A new report from AARP—”Valuing the Invaluable 2026”—reveals the immense contributions of family caregivers to the economy and their loved ones. Issued every two to four years, this is AARP’s seventh report in the series. As in previous iterations, it reinforces that family caregiving, along with professional care workers, allows millions of older adults and people with disabilities to live safely in their homes and communities.
A Trillion Dollars and Billions of Hours
AARP estimates that family caregivers provided over $1 trillion in economic value in 2024, more than all health care spending by private businesses ($967 billion) and Medicaid ($932 billion) that year. This value was generated through 49.5 billion hours of caregiving, equivalent to 17% of all full-time workers in the US.
Family caregivers provided over $1 trillion in economic value in 2024 through 49.5 billion hours of caregiving.
AARP’s first report, issued 20 years ago, estimated the economic value of caregiving to be $350 billion in unpaid care in 2006.
According to the 2026 report, adults in the US spend nearly as much time in family caregiving as they do in preparing food, and more time than they spend on cleaning or religious or volunteer activities.
Increasing Numbers Providing Care
A report from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) last year—Caregiving in the US 2025—showed that there has also been a sharp increase in the number of family caregivers since the series began. “In 2025, 63 million American adults provided ongoing care to adults or children with a medical condition or disability—representing almost one-quarter of all adults in the United States. This is a dramatic increase of 45 percent since Caregiving in the US was fielded in 2015. Of these 63 million caregivers, 59 million care for an adult with a complex medical condition or disability.”
59 million American adults care for an adult with a complex medical condition or disability.
Caregiving in the US 2025
Growing Complexity
One of the most important findings across these reports is that over half of the family caregivers perform tasks that are typically handled by health care professionals , such as catheters, feeding tubes, or dealing with tracheostomies or ventilators. As access to these professionals is likely to fall further behind due to budget cuts and workforce shortages, more family caregivers are left to fill in the gaps. But these family caregivers may not have access to adequate training, with only 22% reporting having received any training at all.
Family and Professional Caregivers Need Better Supports
Medicare Rights urges policymakers to do more to support family caregivers. In addition, we urge an immediate reversal of HR 1’s draconian Medicaid cuts that will cut vital care worker jobs and create even more burdens for families.
Read “Valuing the Invaluable 2026” from AARP.
Read Caregiving in the US 2025 from AARP and NAC.
