What Home Health and Personal Care Aides earn in Fayette County, PA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $29,250: the median annual pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Fayette County, PA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $14.06 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $31,340, which is 7.1% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 37,200 people working in this occupation across the Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Fayette County, PA has roughly 125,997 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 Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $23,980 a year ($11.53 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $38,590 or more ($18.55 an hour). That is a gap of $14,610 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $27,450 at the 25th percentile and $36,420 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 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: $14.06 an hour or $29,250 a year at the median for Fayette County, PA. Before any deductions, that is $2,438 a month, $1,125 every two weeks and $563 each week. After taxes the same job pays $11.89 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 Fayette County, PA median of $29,250 is 18.3% below it.
How pay in Fayette County, PA compares
Compared with the Pennsylvania average
Pay in Fayette County, PA runs $457 below the Pennsylvania average of $29,707, a gap of 1.5%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Pennsylvania would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Pennsylvania, the highest median we track for this job is $30,380 in Lehigh County, PA.
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 $29,250, Fayette County, PA pays $5,649 less, which is 16.2% 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 Fayette County, PA
Among the 561 occupations with published wages in Fayette County, PA, Home Health and Personal Care Aides ranks number 555 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $124,500 a year, which is $95,250 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 Fayette County, PA median of $29,250, they add up to $4,517. The result is $24,733 of take-home pay a year ($2,061 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $13,500. 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 $1,382, an effective 4.7% 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 $1,814 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $424. FICA totals $2,238, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania income tax on this salary is $898 a year, or 3.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 65% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $75 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 Fayette County, PA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Fayette County, PA show an average adjusted gross income of $64,173 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.3% 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 4.7% 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 Fayette County, PA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Fayette County, PA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $24,733 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Fayette County, PA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,146 a month ($13,752 a year), and at $1,389 for two bedrooms. For Home Health and Personal Care Aides, a one-bedroom absorbs 55.6% of take-home pay and 47.0% 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 11.7% of gross pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Fayette County, PA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Pennsylvania residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,877 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $535, for $2,412 in total. Gasoline in Pennsylvania averages $3.40 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,573.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $21,173 a year in Fayette County, PA. Subtract that from $24,733 of take-home pay and $3,560 remains, which is $297 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 12.2% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Fayette County, PA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Fayette County, PA: 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 Fayette County, PA, set beside the Pennsylvania and national medians.
Property taxes in Fayette County, PA
Homeowners in Fayette County, PA pay a median of $1,607 a year in real estate taxes, 51% below the Pennsylvania median of $3,311 and 48% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $143,200, the median tax bill is 1.12% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $29,250, a tax bill of that size would equal 5.5% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Fayette County, PA
Renters in Fayette County, PA pay a median gross rent of $793 a month in the Census survey, 34% below the Pennsylvania median of $1,209. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,146 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 $143,200, 44% below the Pennsylvania median of $254,500. Median household income is $58,236, 25% below the Pennsylvania median of $77,971, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.6% of that income.
Commuting in Fayette County, PA
Workers in Fayette County, PA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.0 minutes each way, 1% below the Pennsylvania average of 26.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.3 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 7.1% of workers in Fayette County, PA 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 Fayette County, PA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $29,250 that ceiling is $731 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,146 is $415 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $22.04 an hour; the median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $14.06, which is 36% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $11.89 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 22.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,389 a month means $695 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,418 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $8,978.
How fast you can save
At $297 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 34 months (2.8 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 68 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 Fayette County, PA
How much do Home Health and Personal Care Aides make per hour in Fayette County, PA?
The median is $14.06 per hour, based on $29,250 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $11.53 at the 10th percentile to $18.55 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Home Health and Personal Care Aides take home after taxes in Fayette County, PA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $29,250 becomes $24,733 a year. That is $2,061 a month, $951 every two weeks or $476 a week.
How much tax do Home Health and Personal Care Aides pay in Fayette County, PA?
Total taxes are $4,517 a year, an effective rate of 15.4%: $1,382 federal income tax, $2,238 FICA and $898 Pennsylvania income tax.
Do Home Health and Personal Care Aides earn more in Fayette County, PA than elsewhere in Pennsylvania?
No. The local median of $29,250 is -1.5% versus the Pennsylvania average of $29,707, a difference of $457 a year.
Can Home Health and Personal Care Aides afford a one-bedroom apartment in Fayette County, PA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,146 a month against take-home pay of $2,061, which is 55.6% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $731 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Fayette County, PA?
About $297 a month ($3,560 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $21,173 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Fayette County, PA at the 30% guideline?
$22.04 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $13,752 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $14.06.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Pittsburgh, PA 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 Pennsylvania 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.