In Virginia, the 2025 median cost of a non-medical caregiver at home was $80,080 a year based on 44 hours of care per week, which comes to roughly $35 an hour at the state median. That figure comes from the CareScout Cost of Care Survey, which collected more than 25,000 provider rates nationwide between July and November 2025 and published results in March 2026. It is a planning benchmark, not a quote, and not the rate any single agency charges. What most families in Chesapeake, Richmond, and the surrounding communities actually spend is far less than that annual figure, because most families do not start at 44 hours a week.
Start with the week, not the year
Annual totals are what make families give up before they call. The useful question is smaller: which hours of the week are the hard ones?
For most households, it is mornings, when bathing and dressing take longer than anyone expected. Sometimes it is late afternoon, when confusion sets in. Sometimes it is simply Saturday, so a spouse can go to the grocery store without worrying. Once you name those hours, the arithmetic is straightforward.
Use this planning formula: hours per week multiplied by hourly rate multiplied by 4.33 weeks equals estimated monthly cost. It is a planning tool, not a price. Worked at the 2025 Virginia median of about $35 an hour, purely as an illustration:
- 8 hours a week, roughly $1,212 a month
- 12 hours a week, roughly $1,819 a month
- 20 hours a week, roughly $3,031 a month
- 40 hours a week, roughly $6,062 a month
Those first two lines are where most of our clients begin. Eight to twelve hours a week is often enough to stabilize a household that is currently running on the goodwill of one exhausted person. *All costs are samples and estimates. Contact us for information about your situation.
What actually moves the number
Two families in the same Chesapeake neighborhood can get very different estimates for the same number of hours. Here is why.
- Level of help. Companionship and light housekeeping sit at one end. Hands-on personal care, transfers, and incontinence care sit at the other.
- Shift structure. Four four-hour visits usually price differently from sixteen hours in two long shifts, because scheduling and travel change.
- Nights, weekends, and holidays.
- Live-in or 24-hour arrangements, which are typically structured differently from hourly care rather than being a simple multiple of it.
- Dementia supervision, which requires specific training and, more importantly, caregiver continuity.
- Two-person assists, when a safe transfer genuinely requires two people.
- Location and drive time across a region as spread out as Hampton Roads, or between Richmond and the surrounding counties.
- Agency policy on minimum visit length, which can quietly set your floor. Ask about it early.
The comparison most families get backwards
The assumption is that moving to a facility is the economical choice. In Virginia, the 2025 survey does not support that at moderate hours. The Virginia annual median for an assisted living community was $83,328, up 7 percent from 2024, while 44 hours a week of care at home was $80,080. Virginia nursing home costs rose sharply, with a semi-private room at $123,005, up 18 percent, and a private room at $140,160, up 19 percent.
That does not mean home is always cheaper. Above roughly 44 hours a week, the math can tip toward a facility. It means the comparison has to be run against the hours you actually need, not against an impression. *All costs are samples and estimates. Contact us for information about your situation.
What can help pay for it
Cost is only half the question. Several sources may help, depending on circumstances. Long-term care insurance may help depending on the policy. Veterans benefits may help eligible veterans and surviving spouses, through Aid and Attendance or through VA Community Care authorizations. If the need arose from a workplace injury, an approved workers’ compensation claim may pay for in-home attendant care. Medicare may cover certain skilled home health services if a person qualifies, but it usually does not pay for ongoing non-medical home care when help with daily activities is the only need. Medicaid or Virginia’s CCC Plus Waiver may help some people who qualify. Program availability, eligibility, and benefit limits apply, and families should confirm coverage directly with the program, insurer, or benefits representative.
Life’s at Home Care accepts private pay, long-term care insurance, workers’ compensation, and VA benefits.
A reasonable next step
Write down the hours you need. Run the formula. Then ask an agency for a real estimate against that schedule. A number on paper is easier to solve than a fear in the back of your mind.
| Download the free guide: “Who Pays for Home Care in Virginia?” It includes the full Virginia cost tables, a fill-in budget worksheet, and twelve questions to ask any agency about cost. |
| Or request your free home care assessment. Chesapeake and Hampton Roads: (757) 337-5160. Richmond and Central Virginia: (804) 396-6000. |
If you or an aging loved one is considering home care in Chesapeake, VA, please contact the caring staff at Life’s At Home Care today! Chesapeake Office (757) 337-5160
Richmond Office (804) 396-6000
Life’s at Home Care is a top provider of home care in Richmond, Suffolk, Hampton, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Newport News, Norfolk, Chesterfield, Hanover, and the Chesapeake, Virginia area.
Sources:
- CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey and 2025 Cost of Care Data for Virginia, released March 2, 2026
