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NAC / AARP — Caregiving in the US 2025: Caring Across States

National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. "Caregiving in the US 2025: Caring Across States." October 2025. State-representative companion to the July 2025 national report.

Key findings used in wiki

First state-representative caregiving dataset

  • Caregiving in the US 2025 was the first in the series to collect state-representative data across all 50 states plus Washington, DC.
  • The state compendium builds on the national report but adds an additional 4 million family caregivers: those caring for children under 18 with disabilities or complex medical conditions — a population the national report did not include.
  • The core national number stands at 63 million American adults — one in every four — providing ongoing care to adults and children with disabilities or complex medical conditions.

Prevalence varies widely by state

  • Family caregiver prevalence — the share of adults 18+ who are family caregivers — ranges from 20% in Washington, DC to 34% in Mississippi. The national rate is 24%.
  • Number of family caregivers ranges from 107,000 in Wyoming to approximately 7 million in California.
  • Average age ranges from 46 in Maryland to 55 in Arizona, with a national average of 50.

Why the variation matters

  • State-level variation is not incidental. It reflects demographic composition, state-level LTSS policy, Medicaid HCBS waiver generosity, paid-family-leave coverage, employer mix, and rural/urban composition.
  • More than half (51%) of caregivers report a sense of purpose in the role, despite the financial and physical strain — mirroring the strain-and-meaning co-occurrence documented elsewhere in the caregiver literature.
  • Caregivers help fill gaps in the nation's long-term services and supports (LTSS) system, and the report argues they are essential to the sustainability of U.S. health care.

High-prevalence vs. low-prevalence states

Examples from the data table:

  • High prevalence: Mississippi (34%), Georgia (30%), Kansas (29%), Alabama / Arkansas / Idaho / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Tennessee / Utah (28%).
  • Low prevalence: Michigan (20%), Washington, DC (20%), Minnesota / Nebraska (21%), Arizona / Colorado / Hawai'i / Illinois / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / Texas (22–23%).
  • Several Southern states show both higher prevalence and larger populations of caregivers relative to their overall adult population — which compounds the demand on already-strained state LTSS infrastructure.

Why it matters for the wiki

  • First citable, state-representative dataset on caregiver prevalence and demographics — anchors the "geography matters" claim on domain/benefits-landscape.md, domain/zones.md, and evidence/market-gap.md.
  • Sharpens the state-level argument the Columbia Caregiving Emergency Index frames from a different angle — prevalence (NAC/AARP 2025) and infrastructure strain (Columbia 2025) together produce a fuller picture of where caregiving pressure is most severe and where supportive infrastructure is thinnest.
  • Provides specific, citable state numbers rather than a national average, which matters for partnership and policy conversations at state level (state Medicaid agencies, state aging units, state legislatures).