Caregiver in San Jose, CA
about 8 mi from Santa Clara · 10+ yrs experience
$25/hrSee full profile
Santa Clara, California · Santa Clara County
In-Home Caregivers in Santa Clara, CA
ACS 2020–2024 counts 3,413 Santa Clara households where a person aged 65 or older lives alone. Describe the help your relative needs, post it free, and choose a caregiver yourself.
- Free to join, browse and post
- Hire directly, no agency mark-up
- You stay in control of screening
Start here
How to find an in-home caregiver in Santa Clara
Hiring privately in the City of Santa Clara means building a schedule around what the city and county already provide. The Senior Center at 1303 Fremont Street runs programs for adults 50 and over and stays open until 7 p.m. Monday to Thursday. Seniors can book discounted SV Hopper rides across a wide zone, and riders with a disability that rules out fixed-route transit can apply for VTA ACCESS paratransit. If your relative has Medi-Cal, county IHSS may pay for some authorized hours. A caregiver you hire fills the gaps: early mornings, evenings, weekends and the weeks after a stay at Kaiser on Lawrence Expressway.
Start with a post that lists the tasks, the hours and the ZIP code (95050, 95051 or 95054), and say whether the caregiver will drive your car or their own. Caregivers able to get to Santa Clara write back, and the profiles above update whenever someone local joins. 57% of Santa Clara residents aged five and up rely on a language besides English at home; if your relative is more comfortable in another language, write that in the first line of the post so the right people answer first.
Available now
Private in-home caregivers near Santa Clara, CA
Independent caregivers with profiles on CaregiverConnect whose home base is within 50 miles. You agree on duties, schedule and pay directly with the person you hire.
Caregiver in San Marcos, CA
about 44 mi from Santa Clara · 10+ yrs experience
$30/hrSee full profile
2 of 2 available caregivers within 50 miles of Santa Clara, nearest first. Names, photos, bios, references and the Verified badge details are shown once you create a free family account; this public page keeps caregivers anonymous.
Are you a caregiver in Santa Clara?
Open postings and a free profile.
What you can post
Types of in-home care families in Santa Clara arrange
All non-medical. For nursing tasks (injections, wound care, catheters) you need a licensed home health agency, not a private caregiver.
Senior care at home · Personal care · Companion care · Dementia care · Respite care · Overnight and live-in · Post-surgery recovery · Part-time and flexible
Choosing well
Evaluating caregivers in Santa Clara
Work out what each credential actually proves. Agencies must send aides who are listed on the state Home Care Aide Registry; for independents the listing is voluntary, so its absence alone tells you little. CNA status means the person completed an approved course and the state competency test. An IHSS provider in this county was fingerprinted and enrolled through Public Authority Services. None of that replaces your own checks: hold the interview at your relative's home with them present, telephone two earlier employers, pay a screening company you choose with the applicant's written consent, and book one paid trial shift. CaregiverConnect does not screen applicants, and our Verified badge refers to a single uploaded document.
Questions families here ask at interview
- Have you helped anyone recover at home after a Kaiser Santa Clara admission? What did the first week look like?
- Could you drive my father to the Senior Center on Fremont Street and stay with him if he needs it?
- Are you comfortable booking SV Hopper or VTA ACCESS rides, or would you rather drive?
- My mother speaks mostly Mandarin. Which languages can you use with her, and how well?
- Which of these apply to you: registered home care aide, certified nursing assistant, enrolled IHSS provider?
- Walk me through the first five minutes after a fall when nobody else is home.
- How do you prefer to record hours, and how much notice do you give before taking time off?
Schedules and cost
What in-home care costs in Santa Clara: hourly rates and schedules
Santa Clara families commonly ask for an early shift for washing, dressing and breakfast, a lunchtime check-in while the household works from home, three or four afternoons a week built around Senior Center activities, overnight cover after a hospital discharge, or a weekend shift to relieve a spouse who provides most of the care.
| Reference point | Hourly | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employed aides, San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara metro (Santa Clara and San Benito counties) | $18.09 median | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| IHSS provider wage, Santa Clara County | $20.44 | CDSS; effective January 1, 2026 |
| California minimum wage | $16.90 | effective January 1, 2026 |
| Agency non-medical home care, California median (CareScout 2025) | $40.00 | CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025 |
Who is the employer. When you hire a caregiver directly, you are a household 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.
The City of Santa Clara's minimum wage is $18.70 an hour for 2026, higher than both the $16.90 state rate and the $18.09 metro aide median shown here. We could not confirm from the city whether the ordinance reaches a household that hires a caregiver directly, so the safest course is to pay at least $18.70. County IHSS providers earn $20.44, which gives you a sense of where experienced caregivers set their sights. Agencies bill well above any of these figures because their rate covers payroll taxes, insurance and supervision. If you employ a live-out attendant for long days, state law treats a live-out attendant's tenth and later hours in a day, and hours beyond 45 in a week, as overtime at one and a half times the base rate.
No agency tracks private rates. A caregiver you hire directly will usually expect more than the employed-aide median and less than an agency rate; every caregiver on this site lists an hourly rate on their profile, and the hiring guide covers taxes and overtime.
Local help
Caregiver resources for families in Santa Clara
- Santa Clara Senior Center1303 Fremont Street, 408-615-3170, for residents 50 and over. Hours Monday to Thursday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday to 3 p.m., Saturday morning. Closest bus stops are on VTA Route 21 at Monroe and Harrison or Monroe and Fremont.
- Santa Clara County IHSSQuestions about authorized hours or a social worker: (408) 792-1600 or IHSS.SCC@ssa.sccgov.org. Your relative is the employer and can hire a family member.
- Public Authority Services RegistryIHSS recipients can request lists of pre-screened, enrolled providers to interview, and the On-Call Registry may send a temporary provider when the usual one cannot come. Registry line (408) 350-3251.
- Sourcewise Information and AwarenessThe county's aging-services agency, with free HICAP Medicare counseling and a resource directory that includes adult day programs and caregiver support groups. (408) 350-3200, option 1.
- VTA ACCESS ParatransitParatransit for riders unable to take VTA buses or trains because of a disability; one regular trip each way is priced at double the adult cash fare. Applicants fill in a Data Card and then have a phone interview.
- Kaiser Permanente Santa ClaraThe hospital at 700 Lawrence Expressway, licensed for 343 beds. Ask the discharge planner for written instructions you can hand to whoever will be providing care at home.
Safety
Hiring safely in Santa Clara
Put the arrangement on paper and sign it together: duties, hours, rate, overtime, driving and mileage, days off, and how much notice either of you gives. Keep a weekly timesheet, lock away jewelry, checkbooks and cards, and have the bank text you about large withdrawals. Where abuse or financial exploitation seems possible, Santa Clara County Adult Protective Services takes calls around the clock at (408) 975-4900 or 1 (800) 414-2002; in an emergency, call 9-1-1. The hiring guide walks through the rest.
How it works
How to hire a private caregiver in Santa Clara (no agency)
CaregiverConnect is a marketplace, not an agency: you hire the caregiver directly, which is why there is no agency mark-up on their hourly rate. That also means screening is your responsibility, and we tell you how.
- Describe the care you need
- Your posting goes live
- Review caregivers and applicants
- Message and hire
- Agree terms and pay directly
Pricing, plainly
What is free and what costs money
Browsing, posting and receiving applications are free. Messaging and confirming a hire are part of Family Premium ($24.99/month, cancel any time). No commission on what you pay the caregiver; see the pricing page.
Widen your search
Find caregivers near Santa Clara
Caregivers set a travel radius, so a caregiver based in a neighbouring town may well cover your home. These pages show who is nearby.
Santa Clara is part of Santa Clara County; the hub pages list every town and area they cover.
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) · How to hire a private caregiver: cost, screening, taxes and a written agreement · Imperial County caregiver resources: training, job centres, IHSS, senior services and transport
Sources (checked 2026-10-15):
- City of Santa Clara, Older Adults (50+) page (Wayback capture May 10, 2026)
- UC Berkeley Labor Center, inventory of local minimum wage ordinances
- U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024 5-year profile, Santa Clara city (via MCDC)
- Public Authority Services, contact numbers (APS, IHSS, Sourcewise)
- Public Authority Services, Independent Provider Registry
- Public Authority Services by Sourcewise, home page (On-Call Registry, IHSS wage)
- Sourcewise
- VTA, ACCESS Paratransit
- HCAI hospital profile, Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Santa Clara
- BLS OEWS May 2025, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
- CDSS, IHSS wages by county
- CDSS, Home Care Services
- CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025
- California DIR, Domestic Worker Bill of Rights
Questions
Hiring a caregiver in Santa Clara: frequently asked questions
What hourly rate should I offer a caregiver in Santa Clara?
Start from the city's $18.70 minimum for 2026 and adjust for experience, nights and dementia care. County IHSS pays its providers $20.44, a useful benchmark for someone with a track record.
Is there a senior center my mother could attend while the caregiver runs errands?
The Santa Clara Senior Center at 1303 Fremont Street serves adults 50 and over and opens at 7 a.m. on weekdays. Call 408-615-3170 about programs and membership.
How can Dad get to appointments if he no longer drives?
SV Hopper offers discounted rides for seniors, and VTA ACCESS covers people whose disability rules out the bus. A caregiver can ride with him or drive him directly.
Can IHSS pay me to look after my own parent in Santa Clara County?
It is possible once your parent is on Medi-Cal and has IHSS hours approved by the county. You would then enroll with Public Authority Services and be paid $20.44 an hour. The Santa Clara County IHSS guide lists the steps.
Who do I call if I think a caregiver is taking advantage of my aunt?
Adult Protective Services, 24 hours a day: (408) 975-4900 or 1 (800) 414-2002. Report it even if you are not sure; investigators decide what follows.
Do applicants on CaregiverConnect come pre-checked?
No. Treat the profile as a starting point and confirm every claim yourself with registry searches, references and a screening service you pay for.
Post your care need in Santa Clara
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