What Home Health and Personal Care Aides earn in Pima County, AZ
The median pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Pima County, AZ is $34,420 per year, which works out to $16.55 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Tucson, AZ metropolitan area, the labor market that Pima County, AZ belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $34,940, which is 1.5% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 11,030 people working in this occupation across the Tucson, AZ metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Pima County, AZ has roughly 1,060,490 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in the Tucson, AZ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $30,580 a year ($14.70 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $38,070 or more ($18.30 an hour). That is a gap of $7,490 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $33,570 at the 25th percentile and $36,380 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.2 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Pima County, AZ is $16.55. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $34,420, and the same salary is $2,868 a month before taxes or about $1,324 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $14.09 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Pima County, AZ compares
Compared with the Arizona average
The local median of $34,420 sits below the Arizona employment-weighted average of $36,375. The shortfall is $1,955 a year, or 5.4%, so Pima County, AZ is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Arizona, the highest median we track for this job is $36,930 in Maricopa County, AZ.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $34,899 across the contiguous United States. At $34,420, Pima County, AZ pays $479 less, which is 1.4% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Pima County, AZ
Among the 432 occupations with published wages in Pima County, AZ, Home Health and Personal Care Aides ranks number 414 by median pay, ahead of about 4% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $94,110 a year, which is $59,690 more than the median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $34,420 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $5,121 a year, which leaves $29,299, or $2,442 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 14.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $18,670. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $2,002, an effective 5.8% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,134 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $499. FICA totals $2,633, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Arizona
Arizona income tax on this salary is $486 a year, or 1.4% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 24% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $40 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Pima County, AZ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Pima County, AZ show an average adjusted gross income of $80,561 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.8% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 5.8% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Pima County, AZ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Pima County, AZ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $29,299 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Pima County, AZ is $1,092 a month, or $13,104 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,405 a month. For Home Health and Personal Care Aides, a one-bedroom absorbs 44.7% of take-home pay and 38.1% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 10.0% of gross pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Pima County, AZ. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Arizona residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,575 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $812, for $2,387 in total. Gasoline in Arizona averages $3.80 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,759.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $20,686 a year, 71% of take-home pay. That leaves $8,614 a year, or $718 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 25.0% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Can Home Health and Personal Care Aides afford to live in Pima County, AZ?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $34,420 that ceiling is $861 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,092 is $232 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $21.00 an hour; the median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $16.55, which is 21% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.09 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 17.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,405 a month means $703 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $4,674 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $13,288.
How fast you can save
At $718 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 14 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 28 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Home Health and Personal Care Aides pay in Pima County, AZ
What is the hourly wage for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Pima County, AZ?
The median is $16.55 per hour, based on $34,420 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $14.70 at the 10th percentile to $18.30 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Pima County, AZ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $34,420 becomes $29,299 a year. That is $2,442 a month, $1,127 every two weeks or $563 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Pima County, AZ?
Total taxes are $5,121 a year, an effective rate of 14.9%: $2,002 federal income tax, $2,633 FICA and $486 Arizona income tax.
Is pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Pima County, AZ above the Arizona average?
No. The local median of $34,420 is -5.4% versus the Arizona average of $36,375, a difference of $1,955 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Home Health and Personal Care Aides salary in Pima County, AZ?
A one-bedroom costs $1,092 a month against take-home pay of $2,442, which is 44.7% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $861 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Pima County, AZ?
About $718 a month ($8,614 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $20,686 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Pima County, AZ at the 30% guideline?
$21.00 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $13,104 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $16.55.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Tucson, AZ metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Arizona rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.