# 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). 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.

- Edition: Data verified Nov 2026 · CollegesRef 2026–27 edition
- Page: https://www.collegesref.com/careers/personal-care-aides
- SOC code: 31-1122.00
- Career family: Healthcare support
- Median annual pay: $35,800 (10th percentile $27,040, 90th percentile $45,040)
- Projected growth: Much faster than average, +18.1%
- Openings a year: 760,500
- Typical entry education: High school diploma
- Bright outlook: yes
- Data years: BLS 2025 wages · 2025–35 projections
- Pay and outlook are for the broader BLS group "Home health and personal care aides".

## Interest profile (code SCR)

| Interest area | Score (0–100) |
| --- | ---: |
| Realistic (R) | 42 |
| Investigative (I) | 13 |
| Artistic (A) | 13 |
| Social (S) | 87 |
| Enterprising (E) | 26 |
| Conventional (C) | 49 |

## What you'd do

- Assisting and Caring for Others (importance 99/100)
- Getting Information (importance 94/100)
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships (importance 86/100)
- Training and Teaching Others (importance 81/100)
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates (importance 78/100)
- Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards (importance 78/100)
- Performing General Physical Activities (importance 77/100)
- Communicating with People Outside the Organization (importance 76/100)
- Documenting/Recording Information (importance 75/100)
- Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work (importance 75/100)

## Skills

Service Orientation, Social Perceptiveness, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Coordination, Instructing, Speaking, Time Management, Active Learning

## Knowledge

English Language, Transportation, Customer and Personal Service, Education and Training, Psychology, Public Safety and Security, Food Production, Therapy and Counseling, Administration and Management, Personnel and Human Resources

## Also called

Aide, Blind Aide, Blind Escort, Care Caregiver, Care Companion, Care Provider, Caregiver, Caretaker, Companion, Companion Caregiver

## Majors that lead here (NCES CIP–SOC crosswalk, 4-digit CIP)

- [Health Aides/Attendants/Orderlies](https://www.collegesref.com/programs/5126) (CIP 5126, 93 colleges)

## Colleges with strong outcomes (College Scorecard, 2025)

| College | Program | Earnings 1 yr | Earnings 4 yrs | Median debt |
| --- | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| [Piedmont Technical College](https://www.collegesref.com/college/piedmont-technical-college-2110) | Health Aides/Attendants/Orderlies | $35,288 | $48,358 | $16,369 |
| [Carrington College-Mesa](https://www.collegesref.com/college/carrington-college-mesa-415) | Health Aides/Attendants/Orderlies | $30,467 | $34,955 | $9,500 |
| [Central Louisiana Technical Community College](https://www.collegesref.com/college/central-louisiana-technical-community-college-464) | Health Aides/Attendants/Orderlies | $21,709 | $27,344 | $9,500 |
| [Northwest Louisiana Technical College](https://www.collegesref.com/college/northwest-louisiana-technical-college-1949) | Health Aides/Attendants/Orderlies | $21,845 | $23,162 | not reported |
| [Louisiana Delta Community College](https://www.collegesref.com/college/louisiana-delta-community-college-1540) | Health Aides/Attendants/Orderlies | $24,088 | $22,738 | $9,500 |
| [Northshore Technical Community College](https://www.collegesref.com/college/northshore-technical-community-college-1942) | Health Aides/Attendants/Orderlies | not reported | $19,442 | not reported |

## Related careers

- [Home Health Aides](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/home-health-aides): $35,800 median pay
- [Nursing Assistants](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/nursing-assistants): $42,260 median pay
- [Child, Family, and School Social Workers](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/child-family-and-school-social-workers): $59,550 median pay
- [Nannies](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/nannies): $34,980 median pay
- [Social and Human Service Assistants](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/social-and-human-service-assistants): $45,930 median pay
- [Psychiatric Aides](https://www.collegesref.com/careers/psychiatric-aides): $44,910 median pay

## Sources

- [O*NET Database](https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html), version 31.0 (CC BY 4.0)
- [BLS Employment Projections](https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables.htm), version 2025-35, data year 2025 (Public domain (U.S. government work))
- [BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm), version 2025, data year 2025 (Public domain (U.S. government work))
- [NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk](https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cipcode/resources.aspx?y=56), version 2020, data year 2020 (Public domain (U.S. government work))

O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. CollegesRef has modified all or some of this information.