Live-In Caregiver Data
Only Livein tracks the live-in caregiver market every day. Every figure on this page is computed from our own live listings, US Census data, or state rules — with the date and the sample size printed beside it, so anyone can quote it and anyone can check it. This is the index page for the data we publish: the shortage index, what cases ask for, the rules state by state, time-to-fill, and the pay index.
The shortage index
How many seniors are there for every open live-in case? That ratio is the simplest measure of how thin live-in care coverage is — and nobody else publishes it, because nobody else counts live-in cases only.
61,245,283 Americans aged 65+ · 348 open live-in cases in our feed · November 2026.
States with at least 15 open cases in our feed, November 2026:
| State | Seniors 65+ | Open cases | Seniors per open case |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 6,524,861 | 23 | 283,690 |
| New York | 3,757,173 | 17 | 221,010 |
| Texas | 4,365,469 | 28 | 155,910 |
| Pennsylvania | 2,665,974 | 31 | 85,999 |
| Massachusetts | 1,335,942 | 19 | 70,313 |
| Maryland | 1,099,752 | 17 | 64,691 |
| New Jersey | 1,706,665 | 31 | 55,054 |
| Illinois | 2,274,582 | 71 | 32,036 |
| Connecticut | 713,337 | 24 | 29,722 |
Ratios for states with only a few cases swing widely, so we print the case count beside every ratio and only table the states with 15 or more. Sources: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates (table B01001); open cases from Only Livein's live feed, November 2026.
What live-in cases ask for
What do employers actually request — experience, certification, a car, weekend work? We count it across the live feed. These are the requirements and offers that appear most often:
| Requirement / offer | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Stated experience requirement | 17 | 4.8% |
| HCA / certified aide mentioned | 16 | 4.5% |
| Driver's license or own car | 12 | 3.4% |
| Weekend work | 6 | 1.7% |
| Cooking & housekeeping | 5 | 1.4% |
| Companionship | 5 | 1.4% |
| Dementia / Alzheimer's care | 3 | 0.8% |
| Private room for the caregiver | 3 | 0.8% |
| Overnight / awake-night duty | 3 | 0.8% |
| A specific language | 2 | 0.6% |
| Transfers & mobility help | 1 | 0.3% |
Not found in any listing title: hospice experience, Live Scan / background checks, CPR & first aid, TB tests, meals included, medication management, COVID vaccination — which says more about titles than about the jobs, as the note below explains.
Early read: counted from the titles of 353 live listings on Nov 1, 2026. Requirements usually sit in the full listing text; full-text counting is now running and this section updates as it matures.
The rules, state by state
Live-in work runs on rules most families — and many caregivers — only learn after a dispute. Two federal rules frame everything:
The federal baseline. (1) Since the 2015 Home Care Rule, an agency-employed live-in caregiver must be paid at least minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime at 1.5× after 40 hours in a week. The live-in overtime exemption covers household employment only — a live-in hired directly by a family is owed the minimum wage, but not the federal overtime premium.
(2) Sleep time on shifts of 24 hours or more: up to 8 hours of sleep can be excluded from paid time only when there is an agreement, adequate sleeping facilities, and the caregiver can usually sleep uninterrupted. If the caregiver cannot get at least 5 hours of sleep, the whole sleep period counts as paid work.
The ten states with the most live-in activity in our feed, researched November 1, 2026:
| State | Minimum wage (2026) | Live-in overtime | Registry / credential |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | $16.90 | Personal attendants: overtime at 1.5× after 9 hours in a day or 45 in a week. Other live-ins fall under Wage Order 15 (9-hour day, 6th/7th-day premiums, 12 consecutive off-duty hours). | Home Care Aide Registry (CDSS): agency aides must be listed before working — Live Scan fingerprint check, TB clearance, 5 hours of entry training and 5 hours a year. |
| New York | $17.00 in NYC, Long Island & Westchester; $16.00 elsewhere | Live-ins: 1.5× after 44 hours in a week, plus a 24-hour day of rest every 7 days. | Home Care Services Worker Registry (Dept. of Health): agency aides hold an HHA or PCA certificate from a state-approved program and pass a fingerprint record check. |
| New Jersey | $15.92 | 1.5× after 40 hours in a week — no separate live-in threshold. A live-in must be paid for at least 8 hours for each day on duty. | Certified Homemaker-Home Health Aide (CHHA), Board of Nursing: 76-hour approved program, competency exam, background check. CHHAs must work for a licensed agency. |
| Illinois | $15.00 | 1.5× after 40 hours in a week. State law makes no live-in distinction — there is no higher live-in threshold. | Health Care Worker Registry (Dept. of Public Health): employer-run fingerprint background check; the worker must show as eligible. Agencies provide 10 hours of training, then 10 a year. |
| Pennsylvania | $7.25 | The state Minimum Wage Act exempts household domestic service, so a household-employed live-in has no state overtime right (Philadelphia's local ordinance adds breaks and a day off after 6 straight days, but sets no rates). Agency-employed caregivers are covered: 1.5× after 40 hours. Federal law applies either way. | No worker registry. Agencies must interview, check two references and criminal history, and establish competency before assigning a worker. |
| Connecticut | $16.94 | State wage law follows the FLSA definition, so the federal live-in overtime exemption carries through: a household-employed live-in is owed the minimum wage but not the overtime premium. | No individual aide registry or credential. Homemaker-companion agencies register with the Dept. of Consumer Protection and must background-check every hire. |
| Massachusetts | $15.00 | 1.5× after 40 hours in a week, live-ins included. At least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week. | No state certification for home care aides. A Home Care Worker Registry exists, but it is an agency-reporting registry — being listed is not a qualification to work. |
| Washington | $17.13 | A new statewide domestic-worker law takes effect July 1, 2027: from then, 1.5× after 40 hours with no live-in threshold. Before that date, live-ins could fall under the state's reside-at-workplace exemption. (Seattle's city ordinance already guarantees a live-in a day off after 6 straight days.) | Home Care Aide certification (Dept. of Health): 75 hours of approved training + state exam, certified within 200 days of hire |
| Texas | $7.25 | No state domestic-worker law — the federal baseline applies: household-employed live-ins are overtime-exempt; agency-employed live-ins get 1.5× after 40 hours. | No state caregiver registry or certification. Licensed agencies must search the Nurse Aide Registry and Employee Misconduct Registry before hiring. |
| Florida | $15.00 (since September 30, 2026) | No state domestic-worker law — the federal baseline applies: household-employed live-ins are overtime-exempt; agency-employed live-ins get 1.5× after 40 hours. | No state aide certification. Staff of licensed providers need Level 2 fingerprint screening (FDLE/FBI) through the AHCA clearinghouse, plus 40 hours of training or a passed competency test. |
Reference only — not legal advice. Rules change; check your state labor agency. Looking for an agency instead? Browse the home care agency directory.
Time-to-fill: coming late November 2026
How long does a live-in case stay open before it fills? We have recorded every listing daily since Nov 1, 2026. First readings publish late November 2026.
Our method, stated up front: a listing counts as filled when it leaves the boards. Our feed ages out listings at 21 days, and we say so wherever we publish the number.
The pay index
The Live-In Caregiver Pay Index. US median day rate: $245/day (N=22 clean per-day listings, October 2026).
Rates are this site's home turf, so they get their own page: the full state-by-state table, how rotations change the weekly math, and what premium cases pay is in live-in caregiver pay in 2026.
Use the data
Caregivers: the cases behind these numbers are live now.
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Families: See today's open-case counts on the live
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How we compute this
Only Livein scans agencies, job boards, and family posts every 8 hours and keeps live-in caregiver cases only. Pay figures use clean per-day listings — hourly, weekly, and monthly figures are converted or excluded, never mixed in silently. Senior population counts are US Census Bureau ACS 2024 1-year estimates. Wage, overtime, and registry rules were researched from US Department of Labor and state sources on November 1, 2026; each index on this page prints its own date and sample size, and figures refresh as the underlying feed and counts update. Nothing here is legal advice.
More live-in guides and job pages
Live-in caregiver pay in 2026 · Live case tracker · Home care agency directory · All articles — the Only Livein blog · Caregiver jobs: where the openings are · Live-in home care: costs and hiring · Browse the current cases