Where do caregivers get paid the most?

Where do Caregivers Get Paid the Most? 

There are several kinds of caregiving jobs. For example, some caregiving jobs have caregivers work in facilities, while others in clients' homes.

Additionally, some caregiving jobs require caregivers to specialize in something like surgery recovery, while other caregiver jobs are more general. (Specialization means the process of concentrating on and becoming expert in a particular subject or skill)

In caregiving, specializing means that during your training, you pick one area to focus on and then work in. For example, some caregivers will specialize in physical therapy or surgical rehabilitation. These people will only work with clients who need help in the area they have specialization in.

There are four types of caregiving that are most common. Each type differs by where the caregiver works, and if it requires specialization or not. The four job types pay similar wages, but some of them pay a little more than others.

In this blog, we’re going to outline the pay in the Philadelphia and New York City areas for the four most common caregiving jobs, which are:

• Skilled nursing 
• Assisted living
• Home health
• Home care 

Below, we will describe each caregiving job and list its hourly wage.

We hope that after reading this article you will have some insight into what kind of caregiving job you may like to work.
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#1 Skilled nursing:

This first kind of caregiving job we will discuss is skilled nursing. Skilled nurses help clients with wound care, respiratory therapy, and physical therapy. They provide specialized medical care and daily therapy in skilled-nursing facilities. The clients caregivers have in these facilities are those who are in recovery. The goal for these clients is to get them back to their home after a temporary stay.

Facility or client’s home: facility

Specialized: yes

New York Average Wage: $23/hour

Philadelphia Average Wage: $21/hour

Rank for pay out of the four kinds of caregiving: #1.

This is the highest paid kind of caregiving.

#2 Assisted living:

Assisted living nurses help clients with bathing, dressing, toileting, among other things. They provide less-specialized care to patients in assisted living facilities. Clients in assisted living facilities are those who can no longer live independently in their older years.

Facility or client’s home: facility

Specialized: no

New York Average Wage: $18/hour

Philadelphia Average Wage: $17/hour

Rank for pay out of the four kinds of caregiving: #3

This is the third highest paid kind of caregiving.

#3 Home health:

Home health nurses provide treatment of a chronic health condition. They provide specialized care at client's homes to help them recover from illness, injury, or surgery. Clients who receive care from home health nurses are those in recovery.

Facility or client’s home: client’s home

Specialized: yes

New York Average Wage: $22/hour

Philadelphia Average Wage: $19/hour

Rank for pay out of the four kinds of caregiving: #2

This is the second highest paid kind of caregiving.

#4 Home care:

Home care nurses help clients with bathing, dressing, toileting, among other things. They provide less-specialized care to patients in their homes. Clients who receive care from home care nurses are those who can no longer live independently in their homes.

Facility or client’s home: client’s home

Specialized: no

New York Average Wage: $17

Philadelphia Average Wage: $14

Rank for pay out of the four kinds of caregiving: #4

This is the lowest paid kind of caregiving.

Summary:

As you can see, the 4 caregiving job types pay similar wages, but skilled nursing pays the most. To summarize this article, below is a recap on what the 4 jobs pay on average:

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Facility job

Skilled nursing (specialized)

NYC: $23/hour

PHL: $21/hour

Assisted living 

NYC: $18/hour

PHL: $17/hour

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In-home job

Home health (specialized)

NYC: $22/hour

PHL: $19/hour

Home care

NYC: $17/hour

PHL: $14/hour

There are two important patterns here:

1. Jobs that are at care facilities pay more than in-home jobs
2. Specialized jobs (more skilled) pay more than non-specialized jobs
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Conclusions:

1. Skilled nursing, which takes place in a facility and requires more training, is the highest paid kind of caregiving job. This is often because in a facility, you’ll be taking care of more than one client at one time, which is more work than you otherwise would work if you were in a client’s home providing 1:1 care.
2. Home health, which takes place in a client's home and requires more training is the second highest paid caregiving job.
3. Assisted living, which takes place in a facility and does not require specialization, is the third highest paid caregiving job.
4. Home care, which takes place in a client's home and does not require specialization, is the lowest paid caregiving job.

We hope this article gave you some information that can help you choose which kind of caregiving you may want to do. To decide, first ask yourself if you prefer working in someone's home or at a facility. Once you decide this, we recommend you then see which kind of caregiving job is best for you of the four options.

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