Who is Caregiving?

Caregiving is widespread among all age groups, racial and ethnic groups, income and education levels, family types, gender identities, and sexual orientations. Caregiver demographics in 2025 are similar to those seen in Caregiving in the US 2020.

• Three in five caregivers are women (61 percent), and two in five caregivers are men (38 percent)².
• On average, caregivers of adults are 50.6 years old.
• Six in 10 caregivers are non-Hispanic white (61 percent), 16 percent are Latino/Hispanic, 13 percent are non-Hispanic African American/Black, 6 percent are Asian American/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI), and 6 percent are some other race or ethnicity.
• One in five family caregivers live in rural areas (20 percent).

For the full demographic profile of family caregivers, see appendix C: Demographic Profile and Prevalence.

Figure 1.

Caregiver Gender

Figure 2.

Caregiver Age

Who are Paid Family Caregivers?

Paid family caregivers tend to be younger than unpaid caregivers (see table 3). Paid family caregivers tend to be ages 18 to 44 years (52 percent vs. 34 percent of unpaid caregivers) and less often ages 65 and older (14 percent vs. 24 percent of unpaid caregivers). Many of the other demographic differences observed among paid family caregivers tend to correlate with younger ages. Paid family caregivers are more often Hispanic/Latino, Black/African American, or AANHPI and less often have a four-year college degree or have health insurance, compared with unpaid caregivers.³

Number of Care Recipients

The data reveal that although most family caregivers (76 percent) provide care for one person, nearly one-quarter (24 percent) manage care for multiple individuals—with 20 percent caring for two people and 4 percent caring for three or more. This substantial proportion of multiple-recipient caregivers, coupled with the rising prevalence of caregiving overall, reflects a growing culture of Americans who provide critical care support to family members, friends, and neighbors with health or functional needs.

Demographic analysis shows notable patterns: AANHPI caregivers stand out as most likely to care for multiple recipients (31 percent). In comparison, white caregivers (77 percent), African American/Black caregivers (71 percent), those age 65 or older (86 percent), and those caring for spouses or partners (88 percent) typically focus on a single care recipient. These patterns suggest important cultural and situational factors influencing caregiving responsibilities across different populations.

Although some caregivers support multiple adults, respondents were asked to describe the characteristics of the primary adult recipient of care. Findings in this report pertain exclusively to the caregiver’s main recipient of care.

Care Recipient Relationship to Caregiver

For most family caregivers, their main care recipient is a relative (89 percent), whereas 11 percent care for a friend, neighbor, or other nonrelative. Most are caring for a parent (40 percent) or parent-in-law (7 percent) or for a spouse or partner (15 percent; see figure 3).

Care Recipient Relationship to Caregiver

Patterns in caregiver and care recipient relationships are shaped by the caregiver’s age. Older caregivers more often care for spouses/partners and siblings, whereas younger caregivers more often care for someone of an older generation, such as parents or grandparents, as is shown in table 4.