# How to become a personal care assistant

Your state sets the training for this job, and no federal rule sits behind it. 7 states require none at all, and Hawaii wants 100 hours.

- **Author:** MedJobList Team
- **Published:** Jul 26, 2026

## What a personal care assistant does

A personal care assistant helps an older adult or a person with a disability do what they can no longer do alone at home: bathing, dressing, moving around the house, cooking, shopping, laundry, and getting to appointments. The same work is posted as personal care aide, personal care attendant, home attendant, or just PCA. We file it under personal care aide. BLS describes these aides as generally limited to nonmedical services, including companionship, cleaning, cooking, and driving.

Three nearby titles get mixed up with this one. A home health aide works for an agency that bills Medicare, which is why federal law sets a minimum of 75 hours of training plus a competency evaluation for that job, covered in our [HHA certification guide](/guides/hha-certification). A CNA works in nursing homes and hospitals on a state credential and a state registry, a longer route we cover in [how to become a CNA](/guides/how-to-become-a-cna). Caregiver is the loosest of the three, used by private-pay agencies for work that often matches a personal care aide's exactly.

Personal care aides sit outside those federal rules, so what you owe before your first shift comes from the state instead.

## How long it takes to become a personal care assistant

Anywhere from no hours at all to over 100, depending on your state and on the program paying for the care. PHI, which catalogs these rules state by state, found that 7 states do not regulate personal care aide training at all: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont.

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Federal rule | None. Home health aides and nursing assistants have a federal training standard; personal care aides have none (PHI, 2025). |
| Texas | No training requirement in any Medicaid program, and none for privately paid home care workers either (PHI, 2025). |
| California | 10 hours for an affiliated home care aide: 5 before you work with clients and 5 more during the first year, then 5 hours a year after that (PHI, 2025). |
| New York | 40 hours of the state Home Care Curriculum across 12 content areas, with the training and competency evaluation finished within 90 days of entering the program (New York State Department of Health, 2022). |
| Maine | 50 hours within 6 months of hire, leading to the Personal Support Specialist credential (PHI, 2025). |
| Washington | 75 hours within 120 days of hire, 5 of them before you are eligible to give care: 2 hours of orientation and 3 of safety training ([RCW 74.39A.074](https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=74.39A.074)). |
| Hawaii | 100 hours: 30 in the classroom and 70 of supervised practical training (PHI, 2025). |
| Rhode Island | Agency work runs through nursing assistant training instead: 120 hours, 80 in the classroom and 40 of practical experience. The state's own 6-hour personal care aide course covers consumer-directed care only (PHI, 2025). |

Those rows are examples. PHI counts 26 states and Washington D.C. that set a minimum number of hours in at least one of their rule sets, and 15 states plus D.C. that ask for 40 hours or more. Look your own state up before you pay for anything, because the course that qualifies you in California is a fraction of what Washington wants, and a few states route this work through nursing assistant or home health aide training entirely.

## The training your state requires

Where hours are required, they are usually taught by the employer after you are hired. Home care agencies teach them, and in Washington a state-approved training partnership does, often against a curriculum the state wrote or approved: New York's Home Care Curriculum and Washington's 75-hour program are two of those, and PHI counts 12 states and D.C. with a state-sponsored or endorsed curriculum.

Who teaches it is often written into the rule. New York requires a registered nurse with 2 years of experience to run the training, and Hawaii asks for an RN with 2 years of nursing experience, at least one of them in long-term care.

Tuition is often avoidable. Washington law says individual providers are compensated for the training time it requires of them, and agencies elsewhere commonly train new hires themselves.

First aid and CPR come up on top of the hours. BLS says aides may be required to hold certification in both.

If you're still weighing which entry-level healthcare job to start with, our guide to [healthcare jobs with no experience](/guides/healthcare-jobs-no-experience) compares this work against the other roles that hire without a degree.

## Getting certified as a personal care assistant

Certification here is a state matter, and several states issue one at the end of their own training. No national personal care aide credential exists, and no board sells an exam for it.

New York issues a Personal Care Aide certificate after the 40 hours. Washington certifies you as a Home Care Aide, and state law gives you 200 days from your date of hire to hold that certificate ([RCW 18.88B.021](https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=18.88B.021)). Maine issues the Personal Support Specialist credential, New Jersey the Certified Homemaker-Home Health Aide after 76 hours. PHI counts 18 states and D.C. where, under at least one of their rule sets, the credential transfers between employers.

Several states accept a CNA or HHA certificate in place of their own personal care training. Maine substitutes either one if it is current within the past 3 years, and Idaho accepts CNA certification instead of its requirements. Both credentials have their own rules, in our [CNA certification guide](/guides/cna-certification) and [HHA certification guide](/guides/hha-certification).

## Step by step: how to become a personal care assistant

1. Look up your own state, then look up the specific program paying for the care. PHI found 12 states whose requirements differ between their own Medicaid programs, so a rule that covers agency work may not cover consumer-directed care.
2. Choose between agency work and consumer-directed work. Consumer-directed programs let the client hire and direct their own aide, often a relative or a friend. PHI found training standards for those workers in 17 states. For agency work it counts 31 states and D.C. with one consistent rule and 12 more that vary it by program.
3. Apply to home care agencies and to your local Medicaid or aging services office before you enroll in any course.
4. Expect a criminal background check.
5. Get your CPR and first aid cards if the employer doesn't run them for you.
6. Finish the required hours. Some states let you work while you do it and some don't, so confirm which one you are in.
7. Pass the competency assessment if your state has one. PHI counts 34 states and D.C. that require one after training.
8. Collect the certificate and keep your own copy, together with your training record.

## What personal care assistants earn

The median wage was $34,900 a year, or $16.78 an hour, in May 2024 ([BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/home-health-aides-and-personal-care-aides.htm)). The lowest 10% earned under $25,600 and the highest 10% over $44,190. BLS reports home health aides and personal care aides as a single occupation, so every one of those figures covers both jobs together.

Industry moves it by about $1,800 a year. In May 2024 the median was $36,400 in residential facilities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, $36,280 in continuing care retirement communities and assisted living, $35,250 in home healthcare services, and $34,600 in individual and family services, which is where 49% of these aides work.

## Where the job leads next

Changing setting is the first move. Individual and family services, the largest employer of these aides, pays the lowest median of the four industries BLS lists, and residential facilities and assisted living pay above it. Check what the new setting asks for before you apply.

The second move is a credential. A home health aide certificate lets you work for the Medicare-certified agencies that federal rules keep closed to untrained aides, and a CNA credential is what hospitals and nursing homes ask for. A few states shorten that step for you. Rhode Island runs home care agency work through nursing assistant training outright, and Hawaii's 100-hour personal care aide course ends in a CNA credential (PHI, 2025). Elsewhere, ask whether any of your hours transfer before you enroll.

## Where personal care aides are hiring now

Right now 34 active US openings match our personal care aide filter. Hospitals use the same acronym for a different job, and every posting on the first page of that filter is hospital work: Patient Care Assistant roles at UC Health in Ohio on ortho trauma, cardiac med-surg and short stay, and Patient Care Associate roles at Glens Falls Hospital in New York on telemetry, oncology, surgical, medical, operating room and float pool units.

That is bedside care on an inpatient unit rather than visits to someone's home, so read the employer and the setting on each listing on our [personal care aide jobs](/personal-care-aide-jobs) page before you apply. Both part-time and full-time positions are posted.

## FAQ

### How long does it take to become a personal care assistant?

It depends on your state. 7 of them, Texas included, require no training at all, so the wait is however long hiring takes. New York asks for 40 hours, Washington for 75, and Hawaii for 100 (PHI, 2025). Several states let you start work and finish the hours afterward: Washington gives you 120 days from your date of hire, Maine 6 months.

### Do you need a certification to be a personal care assistant?

Not everywhere. There is no national certification for this role and no board selling an exam for one. Some states issue their own at the end of their own training: New York gives a Personal Care Aide certificate after 40 hours, Washington requires you to be certified as a Home Care Aide within 200 days of hire, and Maine issues the Personal Support Specialist credential.

### What is the difference between a personal care aide and a home health aide?

Who pays for the care. Home health aides at Medicare-certified agencies fall under a federal rule requiring at least 75 hours of training and a competency evaluation. Personal care aides have no federal training standard, so their requirements come from the state and from the Medicaid program paying for the visit.

### Can you become a personal care assistant with no experience?

Yes. BLS lists short-term on-the-job training as typical for this work and a high school diploma or equivalent as the usual entry-level education, adding that some positions do not require one. Most agencies hire first and train after, so the background check usually comes before anything else.

### How much do personal care assistants make?

The median was $34,900 a year, or $16.78 an hour, in May 2024, with the lowest 10% under $25,600 and the highest 10% over $44,190 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). BLS reports home health aides and personal care aides as one occupation, so that number covers both.

### Can you get paid to care for a family member?

In many states, yes, through a consumer-directed Medicaid program where the client chooses and directs their own aide. The training rules for those programs are written separately: PHI found standards for consumer-directed workers in 17 states, and Washington sets 35 hours for a worker caring only for their own parent, sibling, grandparent or a similar relative, against the 75 hours of its general rule (RCW 74.39A.076).

Source: https://medjoblist.com/guides/how-to-become-a-personal-care-assistant