How much should companion caregivers charge?
Companion care is priced hourly for standard visits, with flat overnight or live-in rates for longer bookings — but every flat rate should still trace back to a real hourly floor, the same check that matters for babysitting day rates.
Estimate your rate
A starting point for senior companion care — adjust to your own numbers.
~$61.00 / hour
Formula: (target income + expenses) ÷ (billable hours/week × 50 working weeks). This is a starting estimate, not a guarantee — adjust for local market rates.
What moves the rate
- Scope of care: pure companionship/light housekeeping vs. hands-on personal care (bathing, dressing, transferring) commands a premium and may require certification
- Experience and certifications (CNA/HHA training, dementia/Alzheimer's care experience) can push rates toward the top of the range
- Client's care needs (mobility limitations, cognitive decline, medical complexity) and required attentiveness level
- Live-in or overnight bookings vs. daytime hourly visits (live-in is typically a flat daily/weekly rate, not hourly)
- Time of day/day of week (evenings, weekends, and holiday coverage justify a surcharge)
- Local cost of living — home care rates vary more by state than almost any other profession on this site (roughly $25-44/hr median by state in 2026)
2026 data puts the national median cost of private non-medical in-home care at $34/hr (state medians range $25-44/hr), but that figure is largely agency-priced — agencies typically charge families 20-30% more than what an independent caregiver takes home for the same hours. Back that markup out and an independent, direct-hire companion caregiver's realistic charge lands closer to $20-40/hr, which is this calculator's range; the $28 base sits toward the lower-middle to represent a caregiver without a CNA/HHA credential; add $5-10/hr for certified personal-care work or dementia-care specialization. The $1,000/yr expense default sums general liability insurance (~$365/yr average for home care businesses), professional liability coverage (~$139/yr), a caregiver fidelity/surety bond (~$201/yr — not always legally required, but it's the single biggest trust signal for families hiring a stranger to be alone with an aging parent), CPR/First Aid certification renewal (~$50-70), a background-check renewal, and a lightweight scheduling/invoicing app. This is meaningfully higher than babysitting's $700/yr default because bonding and professional liability aren't optional trust signals in this market the way they're a nice-to-have for babysitting.