Operations
Caregiver Payroll Burden: What Each Hour Really Costs
Payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, workers' comp and paid leave add 13–22% to every caregiver hour. Line-by-line breakdown and why turnover makes it worse.
What does a caregiver cost on top of their wage?
Enter your wage, state unemployment rate and workers' comp rate. The calculator shows the burden per hour and per caregiver per year.
Last reviewed October 17, 2026
What goes into payroll burden?
| Cost | Rate | Who sets it |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare (FICA) | 7.65% of wages | Federal |
| Federal unemployment (FUTA) | 0.6% on the first $7,000 per employee, after the state credit | Federal |
| State unemployment | Varies by employer and state wage base | State |
| Workers' compensation | Per $100 of payroll, by class code | Insurer or state fund |
| Paid sick leave | Hours accrued under state or local law | State or city |
How do I lower payroll burden?
Keep caregivers longer, so you pay unemployment wage bases once per position instead of several times. Keep workers' comp claims down with safe transfer training, since claims history drives your rate. And make sure caregivers are classified as employees: misclassifying them as contractors saves burden only until an audit.
How Caregiver Scheduling handles this
QuickBooks export of approved hours from verified visits is coming soon, so the hours your burden is calculated on will be the hours caregivers actually worked. See what’s coming for timesheets and QuickBooks export.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
For most agencies, required payroll costs add 13% to 22% to every hour of pay before optional benefits. On an $18 wage that is roughly $2.34 to $3.96 an hour.
FUTA and state unemployment are charged on each employee’s wages up to a yearly wage base. When a caregiver leaves and you hire a replacement, the wage base starts over, so you pay those taxes twice for one position.
Your state workforce or unemployment agency mails a rate notice each year. New employers get a standard new-employer rate until they have enough claims history for an experience rate.
Yes. Burden is part of the cost of every caregiver hour, so it belongs in your break-even and bill rate. The bill rate calculator takes your burden percentage as an input.
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Operations
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These free tools are made by the team behind Caregiver Scheduling, caregiver scheduling software for home care agencies.
Simple pricing
From $199 /month
Up to 10 caregivers on Starter, 50 on Growth.
More than 50 caregivers? We'll put together a custom Scale plan for your agency.