregiver who works mornings for your mother in the city and afternoons for a client in an unincorporated part of the county is owed $17.75 for the first job and at least $16.90 for the second.

The Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement runs the program: 1200 Third Ave, Ste 900, San Diego, CA 92101, phone 619-235-5912. Employers must post the City's annual notice where employees work and give each new hire a written notice at the time of hire.

Earned sick leave for a caregiver working in the City

The City's sick leave rules are written differently from the state's. Under the ordinance a caregiver accrues at least one hour of earned sick leave for every 30 hours worked in the City. You may cap total accrual at 80 hours and limit use to 40 hours in a benefit year; unused hours carry forward. Alternatively you can give 40 hours at the start of each benefit year, which satisfies the accrual and carry-over rules. The leave covers the caregiver's own medical care or a family member's, and Safe Time for domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

Illustrative arithmetic: a caregiver working 40 hours a week for 52 weeks accrues about 69 hours (2,080 ÷ 30), so with the caps above the 40-hour use limit is the one that binds. Budget for a substitute on those days as well as for the sick pay itself.

San Diego reference figures, kept apart

The aide median is below today's city minimum. The OEWS figures describe the first quarter of 2025 and the whole metro area, much of it outside the City, so they do not measure current pay inside city limits; read them as a reference for employed aides, not as a market rate for independent caregivers. Nobody surveys private caregiver rates in San Diego; the panel above the contents list gives the rates caregivers on CaregiverConnect have posted near San Diego, with the count.

San Diego County IHSS: the $20.40 provider wage

San Diego County's IHSS wage is $20.40 an hour since 1 March 2026 (CDSS), compared with $18.90 in neighboring Orange County. IHSS pays it, from Medi-Cal, to a provider the recipient chooses. Covered tasks, in the list Aging & Independence Services (AIS) gives, run from bathing, grooming and dressing to housecleaning, laundry, shopping and meal preparation.

Eligibility has four parts in the county's wording: financial limits; age 65 or over, blindness or disability; full-scope Medi-Cal; and needing help to remain safely at home. People on SSI/SSP meet the financial test; others may qualify but share the cost. Apply through the AIS call center at (800) 339-4661, by email or at an IHSS office. Two offices are inside the City: Overland, 5560 Overland Avenue, Ste 310, San Diego 92123, and the Southeastern Live Well Center, 5101 Market Street, Ste 2100, San Diego 92114.

The hours IHSS authorizes are set by a county assessment at home, so families often pay privately for the rest. More on county differences in the IHSS pay by county guide.

Three San Diego budgets with the arithmetic

These are illustrative calculations on cited rates, not quotes. Columns use the $17.75 city floor and the $20.40 county IHSS wage, the latter only as an example of a private rate above the floor. Weekly cost × 52 ÷ 12 gives the monthly figure.

Every row assumes a personal attendant in DIR's sense: a caregiver hired to supervise, feed and dress your relative who spends at most a fifth of the time on anything else (DIR FAQ). Even so, the second row carries overtime, because the binding rule there is federal. Under 29 U.S.C. 207(l) hours past 40 in a workweek of household domestic service carry the 1.5 rate, a rule the Labor Department extends to each live-out domestic employee (29 CFR 552.100), so 5 of the 45 hours are paid at the higher rate even though California's personal attendant line of 45 is not crossed. A family employer escapes that federal overtime only when the job counts as companionship services: fellowship and protection, with hands-on care such as bathing, dressing and feeding at no more than 20% of weekly hours (29 CFR 552.6). Agencies and other third-party employers cannot claim the exemption (29 CFR 552.109). The live-in row is different again: 29 U.S.C. 213(b)(21) exempts a domestic worker who resides in the household from federal overtime, so California's rules decide it.

Why the third row has overtime: the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights entitles a personal attendant to time and a half once a day passes nine hours or a week passes 45 (DIR), and the night-time hour makes each day ten hours long. Wage Order 15 reaches the same rate by another route: a live-in must get an unbroken 12 hours off duty each day, and any work you ask for inside that block earns one and a half times the usual rate. The same order says no live-in employee shall be required to work more than five days in a workweek without a day off of at least 24 consecutive hours, except in an emergency, which is why the example stops at five days. Cover for the weekend is a separate cost.

An agency at the CareScout California median of $40 would bill 45 × $40 = $1,800 for the second row, about $7,800 a month. The gap is the agency's margin, its insurance and its backup staffing.

Two additions when you employ directly: your own 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare after one worker's 2026 cash pay reaches $3,000 (IRS Topic 756), roughly $74.13 weekly on the $969.00 week at $20.40; and registering with the EDD no later than 15 days after a quarter's cash wages pass $750 (State Disability Insurance is withheld from then on, with Unemployment Insurance and Employment Training Tax owed from $1,000 a quarter).

What changes the rate a San Diego caregiver asks

• Housework share. If more than 20% of the caregiver's time goes on household tasks such as cooking for the family, laundry and cleaning, California does not treat them as a personal attendant, and Wage Order 15 overtime starts after eight hours daily or 40 weekly for a worker who does not live in, with twice the regular rate once a day exceeds twelve hours (DIR FAQ). On the 45-hour row the count happens to come out the same, five overtime hours, since each 9-hour day has one hour past eight.
• Training and experience. In this MSA nursing assistants earned a median of $23.05 against $17.33 for aides during the first three months of 2025 (EDD OEWS). Expect caregivers with a CNA or years of dementia work to price toward the higher figure.
• Where the work is. The city floor applies only within City limits, so a caregiver splitting time between clients may quote different rates in different places.
• Room and meals. With a voluntary written agreement signed in advance, lodging and meals can count toward minimum wage pay within the 2026 limits, for example up to $79.46 weekly for a single room and $11.28 per dinner (MW-2026).

Support for San Diego families and where to look

AIS runs a Family Caregiver Support Program offering training, assistance and relief for relatives in a caregiving role that can last for years, and lists the Caregiver Coalition of San Diego, a volunteer group of senior service providers giving free information and referrals. Both are reached through the AIS call center above.

To compare caregivers, start with the San Diego caregiver page, or narrow by need: companion care, personal care, dementia care or live-in caregivers. Neighborhoods have their own pages, for example La Jolla, and the county page covers the rest of the region. If your relative lives outside the City, the state floor applies; the Carlsbad cost page shows how that changes the numbers.

CaregiverConnect does not employ caregivers. Caregivers post free profiles with their own rates, families post free, and you hire directly with no commission taken, becoming the employer for the rules above. There are no background checks by the site, though caregivers can upload proof of one. Use the interview questions for families before agreeing pay. Paid plans are optional; see pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. City of San Diego, Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance
2. City of San Diego, Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement, Minimum Wage Program
3. California DIR, Minimum wage frequently asked questions (2026 rate)
4. California IWC, Minimum Wage Order MW-2026 (meals and lodging credits)
5. California EDD, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) dataset, 2025 first quarter, San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (California Open Data Portal)
6. CareScout, Cost of Care Survey 2025, Median Cost Data Tables (PDF)
7. CDSS, County IHSS wage rates (workbook, sheet "IP Effective 10-1-2026")
8. County of San Diego Aging & Independence Services, In-Home Supportive Services
9. County of San Diego Aging & Independence Services, Families/Caregivers
10. California DIR, Domestic Worker Bill of Rights FAQ
11. California IWC, Wage Order 15 (household occupations)
12. US Code, 29 U.S.C. 207 (overtime; subsection (l), domestic service), via Cornell LII
13. US Code, 29 U.S.C. 213 (exemptions: (a)(15) companionship services, (b)(21) live-in domestic workers), via Cornell LII
14. eCFR, 29 CFR Part 552, domestic service employment (552.6, 552.100, 552.102, 552.109)
15. California EDD, Household employers
16. IRS Topic 756, Employment taxes for household employees