There is no single number that answers this honestly, but there is a real starting point. The most recent national Cost of Care Survey, fielded in 2025, put the median rate for non-medical caregiver services at $35 an hour, which works out to roughly $80,080 a year at 44 hours of care a week. That figure is a national benchmark, not a San Francisco rate, and because the Bay Area’s cost of living runs above the national average, most local families should expect quotes above that number rather than below it. The real cost for your parent or spouse depends on hours needed, schedule, level of care, and which agency you call, which is why the only reliable number is a personalized estimate, not a published average.
If you came to this page because you are staring down a spreadsheet trying to guess what the next year is going to cost, you are doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right time.
That instinct, to get real numbers before you commit to anything, is the same instinct our team at Aviva In-Home Care’s San Francisco office sees every week from families at 100 Pine St. and across the city. Nobody wants to build a care plan around a guess. This article walks through what actually drives the price of home care, gives you a simple way to estimate your own budget, and tells you plainly how most Bay Area families end up paying for it.
What Actually Moves the Price Up or Down
Home care is priced by the hour almost everywhere in the country, San Francisco included, and the total you pay each month comes down to a short list of factors rather than one flat rate.
Hours per week is the biggest lever. A few scheduled visits a week for companionship and light help costs very differently than daily coverage, and daily coverage costs differently again than 24-hour or live-in care. Families often start smaller than they expect, a few mornings a week, and build from there as needs change.
Level of care matters too. Companionship and help with errands, light housekeeping, and meal prep is typically priced differently than personal care involving bathing, mobility assistance, or more hands-on support. A parent who mostly needs company and a ride to appointments has a different cost profile than one who needs help getting in and out of bed safely.
Schedule changes the math as well. Weekday daytime hours tend to be the most straightforward to price. Evenings, overnight shifts, weekends, and holidays often carry a different rate, and if your parent needs support at 2 a.m. after a fall risk concern, that is worth asking about specifically.
A few more factors that quietly affect the total:
- Minimum visit requirements. Many agencies, Aviva included, have a minimum number of hours per visit, which affects the real cost of a schedule built around short, frequent check-ins rather than longer blocks.
- Neighborhood and location. Rates vary within the Bay Area itself, not just compared to the national average, driven by local wages and cost of living differences between, say, San Francisco proper and surrounding towns like San Mateo or Redwood City.
- Agency policies. Deposits, cancellation windows, holiday rates, and billing cycles differ from agency to agency, and they change the real cost of a care plan well beyond the quoted hourly number.
None of this is unique to any one provider. It is true of home care pricing across the industry, which is exactly why two quotes that look similar on the phone can add up very differently once you compare what each one actually includes.
What the National Benchmark Actually Says, and What It Doesn’t
The 2025 Cost of Care Survey reported that national median rate of $35 an hour for non-medical caregiver services, a category that combines what used to be tracked separately as homemaker services and home health aide services. Annualized at 44 hours a week, that comes out to roughly $80,080 a year.
That number is useful. It is also, on its own, incomplete for a San Francisco family.
It is a national figure, gathered across every region of the country, including places where wages and overall cost of living run well below what they do here. Because San Francisco’s cost of living sits above the national average, local quotes for home care should generally run higher than that $35 benchmark, not lower. Treat the national figure as a floor to plan around, not a ceiling you should expect to land under once you start calling local agencies.
A Simple Way to Estimate Your Own Monthly Budget
This is a planning tool, not a quote, and it is worth saying that twice: a planning tool, not a quote. But it gives you a real number to sanity-check against before you get on the phone.
Estimated hours per week × estimated hourly rate × 4.33 weeks = estimated monthly cost
Say you are considering 20 hours a week of support for your mother, who lives alone in San Francisco and could use help with meals, medication reminders, and getting to appointments. At a planning rate of $35 an hour, that works out to 20 × $35 × 4.33, or roughly $3,031 a month. Bump the hours to 30 a week, and the number moves to roughly $4,547 a month. Change either variable and the total shifts accordingly.
Run the formula for a few different scenarios, a few hours a day versus daily coverage versus overnight support, before you call anyone. It won’t replace an actual quote, but it will help you walk into that first phone call already knowing what questions matter most to your budget.
How Most Families Actually Pay for It
There is rarely one single funding source. Most households use some combination of the following.
Private pay is the most common way families cover non-medical home care, meaning payment out of pocket through personal funds, checks, or credit cards. Many families designate one person as the point of contact for billing just to keep things simple when siblings are sharing the cost.
Long-term care insurance can help if your parent purchased a policy years ago, but how much it helps depends entirely on that specific policy’s benefits, eligibility rules, and elimination period. Some policies require a documented need for help with daily activities before benefits start, and the benefit amount doesn’t always match the actual cost of care, which can leave a gap the family covers directly. Request a full written explanation of the policy’s terms early, not after care has already started.
Medicare and Medicaid come up in almost every conversation about cost, and they deserve their own honest answer. Medicare usually does not pay for ongoing non-medical home care when help with daily activities is the only need, and Medicaid or state waiver programs may help some people who qualify, with rules that vary by state and program. We cover this in detail, including what each program actually does cover, in a separate article, because it comes up often enough to deserve its own space.
A funding source, whatever it is, is never a guarantee of a specific dollar amount. Confirm details directly with the relevant program, insurer, or benefits representative before building a long-term budget around any single source.
Why a Personalized Estimate Beats Any Published Number
Every number in this article- the national benchmark, the planning formula, the monthly estimates- exists to get you closer to an informed conversation, not to replace one. Your parent’s actual needs, your preferred schedule, and the specific agency you choose will all shape the real quote you receive, and that quote is the only number that should go into your household budget.
If your family is weighing home care in San Francisco against other options, like moving a parent to assisted living or increasing support from family members, cost is almost always the first question and rarely the only one. Understanding the real range before a crisis forces a decision is what allows you to choose calmly instead of scrambling.
Aviva In-Home Care also offers related support worth knowing about as you plan, including Companion Care at Home, Personal Care at Home, Senior Fall Risk Management, and Pre & Post Surgical Support, each priced according to the hours and level of care your family actually needs.
Go Deeper With Our Free Planning Guide
Our guide, How Much Does Home Care Cost, and Who Pays for It?, walks through this entire topic in more depth, including:
- The full breakdown of what drives home care pricing, beyond what fits in one article
- A worksheet version of the planning formula you can fill in with your own numbers
- A complete look at how families pay for care, including Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care insurance, and veterans benefits
- Five things families often get wrong about paying for care, and the signs it may be time to start the conversation
You can read the full guide at avivainhomecare.com/paying-for-home-care-guide.
Ready for real numbers instead of estimates? Call Aviva In-Home Care at (415) 463-1400 or request a free care assessment at avivainhomecare.com/get-started.
Aviva In-Home Care’s San Francisco office proudly serves families throughout San Francisco and Pacifica, alongside our Burlingame office covering Burlingame, San Mateo, and the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area.
- How Much Does Home Care Cost in San Francisco? - November 13, 2026
- How Do I Know If My Parent Needs Home Care? - November 10, 2026
- Aviva In-Home Care Named Best Home Care Agency in San Francisco for Fourth Consecutive Year - November 5, 2026
