Family caregivers now spend $11,500 a year out of pocket — up 60% in five years

Wendy Rowland sold her home and moved from Tennessee to Mississippi to help pay for her husband's care. He was diagnosed with early-onset Lewy body dementia and now lives in a facility that costs $6,750 a month. His disability insurance covers $2,700. The gap — more than $4,000 every month — falls on her.

I've navigated this mostly on my own. It's more than a lot of people can take, and it was almost more than I could take. It was a really dark time when everything first started, but I knew I had to keep it together at least a little to take care of everything.— Wendy Rowland, family caregiver

Rowland's situation is extreme, but the financial pressure she describes is now widespread. A new AARP report finds that family caregivers across the United States spend an average of $11,508 out of pocket each year — up nearly 60% from $7,242 in 2021. That figure represents 31% of the average caregiver's household income, and for those earning under $40,000 a year, it consumes 76% of what they bring home.

Conducted in June and July, the 2026 AARP Caregiving Out-of-Pocket Costs Study drew on responses from more than 2,500 adults who had provided care to an adult relative or friend. It captures a caregiving economy that has quietly ballooned: 63 million Americans serve as family caregivers, providing an estimated $1 trillion in mostly unpaid labor annually.

Family caregivers are spending more than $11,500 a year of their own money to care for loved ones — almost half a year of the average Social Security retirement benefit.— Debra Whitman, AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Public Policy Officer

Housing and household costs — food, rent, mortgage payments, property taxes — are the single largest category, accounting for 42% of annual out-of-pocket spending, or roughly $4,797. Medical expenses are second at 29%, or about $3,313, with more than a third of that going to insurance premiums, copays, coinsurance, and direct payments to providers. Nursing home costs, medical equipment, and prescription drugs make up much of the rest.

Caring for someone with dementia pushes costs significantly higher. Among caregivers whose loved one has Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia, average annual spending reaches $15,846 — roughly $5,600 above what those caring for someone without dementia report. According to AARP, caregivers whose relative or friend lived in a nursing home devoted, on average, half of their yearly household income to caregiving costs.

Wendy Mayo, 44, of Connecticut, is among those caring for someone with Alzheimer's. She and her two siblings share the cost of around-the-clock care for their mother, splitting expenses that include a professional caregiver, rent, bed alarms, cameras, and equipment to prevent bedsores. Mayo estimates she personally spends $15,000 a year; together, the siblings spend $45,000.

We pay her rent and bought stuff to prevent bedsores, plus bed alarms because she was getting out of bed and wandering around. So we also invested in cameras to watch her, and all those things add up when you're a caregiver.— Wendy Mayo, family caregiver

It's a role you're thrust into. It's not like retirement, which we plan for.— Wendy Mayo, family caregiver

Supporting her mother has required Mayo to scale back her own retirement savings — a pattern that AARP's data shows is common. Nearly two-thirds of working caregivers surveyed said caregiving had disrupted their work lives, whether by forcing them to change hours, take time off, or take on additional work. For those whose retirement came earlier than planned as a result of caregiving, average annual spending reached $18,940 — 64% above the national average.

Tamara Johnson, who is in her 50s, quit a well-paying corporate leadership job to care for her husband after he suffered a major stroke. His income dropped from nearly $200,000 a year to $50,000 in medical disability retirement, and his care costs quickly consumed a large share of what remained.

It's been taking two steps forward and three steps back. We're still on that healing journey.— Tamara Johnson, family caregiver

The financial strain is not evenly distributed. At $16,716 a year on average, Asian American and Pacific Islander caregivers face the steepest out-of-pocket expenses of any group. Black caregivers, with average annual expenses of $13,565, devote the largest share of household income to caregiving at 52%. According to AARP, Hispanic and Latino caregivers report the greatest sense of financial strain among the racial and ethnic groups surveyed, even though their annual spending of $10,684 — equal to 29% of household income — falls below the national average.

Geography matters too. Annual caregiving expenses average $15,845 for family caregivers in the Mid-Atlantic region — New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania — a figure nearly double that of the West North Central region, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, where caregivers spend an average of $7,955.

The financial outputs they provide for their loved one have implications for their own retirement security.— Megan O'Reilly, AARP Vice President of Government Affairs for Health and Family

At the federal level, AARP is backing the bipartisan Lowering Costs for Caregivers Act, which would let family caregivers use tax-free flexible spending accounts or health savings accounts to pay the qualified medical expenses of a parent or parent-in-law. The organization is also advocating for tax credits, grants, paid leave for working caregivers, and expanded home care options.

Millions of Americans are providing essential care for the people they love. They shouldn't have to sacrifice their own financial security to do it.— Nancy LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer

AARP notes that the 60% cost increase since 2021 may reflect caregivers purchasing more or different types of support, covering a broader range of expenses, or managing more intensive care needs. The report also attributes part of the difference to the resumption of services after the pandemic and enhancements to the 2026 survey questionnaire.

Why it matters — With 63 million Americans already serving as family caregivers and costs rising at nearly three times the pace of general inflation, the financial strain is increasingly threatening caregivers' own retirement security — a cycle that could leave today's caregivers needing care themselves with fewer resources to pay for it.

Reported by cbsnews.com, aarp.org, businessinsider.com, stateline.org