What Home Health and Personal Care Aides earn in Rankin County, MS
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $23,130: the median annual pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Rankin County, MS. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $11.12 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Jackson, MS metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $25,120, which is 8.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,800 people working in this occupation across the Jackson, MS metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Rankin County, MS has roughly 158,854 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 Jackson, MS metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $22,930 a year ($11.02 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $29,440 or more ($14.15 an hour). That is a gap of $6,510 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $23,130 at the 25th percentile and $26,460 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.3 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $11.12 an hour or $23,130 a year at the median for Rankin County, MS. Before any deductions, that is $1,928 a month, $890 every two weeks and $445 each week. After taxes the same job pays $9.81 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Home Health Aides this way: "Monitor the health status of an individual with disabilities or illness, and address their health-related needs, such as changing bandages, dressing wounds, or administering medication. Work is performed under the direction of offsite or intermittent onsite licensed nursing staff. Provide assistance with routine healthcare tasks or activities of daily living, such as feeding, bathing, toileting, or ambulation. May also help with tasks such as preparing meals, doing light housekeeping, and doing laundry depending on the patient's abilities."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Maintain records of patient care, condition, progress, or problems to report and discuss observations with supervisor or case manager"; "Provide patients with help moving in and out of beds, baths, wheelchairs, or automobiles and with dressing and grooming"; "Provide patients and families with emotional support and instruction in areas such as caring for infants, preparing healthy meals, living independently, or adapting to disability or illness"; "Entertain, converse with, or read aloud to patients to keep them mentally healthy and alert".
This BLS pay category covers several related O*NET occupations, among them Home Health Aides, Personal Care Aides, so the wage figures describe the group as a whole.
Job outlook for Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 4,677,100 jobs in 2025 to 5,524,400 in 2035, a change of +18.1%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 760,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 16.3% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $35,800 for this occupation; the Rankin County, MS median of $23,130 is 35.4% below it.
How pay in Rankin County, MS compares
Compared with the Mississippi average
Pay in Rankin County, MS runs $2,736 below the Mississippi average of $25,866, a gap of 10.6%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Mississippi would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Mississippi, the highest median we track for this job is $30,900 in DeSoto County, MS.
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 $23,130, Rankin County, MS pays $11,769 less, which is 33.7% 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 Rankin County, MS
Among the 414 occupations with published wages in Rankin County, MS, Home Health and Personal Care Aides ranks number 406 by median pay, ahead of about 2% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $82,630 a year, which is $59,500 more than the median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Home Health and Personal Care Aides earning the Rankin County, MS median of $23,130, they add up to $2,720. The result is $20,410 of take-home pay a year ($1,701 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $12 goes to taxes and $88 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 11.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $7,380. 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 10% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $738, an effective 3.2% of gross pay, well below the 10% 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 $1,434 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $335. FICA totals $1,769, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Mississippi
Mississippi income tax on this salary is $213 a year, or 0.9% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 29% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $18 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 Rankin County, MS
IRS Statistics of Income data for Rankin County, MS show an average adjusted gross income of $79,844 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 11.6% across all filers. Filers in the $10,000 to under $25,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 3.4%, compared with the 3.2% 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 Rankin County, MS
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Rankin County, MS: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $20,410 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Rankin County, MS, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,105 a month ($13,260 a year), and at $1,289 for two bedrooms. For Home Health and Personal Care Aides, a one-bedroom absorbs 65.0% of take-home pay and 57.3% 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 14.9% of gross pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Rankin County, MS. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Mississippi residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,415 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $612, for $2,028 in total. Gasoline in Mississippi averages $2.90 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,342.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $20,066 a year in Rankin County, MS. Subtract that from $20,410 of take-home pay and $344 remains, which is $29 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 1.5% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Local housing and commute data for Rankin County, MS
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Rankin County, MS: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Rankin County, MS, set beside the Mississippi and national medians.
Property taxes in Rankin County, MS
Homeowners in Rankin County, MS pay a median of $1,428 a year in real estate taxes, 18% above the Mississippi median of $1,215 and 54% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $237,400, the median tax bill is 0.60% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $23,130, a tax bill of that size would equal 6.2% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Rankin County, MS
Renters in Rankin County, MS pay a median gross rent of $1,270 a month in the Census survey, 33% above the Mississippi median of $954. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,105 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $237,400, 40% above the Mississippi median of $169,800. Median household income is $79,357, 41% above the Mississippi median of $56,447, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 16.7% of that income.
Commuting in Rankin County, MS
Workers in Rankin County, MS who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.6 minutes each way, 4% above the Mississippi average of 25.6. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.4 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 7.1% of workers in Rankin County, MS work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Home Health and Personal Care Aides afford to live in Rankin County, MS?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $23,130 that ceiling is $578 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,105 is $527 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $21.25 an hour; the median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $11.12, which is 48% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $9.81 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 26.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,289 a month means $645 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,526 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $5,870.
How fast you can save
At $29 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 349 months (29.1 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 698 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 Rankin County, MS
How much do Home Health and Personal Care Aides make per hour in Rankin County, MS?
The median is $11.12 per hour, based on $23,130 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $11.02 at the 10th percentile to $14.15 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Home Health and Personal Care Aides take home after taxes in Rankin County, MS?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $23,130 becomes $20,410 a year. That is $1,701 a month, $785 every two weeks or $393 a week.
How much tax do Home Health and Personal Care Aides pay in Rankin County, MS?
Total taxes are $2,720 a year, an effective rate of 11.8%: $738 federal income tax, $1,769 FICA and $213 Mississippi income tax.
Do Home Health and Personal Care Aides earn more in Rankin County, MS than elsewhere in Mississippi?
No. The local median of $23,130 is -10.6% versus the Mississippi average of $25,866, a difference of $2,736 a year.
Can Home Health and Personal Care Aides afford a one-bedroom apartment in Rankin County, MS?
A one-bedroom costs $1,105 a month against take-home pay of $1,701, which is 65.0% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $578 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Rankin County, MS?
About $29 a month ($344 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $20,066 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Rankin County, MS at the 30% guideline?
$21.25 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $13,260 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $11.12.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Jackson, MS 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 Mississippi 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.