When 1 in 5 Adults Are Caregivers: What the AARP Data Reveals About California's Caregiving Reality
Learning Journal - Article 005Core Research Question
What does new AARP research reveal about California's family caregivers—who they are, what they're experiencing, and why this matters for businesses and the care industry?
Why This Research Matters
The numbers just dropped from AARP's 2025 Caregiving in the US report, and they reinforce something I've been seeing in my research and personal experience: caregiving isn't a niche concern anymore. It's becoming the default experience for many working-age adults.
New research from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving surveying California caregivers reveals the scope of this shift—and its implications for businesses, families, and the care industry.
The California Picture
Seven million adults in California—roughly 1 in 5—are currently providing care to a family member or friend with complex medical conditions or disabilities. Most aren't caring for children with special needs. They're caring for parents.
The average California caregiver is 48 years old. The average care recipient is 66.
This is the sandwich generation at scale. Thirty-five percent of caregivers have children under 18 at home while simultaneously managing eldercare. These aren't people at the end of their careers winding down to retirement. They're in their peak earning and advancement years, trying to hold together professional trajectories while coordinating medical appointments, managing medications, advocating with healthcare providers, and making sure someone checks on Mom daily.
The Hidden Workforce Reality
What struck me hardest: 59% of family caregivers work while providing care, but 38% haven't told their supervisor they're caregiving.
Think about what that silence represents.
More than a third of working caregivers are managing:
Medical coordination and nursing tasks (57%)
Transportation, grocery shopping, meal prep (70%+)
Managing finances and arranging services (53%)
Helping with bathing, dressing, feeding (75%)
And doing this invisibly—before work, during lunch breaks, after hours, through stolen moments on their phones during meetings.
The data shows why they stay quiet:
Twenty-one percent eventually take leaves of absence. Twelve percent leave the workforce entirely. Another 20% reduce to part-time or cut their hours. Even those who stay full-time often go in late, leave early, or take time off—44% report these disruptions.
If you're a caregiver wondering whether to disclose to your manager, the calculus is brutal: Will I get support, or will this tank my trajectory?
The Workplace Implications
This isn't just a family problem—it's a workforce crisis hiding in plain sight.
When 38% of caregiving employees stay silent about their situation, companies lose the opportunity to intervene before someone burns out, takes extended leave, or quits entirely. By the time leadership notices the problem, they're managing departures rather than retention.
The costs compound:
Lost institutional knowledge when experienced mid-career employees leave
Reduced productivity from the 44% juggling care responsibilities invisibly
Recruitment and training costs to replace the 12% who eventually quit
Diminished team performance when key contributors are stretched beyond capacity
Companies built robust childcare benefits because the business case became undeniable. We're at that same inflection point with eldercare—but most organizations haven't caught up yet.
The Financial Devastation
Nearly half of California caregivers (48%) have experienced at least one negative financial impact from caregiving:
32% stopped saving for retirement
27% depleted short-term savings
23% took on more debt
19% left bills unpaid or paid them late
16% couldn't afford basic expenses
These aren't small adjustments. These are people fundamentally destabilizing their financial futures to provide care now.
And 37% report difficulty accessing affordable local services—delivered meals, transportation, in-home health support. The services that could ease the burden either don't exist locally or cost more than families can manage.
The Wellbeing Crisis
What happens to caregivers themselves?
41% report moderate to high emotional stress
26% have difficulty taking care of their own health
26% feel alone in their caregiving role
35% experience 7+ days per month of poor mental health
27% experience 7+ days per month of poor physical health
And here's the healthcare system failure: only 25% of caregivers have been asked by healthcare providers about the care needs of their care recipient. Only 14% have been asked about their own care needs.
Family caregivers are doing the bulk of chronic disease management, medication administration, and daily health monitoring in America. But the healthcare system largely pretends they don't exist.
What This Means for Business Models
I keep returning to the same question: If caregiving affects 1 in 5 adults and costs companies billions nationally in lost productivity, why isn't this a massive market opportunity?
The demand is obvious:
Respite care (43% say they'd find it helpful, 84% have never used it)
Affordable local services
Workplace support programs
Care coordination services
Adult day programs that provide structured daytime care
But right now, families are navigating this alone. They're depleting savings, damaging their health, leaving jobs, and feeling isolated—despite the fact that millions of people around them are experiencing the exact same crisis.
What I’m Watching
The sandwich generation numbers keep growing. For the first time in US history, more working adults provide eldercare than childcare.
But unlike childcare—where decades of policy development, workplace accommodation, and commercial innovation created an ecosystem of solutions—eldercare infrastructure barely exists.
Companies built childcare benefits because employees demanded them and business cases became clear. We're at that inflection point with eldercare, but the solutions haven't materialized yet.
Someone will figure out how to serve this market well. The question is who gets there first with models that actually work—financially sustainable for businesses, accessible for families, and dignified for the people receiving care.
I'm particularly interested in:
Adult day programs that bridge the gap between independent living and residential care
Workplace caregiver benefits that go beyond basic EAP and actually provide meaningful support
Technology platforms that reduce the coordination burden without making families feel they're managing a logistics app instead of caring for someone they love
Community-based models that address the isolation both caregivers and care recipients experience
Next Research Focus
This data reinforces what I'm already exploring: the experiences of adult children navigating care decisions for aging parents. The statistics show us the scale of the crisis. The human stories reveal where solutions need to emerge.
In coming months, I'll be having conversations with adult children about what it's actually like to make these decisions—what works, what fails, and what support would have made the difference.
If you're caring for an aging parent and willing to share your experience, reach out. These conversations shape where both research and workplace solutions need to go.
Sources
AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving. (2025, October 28). Caregiving in the US 2025: Caring Across States - California. AARP Public Policy Institute. https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/topics/ltss/family-caregiving/cgus-2025-caring-across-states/caregiving-in-the-us-2025-california.doi.10.26419-2fppi.00383.004.pdf