A neighbor’s aide costs less per hour than an agency caregiver. That part is true, and we won’t pretend otherwise. What often goes unmentioned is everything that hourly rate doesn’t include \u2014 and what happens the first time that caregiver doesn’t show up.<\/p>\n
We get this question from almost every family we talk to, usually somewhere between the second and third phone call: “My cousin’s aide charges $18 an hour and you’re quoting $36 \u2014 what am I actually paying for?” It’s a fair question, and it deserves a fair answer. Here’s the honest version, without the sales pitch.<\/p>\n
Private hire almost always looks cheaper on the surface. A private caregiver in the Philadelphia area typically charges $18\u2013$25 an hour, paid directly, cash or check. An agency caregiver runs $32\u2013$40 an hour depending on the level of care. That’s a real gap, and for a family paying out of pocket, it adds up fast over a year.<\/p>\n
But the private-hire rate is rarely the whole cost. Once you factor in what a household employer is actually responsible for \u2014 payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and the hours spent covering a shift yourself when the caregiver cancels \u2014 the gap narrows considerably, and for some families it closes entirely.<\/p>\n
This is the part that surprises the most families, and it’s worth being direct about: if you pay someone more than $2,700 a year (the 2026 threshold) to work in your home, the IRS considers you their employer \u2014 not their client. That means:<\/p>\n
None of this is meant to scare anyone off private hire \u2014 plenty of families do it well, often with the help of a payroll service like HomePay or SurePayroll that handles the tax filings for a modest monthly fee. But it’s a genuine second job of paperwork, and it should be priced into the comparison, not discovered a year later in an audit letter.<\/p>\n
When you hire through Rittenhouse, we are the employer of record. We run payroll, withhold taxes, carry workers’ compensation and general liability insurance, and handle unemployment. If a caregiver is injured on shift, it’s our claim to manage, not yours. That’s most of what the rate difference is actually paying for.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
“Background-checked” gets used loosely in private-hire listings, and it’s worth asking exactly what was checked. A responsible private hire, at minimum, should include:<\/p>\n
Most private caregivers found through word-of-mouth or a classifieds site have not been through all four. It’s not that they can’t be \u2014 it’s that the family, not a compliance department, has to remember to run each one, pay for each one, and follow up when a clearance takes three weeks to arrive.<\/p>\n
Our caregivers go through multi-state criminal background checks, fingerprinting, Child Abuse and FBI clearances, TB testing, and a documented reference-verification process before a family ever meets them \u2014 plus a supervised, paid trial shift. It’s not a marketing claim; it’s Pennsylvania Department of Health licensing requirement, and we can show you the file.<\/p>\n