Short answer
Caregiver turnover in home care is about 75% a year, according to Activated Insights (September 2026). Caregivers leave mostly because they can't get enough steady hours, the pay doesn't match the work, the first weeks are rough, and some were never a good fit for working alone in a client's home.
Agencies reduce caregiver turnover by hiring for reliability, showing the real job before the offer, keeping hours steady, training early and checking in through the first 90 days.
Most home care and home health agencies know the cycle. You hire a caregiver, match them with a client, and a few weeks later you're posting the same shifts again.
Why is caregiver turnover so high?
Activated Insights, which runs the yearly home care benchmarking study, reported in September 2026 that caregiver turnover has leveled off at about 75%, down from a peak near 80% in 2023. For an agency with 40 caregivers, that's about 30 replaced every year.
And caregivers who leave don't have to look far for the next job. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook projects about 760,500 openings for home health and personal care aides each year from 2025 to 2035, and says many of them come from replacing workers who move to other jobs or leave the workforce.
Most of the time, a caregiver leaves for one of these reasons:
- Not enough hours. A caregiver who gets 18 hours one week and 30 the next can't plan a budget, and Activated Insights found that one who can't get enough shifts will leave for an agency that can keep them working.
- Pay that doesn't match the work. Home care is physical and emotional, and it can be lonely. If the nursing home down the road pays about the same for steadier shifts, caregivers notice.
- Working alone. A new hire in a facility can turn to the person next to them. In a client's home, they're usually on their own from the first week.
- A rough start. Lots of new caregivers get a short orientation and then a hard client. Some don't make it to month two.
- Hires who were never a good fit. When every open shift feels urgent, it's tempting to hire whoever can start Monday. People who don't like routine, solo work or close contact with clients tend to leave early.
The last two are the ones you control, because they come down to how you hire and how you start people.
How to work out your caregiver turnover rate
Your yearly caregiver turnover rate is the number of caregivers who left during the year, divided by your average number of caregivers, times 100. Count everyone who left, whether they quit or you let them go.
Example: you had 36 caregivers in January and 44 in December, so your average is 40. If 30 caregivers left during the year, your turnover rate is 30 ÷ 40 × 100 = 75%.
A single yearly number won't tell you where people drop off. Track these as well:
| Number | How to count it | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 90-day turnover | Caregivers hired in a quarter who left within 90 days, divided by everyone hired that quarter | Whether your hiring and first weeks work |
| 1-year turnover | The formula above | How you compare with the industry's 75% |
| Turnover by hiring source | The 90-day number for each place you found people: job boards, referrals, walk-ins, rehires | Where your keepers come from, so you spend more there |
If your 90-day number is high, start with ways 1, 2 and 4 below. If people get past 90 days and leave later, look at hours, training and check-ins first.
7 ways home care agencies reduce caregiver turnover
1. Hire for reliability, not just availability
Before the interview, try to learn who will show up on time, stick to a care plan and stay patient with a difficult client. A short pre-hire personality assessment and a few screening questions show this before you spend time on interviews. Our caregiver interview questions list good answers and red flags for each question. To fill aide shifts faster, see our guide on how to recruit home health aides and CNAs.
"It allows you to assess what a candidate will do versus what they say they'll do. It helps you avoid unconscious bias, minimizes the chance of putting the wrong person in the wrong job and more importantly it reduces turnover."
LaTasha Baucham, insurance agency owner, IdealTraits customer2. Show the real job before the offer
Be upfront about the hard parts before anyone says yes: the driving between clients, visits that get cancelled, personal care tasks, and how much of the job is done alone. Someone who hears all that and still wants the job won't be caught off guard in week 2. A short video helps, and a ride-along with one of your experienced caregivers is even better.
3. Offer steady hours
Hours matter as much as the hourly rate. Before you make an offer, make sure you actually have enough client hours to give the new caregiver what they're asking for. Hiring 5 caregivers for 3 caregivers' worth of hours leaves 2 of them short on hours, and they will start looking elsewhere. Be honest with applicants about how many hours you can promise.
4. Make the first 90 days count
Write the first 90 days down, with a name next to each check-in, so it actually happens:
| When | What happens | Who owns it |
|---|---|---|
| Before the first visit | Orientation, safety training and a shadow shift with an experienced caregiver | Office manager |
| Week 1 | Easier clients first, and a phone call after the first shifts | Scheduler |
| Day 14 | A short check-in: hours, clients, anything that worries them | Supervisor |
| Day 30 | Review hours given vs. hours promised; fix the gap | Scheduler |
| Day 60 | Skills check and a training plan for harder cases | Supervisor |
| Day 90 | Sit-down review, thank you, and what's next for them | Owner or manager |
Also give each new caregiver a peer mentor, an experienced caregiver they can call or text with questions. It makes the solo visits a lot less lonely.
5. Train early, and keep training
Agencies that train more tend to keep more caregivers. The 2025 Activated Insights Benchmarking Report found that agencies giving at least 8 hours of onboarding and 12 hours of ongoing training saw stronger retention and higher revenue, according to HomeCare magazine's summary of the report (August 2025). Training can also qualify caregivers for harder cases, which some agencies pay more for.
6. Ask caregivers how it's going
If a caregiver only hears from the office when a shift needs covering, nobody is asking how they're doing. A short survey every month or two about hours, clients and support will show you who's unhappy while there's still time to do something. Read every answer, and when you change something because of what they said, tell them.
Want to know which caregivers are unhappy before they quit? See how employee pulse surveys work.
7. Track who stays by hiring source
Compare your 90-day turnover for each place you found caregivers. If referrals and rehires stay longer than job board hires, pay a referral bonus and keep a list of former caregivers who left on good terms. If one job board keeps sending people who are gone within weeks, put less money there. Once a quarter is often enough to check.
How IdealTraits helps
IdealTraits is an all-in-one hiring platform with AI that helps businesses hire for fit, not just experience. A home care agency can post a caregiver job to 100+ job boards at once and text every applicant the same day. Applicants take a validated personality assessment and record a one-way video interview, so you can see how each applicant is likely to work before you meet. After you hire, employee pulse surveys show how your caregivers feel, with AI insights from their answers. 18,000+ businesses have used IdealTraits to hire. To see it with your own caregiver openings, book a demo.
FAQ
What is a normal turnover rate for caregivers?
About 75% a year is typical in home care, based on Activated Insights' 2026 industry data. Measure your own rate with the formula above and compare it with that number.
When do most caregivers quit?
A lot of caregivers leave in the first weeks or months, before they have steady clients and hours. Your own 90-day number will show how much of your turnover happens early. If it's most of it, work on hiring and the first 90 days before anything else.