Care associate vs home health care

The differences between care associates and home health cares can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a home health care has an average salary of $37,683, which is higher than the $32,558 average annual salary of a care associate.

The top three skills for a care associate include patients, vital signs and PCA. The most important skills for a home health care are home health, patients, and social work.

Care associate vs home health care overview

	Care Associate	Home Health Care
Yearly salary	$32,558	$37,683
Hourly rate	$15.65	$18.12
Growth rate	9%	36%
Number of jobs	192,391	184,582
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 38%	High School Diploma, 29%
Average age	42	50
Years of experience	3	-

What does a care associate do?

Patient care associates typically work at different healthcare settings where their primary job is to provide basic patient needs and comfort. They are also responsible for several patient care tasks, including bathing patients, changing the pillows and bedsheets of patients, and serving patients' meals. They should comply with safety protocols when performing these tasks. Some of them can give patients medication depending on the level of their training. To become a patient care specialist, one should possess several skills, such as good communication.

What does a home health care do?

Home health aides are healthcare professionals who are responsible for providing support and personal services to patients. These aides are required to monitor their patients by observing the physical and mental condition of their patients. They must provide services such as housekeeping and laundry, buying food and other household requirements, and preparing and serving meals and snacks. Home health aides must also help the family members of their patients by teaching them the appropriate ways to lift, turn, and re-position their positions.

Care associate vs home health care salary

Care associates and home health cares have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Care Associate	Home Health Care
Average salary	$32,558	$37,683
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $48,000	Between $23,000 And $60,000
Highest paying City	Hollister, CA	-
Highest paying state	Hawaii	-
Best paying company	Analysis Group	-
Best paying industry	Health Care	-

Differences between care associate and home health care education

There are a few differences between a care associate and a home health care in terms of educational background:

	Care Associate	Home Health Care
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 38%	High School Diploma, 29%
Most common major	Nursing	Nursing
Most common college	-	-

Care associate vs home health care demographics

Here are the differences between care associates' and home health cares' demographics:

	Care Associate	Home Health Care
Average age	42	50
Gender ratio	Male, 22.3% Female, 77.7%	Male, 15.5% Female, 84.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 7.8% White, 62.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 24.0% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 23.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 35.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	7%	5%

Differences between care associate and home health care duties and responsibilities

Care associate example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
Provide direct care to patients in intensive care unit with empathy, compassion and enthusiasm.
Utilize strong interpersonal skills to educate patients on procedures, rehabilitation and contraception methods.
Care for patients requiring telemetry monitoring and work collaboratively with telemetry technician/nurses to detect and report abnormalities to physicians.
Coordinate with clinicians to meet the specific needs of patients and perform clinical care in an ICU.
Assign to new ER and ICU departments by leadership to maintain quality of patient care and increase patient satisfaction.

Home health care example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
Help with translation for medical appointments and overall understanding of patients medical treatments perform by therapists and physicians.
Assist students with first-aid and CPR when need.
Assist client with daily operations of ADL's.
Train and coordinate training for staff in CPR, bloodborne pathogens, and first aid.
Home and health care of father with Alzheimer's disease and mother confine to a wheelchair.

Care associate vs home health care skills

Common care associate skills

Patients, 24%
Vital Signs, 11%
PCA, 7%
Phlebotomy, 7%
CPR, 7%
Customer Service, 5%

Common home health care skills

Home Health, 33%
Patients, 21%
Social Work, 8%
Patient Care, 7%
Laundry Services, 4%
Health Care Services, 4%

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Zippia Careers
Healthcare Support Industry
Care Associate
Care Associate vs Home Health Care

Updated January 8, 2025

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