Operations
How Much to Charge for Home Care Per Hour (With the Math)
Build your private-pay hourly rate from caregiver wage, payroll burden, unpaid-but-paid time, overhead and margin. Worked example and national benchmarks.
How much should you charge per hour for home care?
Enter what a caregiver hour really costs you. The calculator returns your break-even rate and the bill rate that hits your target margin.
Last reviewed October 17, 2026
How is the bill rate calculated?
Start with the caregiver wage and add payroll burden to get the loaded wage. Add paid time you can't bill, such as travel and training, to get the labor cost behind each billable hour. Add overhead per billable hour (annual overhead divided by annual billable hours) to get break-even. Divide break-even by one minus your target margin to get the bill rate.
| Step | Default example |
|---|---|
| Wage | $18.00 |
| + 17% payroll burden | $21.06 |
| + 8% paid non-billable time | $22.74 |
| + overhead ($310,000 ÷ 36,000 hours) | $31.36 break-even |
| ÷ (1 − 12% margin) | $35.63 bill rate |
Which inputs move the rate the most?
Wage and overhead. Each dollar of wage adds about two dollars to the bill rate once burden and margin are applied. Overhead matters most for small agencies: the same office costs spread over fewer billable hours add more to every hour. Growing billable hours is often a faster way to a healthy rate than cutting costs.
How Caregiver Scheduling handles this
Timesheets from verified check-ins, private-pay invoicing and QuickBooks export are coming soon, so the hours you invoice will match the hours you paid. See what’s coming for timesheets and invoicing.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
The CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey puts the national median for non-medical in-home care at $35 an hour, with wide variation by state. Against the BLS median aide wage of $17.21 (May 2025), that is about 2.03 times the wage.
Break-even covers the loaded caregiver cost plus your share of overhead for each billable hour. The bill rate adds your target net margin on top, so the business has money left after every cost is paid.
You cannot set Medicaid rates; the state fee schedule does. Run the calculator with your Medicaid rate as a check: if it falls below break-even, you need private-pay margin or lower overhead to carry those hours.
Rerun the numbers whenever wages, minimum wage, workers’ comp or insurance change, and at least once a year. Give private-pay clients written notice before a new rate takes effect, as your service agreement requires.
Related guides
Operations
How to Calculate Your Home Care Bill Rate from Caregiver Wages
Bill rate = loaded wage plus overhead, divided by one minus your margin. The formula, a quick table by wage, the payroll taxes behind it, and where shortcuts mislead.
Operations
Home Care Agency Profit Margins: What's Typical and What Moves Them
Gross vs. net margin for non-medical home care, a worked hour at the 2025 median rate and wage, and the five levers that move profit most.
Operations
How Many Clients Does a Home Care Agency Need to Break Even?
Break-even for a home care agency is a weekly-hours number, not a client count. The formula, a worked example with labeled assumptions, and what moves it.
Operations
Raising Your Home Care Rates: How to Tell Clients (Letter Template)
Raise private-pay rates when costs rise, give at least 30 days' written notice (60 in Connecticut), explain the reason in one sentence. Sample letter included.
Operations
Home Care Rates by State: Private Pay and Medicaid
Non-medical home care cost a median $35 an hour in 2025. What drives state differences, what Medicaid pays for personal care in four states, and how to price your agency.
These free tools are made by the team behind Caregiver Scheduling, caregiver scheduling software for home care agencies.
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