Paying for home care
What home care costs in New Jersey
The cost of home care depends on the schedule and the help your family needs. Here's what shapes it in New Jersey, including the state rules for live-in care, and how we'll work out what care would cost for you.
What home care costs in New Jersey depends on the plan: the hours, the kind of help, and whether care is hourly, live-in or around the clock. Endurance Home Care is a New Jersey registered Health Care Service Firm, registration HP0435100, arranging home care across Essex, Morris, Union, Bergen and Somerset counties from an office at 788 Morris Turnpike in Short Hills, and we'll explain what care would cost for your family.
We don't take Medicare, Medicaid or VA benefits as payment. Families pay privately, or claim the cost back from a long-term care insurance policy. If there’s a policy, we help with the policy paperwork.
How much does home care cost in New Jersey?
It depends on four things: the schedule, whether care is hourly, live-in or around the clock, where in New Jersey care takes place, and the kind of help needed. We don't publish rates, because the cost follows the plan. What we will do on the first call is give a real range for your hours in your town, and point out which of the four is driving it.
What shapes the cost
The four things that shape the cost of care
Every family's plan is different. These are the things we'll ask about when we work out what care would cost.
- 01
The schedule
How many hours, which days, and whether help is needed at night. A few mornings a week and full days around the clock are very different plans, and the cost follows the plan. A weekday morning is the easiest hour to staff and a Sunday night isn't, so two households with the same weekly total can pay materially different amounts because of where those hours fall.
- 02
Hourly, live-in or 24-hour
Visits by the hour, a caregiver living in the home, and caregivers working awake shifts around the clock are each set up differently, so each is priced on its own terms.
- 03
Where care takes place
Rates depend on where in New Jersey care takes place. Essex, Morris, Union, Bergen and Somerset don't share a labor market. What a caregiver is paid in Short Hills and what one is paid an hour north are different numbers, and the rate follows the caregiver. Tell us the town, and we'll factor it in.
- 04
The kind of help
Company, meals and help around the house are one kind of care. Hands-on help with bathing, dressing and moving safely is another, and it needs a caregiver with different training and a different match.
New Jersey law
New Jersey rules for live-in care
The Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights took effect on 1 July 2024. It sets out how a live-in arrangement in New Jersey works, so it's good to know when you're planning care.
- A written agreement is required
- For anyone working more than five hours a month, excluding casual work. It must set out job duties, wages including overtime, the schedule, how and how often payment is made, breaks, sleeping periods, leave and paid holidays, transport and housing, and the term.
- Breaks are set by law
- A 10 minute paid break every four hours, and a 30 minute meal break after more than five consecutive hours. The meal break is unpaid only if the worker is fully relieved of duties and free to leave; otherwise it's paid.
- Every home care worker is a CHHA
- New Jersey mandates that all home care workers in the state be certified home health aides, working to a care plan written by a nurse practitioner.
- Food is provided by the family on a live-in schedule
- A live-in caregiver eats in the home, and the household provides the food. On an awake around-the-clock schedule nobody lives in, so it doesn't apply.
Live-in or 24-hour
How live-in and 24-hour care are set up
Both give your family someone in the house around the clock. The difference is whether that person is awake through the night.
Live-in
One caregiver living in the home, with a sleeping period and personal time written into the agreement, and food provided by the family. It suits a household where the days need support and the nights are settled.
Live-in home care24-hour care
A small team of caregivers who stay awake through their shifts, so help is there through the day and the night. It suits households where the nights need someone up and ready.
24-hour home careHere’s how live-in and 24-hour care differ, including at night.
State help
JACC, and who qualifies
Jersey Assistance for Community Caregiving, or JACC, is the state funded program families ask about most, and it can help some older New Jersey residents with care at home, though the eligibility is narrower than the name suggests. We're not a JACC provider, but if your family may qualify, it's worth knowing about.
Income must be no greater than 365 percent of the federal poverty level, and an applicant can’t already be enrolled in Medicaid. To apply, contact your county Area Agency on Aging.
Questions families ask about cost in New Jersey
How do live-in care and 24-hour care compare in cost in New Jersey?
They're set up differently, so each is priced on its own terms. Live-in care is one caregiver living in the home, with a sleeping period written into the arrangement and food provided by the household. 24-hour care is a small team of caregivers who stay awake through their shifts. Once we know your plan, we'll explain what each would cost.
Does New Jersey help pay for home care?
For some households. Jersey Assistance for Community Caregiving is a state funded program for people aged 60 and over who need help with at least three activities of daily living and aren't enrolled in Medicaid. The benefit caps at 1,090 dollars per participant per month plus care management, and it has income and asset limits. You apply through your county Area Agency on Aging.
What must a New Jersey home care contract include?
Since 1 July 2024 the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights requires a written, signed agreement for anyone working more than five hours a month. It has to set out job duties, wages including overtime, the schedule, how and how often payment is made, breaks, sleeping periods, leave and paid holidays, transport and housing, and the term. If you're being asked to arrange care without one, ask about it first.
Where we work in this state, town by town, is on home care across New Jersey. If a policy is involved, start with long-term care insurance.
We are a New Jersey registered Health Care Service Firm, registration HP0435100. Nothing here is legal or financial advice.