Personal Care Aides
Provide personalized assistance to individuals with disabilities or illness who require help with personal care and activities of daily living support (e.g., feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and ambulation).
About the profession
Provide personalized assistance to individuals with disabilities or illness who require help with personal care and activities of daily living support (e.g., feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and ambulation). May also provide help with tasks such as preparing meals, doing light housekeeping, and doing laundry. Work is performed in various settings depending on the needs of the care recipient and may include locations such as their home, place of work, out in the community, or at a daytime nonresidential facility.
How to Get Started
Take a personality test to see if Personal Care Aides fits your profile
Career Match Test →Explore the Career Path section to see progression from junior to senior
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Jump to Learning Path →Video
Occupation on screen: Personal Care Aides (O*NET 31-1122.00). Closed captions in English and Spanish. CareerOneStop (U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration)
Personality Fit
Based on the Personal Care Aides role, here are the RIASEC personality types that tend to thrive in this career. While these alignments are common, individual success depends on motivation, skill development, and finding the right work environment.
Enterprising
Leading, persuading, business
Social
Helping, teaching, working with people
Conventional
Organizing, detail-oriented, structured
Not sure if these types match you? Take the full RIASEC assessment (4 min) to discover your personality profile and see how it aligns with hundreds of careers.
Career Path
Your career progression roadmap with salary growth at each level
Career Ladder
Trainee Personal Care Aide → Technician Personal Care Aide → Senior Technician Personal Care Aide → Lead Technician Personal Care Aide
Where are you on this career path?
Click a level below to set your current position
Salary Growth
4
Levels
$64K
Top Salary
8+
Years
Learning Path
Skills you need to develop and courses to get there
🚀
Set your current level first
Go to the Career Path tab and select your current level to see your personalized learning plan.
Go to Career PathCareer levels
Timeline: 0-2 | Entry Level Base: $31,740 - $39,861/year With equity/bonuses: $34,914 - $47,833 Top markets (SF/NYC): $36,501 - $47,833 Execute core tasks using Service…
Skills used in this career
Click any skill to see how to learn it and what salary boost it gives
Day in Life
Junior vs Senior, daily schedule breakdown
9am, Prepare and maintain records of client progress and services performed, reporting changes in client condition to manager or supervisor.
Income Dynamics
Conservative and aggressive scenarios for 10–15 years
Year 1: Entry level $22,218 - $35,875 Year 2-3: Junior level $39,861 - $45,583 Year 4-6: Mid level $45,583 - $49,421 Year 7-10: Senior level $49,421 - $58,907 Year 10+:…
Is this for me?
15 questions, answer honestly
You find the craft of a Personal Care Aide genuinely interesting, not just a paycheck You enjoy working with Service Orientation and Social Perceptiveness You communicate clearly…
💰 Pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides
BLS OEWS, May 2023The federal survey does not count this job title on its own — it is counted under Home Health and Personal Care Aides (31-1120).
Half of U.S. workers in this occupation earn more than this, half earn less.
No figure is published for the specific occupation, so this covers the wider group it belongs to.
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Related Reading
Related Holland / RIASEC Types