Family caregivers in the United States spend an average of $11,508 a year of their own money on the person they care for, according to a new AARP study, and for households earning under $40,000 that spending averages 76 percent of household income. The figure is up from $7,242 in AARP’s 2021 study and works out to about $959 a month.
The study, published October 28, comes from AARP Research, with Laura Mehegan and Gerard “Chuck” Rainville listed as authors. It is the third in a series that began in 2016, and it counts what caregivers pay out of pocket, not what the care itself costs or what Medicare, Medicaid or insurance covers.
An average, not a typical bill
The $11,508 is an average across caregivers age 18 and older, according to AARP’s report page, and the report does not give a median. An average can be pulled upward by a smaller group with very large bills, so many caregivers will spend less and some far more.
Adjusted for inflation, the 2021 figure is about $9,100, which AARP says still falls below the 2026 average. By that measure the increase of $4,266, or 59 percent, outpaces inflation.
The spending also takes a large bite of income. On average, caregivers put 31 percent of household income toward these costs, and roughly nine in 10 caregivers reported some expense.
How the survey was run
AARP surveyed 2,538 caregivers through Ipsos KnowledgePanel. A recruiting survey ran from June 2 to 29, 2026, and a one-week expense diary ran from June 11 to July 9. The study was offered in English and Spanish and weighted to Census Bureau benchmarks.
AARP also notes that results are subject to coverage, sampling, nonresponse, measurement and data-processing error, which applies to any survey of this kind. The figures describe caregivers in the sample, weighted to the national population, not every household.
Anyone paying for a parent’s care and wondering whether the number fits their own situation should treat $11,508 as a midpoint on a wide range. Spending climbs sharply with the kind of care provided, and the report breaks it out. The question for each caregiver is which of those categories describes the household, and whether the receipts are being kept.
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Where the money goes
Household and housing costs are the largest category, at $4,797 a year, or 42 percent of caregivers’ own spending. Within that group, food and nutrition accounts for 27 percent, and rent or mortgage payments, including property taxes, accounts for 25 percent.
Medical costs come second at $3,313, or 29 percent. Copays, coinsurance, premiums and direct payments to providers make up 37 percent of that category, and nursing home costs are 19 percent. Prescription drugs and medical equipment, supplies and over-the-counter medications are 11 percent each. Together, household and medical costs are 71 percent of the total.
A caregiver who covers groceries, a mortgage payment and a prescription for a parent is spending in three places at once. None of it looks like a caregiving expense on a bank statement, which is one reason the total is hard to track.
Who is hit hardest
Households under $40,000 spend an average of $11,448, which AARP says is 76 percent of household income, in its consumer summary of the study. The dollar amount is close to the all-caregiver average, but against a smaller income it is more than three-quarters of what the household takes in.
Black caregivers spend an average of $13,565, or 52 percent of income, compared with $9,806, or 24 percent, for white caregivers. Parents supporting an adult child with an illness or disability spend $17,775 on average, about half of household income, and caregivers of someone with dementia spend $15,846 against $10,221 for others.
Intensity drives the totals as well. High-intensity caregivers average $15,084 against $8,343 for low-intensity caregivers, and those performing three or more medical or nursing tasks average $15,648 against $7,948 for those performing none. Caregivers who took on an additional job spent $16,851.
Savings, debt and what AARP wants changed
The strain reaches retirement accounts. Caregivers who used retirement savings spent an average of $17,907, or 49 percent of income, and caregivers who borrowed money spent $16,580, or 50 percent. For a reader in their 50s or 60s, those withdrawals come out of the same savings meant for their own retirement.
AARP is pressing for caregiver tax credits, affordable home care and respite, paid job-protected family leave and compensation for eligible relatives who provide care. Nancy LeaMond, AARP’s executive vice president and chief advocacy officer, said caregivers “need relief,” and the group is urging Congress to pass the bipartisan Lowering Costs for Caregivers Act. Those are proposals, not benefits caregivers can claim now.
For planning, the federal government’s LongTermCare.gov, run by the Administration for Community Living, has a section on costs and who pays for long-term care. It says about 60 percent of people will need help with daily tasks at some point in their lives, which makes the caregiver spending in AARP’s study a cost many families will meet in some form.
Tracking what caregiving costs out of pocket?
The stake for a caregiver is that spending is scattered across groceries, a mortgage payment and prescriptions, so the total rarely shows up in one place. When costs are not tracked, nothing can be sorted into what is reimbursable and what is deductible at tax time, and the withdrawals from savings stay invisible.
Protect Your Savings From Care Costs is a 10-page guide that comes with a caregiver expense tracker and a list of what is reimbursable and what is deductible. It also includes a care-plan worksheet to fill in with family and the four ways care gets paid for, side by side.
Inside, it explains what Medicare pays for nursing care and what it will not, and how Medicaid’s five-year look-back works before anything is given away. Those are the questions that surface once a parent’s care costs begin to land on one household.
Start the caregiver expense tracker and the reimbursable-versus-deductible list →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
