Exclusive: AARP-NAC Report Finds 45% Increase in Americans Providing Care

Study reveals 63 million Americans are now family caregivers, facing rising stress, health risks and financial strain

Paul Wynn,

AARP

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En español

Published July 24, 2025

The number of family caregivers has jumped to 63 million Americans, representing a 45 percent increase, or nearly 20 million more caregivers, over the past decade, according to a joint report by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC).

This means roughly 1 in 4 American adults are caregivers, with 59 million caring for adults and 4 million for children under 18 with an illness or disability. The new report, Caregiving in the US 2025, is a near 30-year research series that provides a comprehensive look at the state of caregiving in America, revealing how caregivers are taking on more complex responsibilities, often at the expense of their own health and financial security.

Today’s family caregivers are younger, more diverse and more likely to be juggling multiple roles, with nearly a third caring for both children and adults. Three in 5 caregivers are women, and on average, caregivers are 51 years old. Six in 10 are non-Hispanic white, with 1 in 5 family caregivers living in rural areas.

“When AARP first started tracking caregiving in 1997, the image of a family caregiver was a 48-year-old woman caring for her mother,” says Rita B. Choula, senior director of caregiving at the AARP Public Policy Institute. “We’re seeing growth in younger caregivers, especially among racially and ethnically diverse communities. Now caregivers are just as likely to be a millennial or Gen Z family member, part of the ‘sandwich generation,’ juggling a job, young kids and an aging parent.”

a chart showing the rise in caregivers in america over the years

AARP (Getty Images)

The 2025 report finds that 29 percent of caregivers fall into the sandwich generation category, simultaneously providing care for children and adults. Among caregivers under age 50, that number rises to 47 percent. Many are also managing complex medical tasks that would once have been handled in hospitals by health care providers.

Debbi Harris knows firsthand the complexities of caregiving. The 67-year-old mom of three boys coordinates the care for her 32-year-old son, Joshua, who suffered a brain hemmorage at birth that caused complex medical needs and multiple disabilities including cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus. Joshua depends on a ventilator, tracheostomy and feeding tube to survive. He cannot regulate essential functions like heart rate or body temperature and requires constant, vigilant 24/7 care.

Debbi Harris and her family who provide 24/7 care for Joshua, who lives with complex medical needs.

Courtesy Debbi Harris

Harris coordinates a round-the-clock operation in their home in Eagan, Minnesota, that rivals a hospital ICU. She handles his bathing, feeding and oral care; monitors for life-threatening complications; and manages his extensive list of medications and appointments.

Her family is her care team. Her husband, Victor, handles night shifts and tracks and orders medical supplies and helps manage Joshua's 24-hour care schedule. Their son Jonathan works full-time to help cover expenses, while eldest son Nicholas regularly fills in on evening shifts and some overnight watches. Harris has also secured nursing benefits through military and state programs, supplementing pay to retain skilled, long-term staff. “Even a subtle change in Joshua’s condition can be the first sign of a crisis,” says Harris. “We vigorously train anyone who cares for him because someone unfamiliar with his complex health needs might miss the warning signs.”

Caregiving complexity surges, alongside health struggles

The 2025 report reveals that the intensity and complexity of caregiving is also escalating. Forty-four percent of caregivers report providing high-intensity care, with 30 percent having been in the role for five years or more.

“This isn’t just picking up groceries or checking in once a week,” Choula says. “More caregivers are managing serious, ongoing medical conditions at home, and they’re doing it for longer periods of time.”

Despite their critical role, many caregivers struggle with their own health needs. For the first time, the AARP report evaluated the health of caregivers themselves, revealing that nearly 1 in 5 (20 percent) report fair or poor health directly attributable to their caregiving responsibilities.

a chart showing the rise of high-intensity caregiving situations

AARP

Jessica Guthrie’s caregiving story for her mother, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease when Guthrie was just 26, vividly illustrates the profound impact on a caregiver's well-being. Initially, as a long-distance caregiver, Guthrie described herself as “literally burning the candle at both ends,” experiencing significant exhaustion and burnout from trying to juggle a demanding career with the constant travel and care management. Even after moving back home to Virginia to provide full-time support, the relentless responsibilities continued to take a severe toll.

By 2023, facing her mother’s escalating needs and her own mounting stress, Guthrie ultimately made the difficult decision to leave her high-level job, acknowledging the deterioration of her own health and the overwhelming pressure of her caregiving role. “We don’t talk about millennial caregivers — young solo caregivers who have given up their best years to show up for their loved one,” notes Guthrie.

Caregiving comes at a cost: most still unpaid, many in debt

This year’s report also quantified compensation for the first time, revealing that 11 million caregivers now receive some form of financial support, typically through Medicaid waivers, Veterans Affairs benefits or other government-funded programs. Only 1.9 million of 59 million caregivers are solely paid family caregivers, with the majority (47.8 million) as unpaid caregivers.

Choula emphasizes, “No one is getting wealthy from caregiving. These payments may help someone who’s had to quit a job or is living on a low income, but they’re not enough to ensure financial security.”

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Financial strain is also common among caregivers. A little over one-third report that they have stopped saving, 24 percent have exhausted personal short-term savings and 13 percent have tapped into long-term savings, like retirement funds or education accounts, to cover expenses. Twenty-three percent also report being in debt due to their caregiving responsibilities.

Caregivers are increasingly juggling responsibilities at home and work, with 70 percent of working-age caregivers in the workforce. The report found that employers are offering more benefits to help caregivers balance their competing priorities. However, access to workplace benefits is higher among salaried workers, while hourly wage workers receive minimal support from employers.

“We have to stop thinking of family caregivers as an invisible workforce,” says Choula. “They are trying to hold the entire long-term care system together, and they’re doing it at great personal cost. With the oldest baby boomers turning 80 next year, the need for family caregiving will only intensify in the years ahead.”

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Paul Wynn, a veteran health care writer, has spent over a decade immersed in the caregiving community, both as a family caregiver and as a journalist covering caregiving issues for national publications.