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The differences between health care assistants and home care attendants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a health care assistant has an average salary of $34,892, which is higher than the $26,059 average annual salary of a home care attendant.
The top three skills for a health care assistant include patients, customer service and healthcare. The most important skills for a home care attendant are patients, home health, and companionship.
| Health Care Assistant | Home Care Attendant | |
| Yearly salary | $34,892 | $26,059 |
| Hourly rate | $16.77 | $12.53 |
| Growth rate | 36% | 36% |
| Number of jobs | 242,669 | 235,912 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 33% |
| Average age | 50 | 48 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A health care assistant primarily performs support tasks to help nurses in providing care and assistance to patients. Their duties usually include assisting patients with their daily hygienic tasks such as bathing, going to the toilet, dressing, and brushing their teeth. They may also prepare meals according to protocols and guidelines, feed patients, assist them when walking, and run other errands as necessary. Most importantly, a health care assistant monitors the patients' condition and their treatment progress, coordinating with the nurses and physicians regularly.
A home care attendant is a health care worker whose primary job is to provide care and assistance to the elderly and people with disabilities. Your day-to-day duties will include monitoring and recording the condition of patients, performing housekeeping and laundry, and providing personal care services such as dressing and bathing. In addition, you will assist patients in caring for themselves by teaching them how to use a walker, cane, and personal hygiene equipment. As a home care attendant, you are also expected to adhere to asepsis procedures and standards to maintain a secure, healthy, and safe environment.
Health care assistants and home care attendants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Health Care Assistant | Home Care Attendant | |
| Average salary | $34,892 | $26,059 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $47,000 | Between $17,000 And $38,000 |
| Highest paying City | Antioch, CA | Watertown Town, MA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Medical University of South Carolina | Dignity Health |
| Best paying industry | Education | Media |
There are a few differences between a health care assistant and a home care attendant in terms of educational background:
| Health Care Assistant | Home Care Attendant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 33% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between health care assistants' and home care attendants' demographics:
| Health Care Assistant | Home Care Attendant | |
| Average age | 50 | 48 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 18.8% Female, 81.2% | Male, 13.1% Female, 86.9% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 8.0% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 7% |