How Many and Who Are They? – Center for Retirement Research
Two recent reports on family caregivers capture the scope and nature of care work. In terms of the number of people caring for elderly family members, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) put the numbers at 38 million and 59 million, respectively. The range is large, but the main reason for the difference is that the BLS only includes unpaid family caregivers for older Americans while the NAC figure includes all family caregivers (unpaid and paid) for adults of all ages.
BLS results
The BLS finds that in 2023 and 2024, 14 percent of Americans age 15+ were providing some type of unpaid care to someone age 65+. Not surprisingly, opportunities to provide care increase with age until the caregivers themselves are close to retirement. And the patterns differ by age as well. For example, young elderly caregivers are more likely to care for grandparents; middle-aged caregivers of a parent; and adult spouse caregivers. And caregivers aged 55+ spend more time, on average, involved in caregiving than their younger counterparts: 1-2 hours per day compared to less than an hour.
Results of NAC
The NAC conducts its survey of caregivers with support from AARP every five years. Its Caregiving in the US 2025 finds that 59 million Americans are caring for another elderly family member, up from 40 percent a decade ago.
About 11 million of these family caregivers are paid; payments are available under Medicaid provisions for home and community-based services, which vary by state. It is worth noting that most of these paid caregivers also report providing unpaid care.
Four out of ten carers live with their recipient and almost a fifth of them provide 21 or more hours of care per week. A third of family caregivers also received paid assistance. I time frame in forms of intensive childcare where a quarter provided care for less than half a year and 15 percent for 10 years or more (see Figure 1).
The NAC survey had some exciting findings that show that our society seems to be adapting to new technologies and an aging population.
For example, the number of family caregivers using some type of remote monitoring device increased from 13 percent in 2020 to 25 percent in 2025. And employers offer more benefits than reported in previous research, including paid sick days, paid and unpaid family leave, flexible hours, telecommuting, and other programs to help caregivers.
But balancing work and care is still difficult, with 56 percent of employed family caregivers saying they had to come in late, leave early or take time off work because of their care responsibilities; 18 percent reduced their working hours; and 16 percent took a break.
The bottom line is that family care is at the core of caring for the elderly and the more family caregivers are supported, the more stress there will be on the entire elderly care system.
For more from Harry Margolis, check out his Risking Old Age in America blog and podcast. He also answers consumer property planning questions on AskHarry.info. To stay updated on the Squared Away blog, join our free mailing list.
