Home Health Aides
In short: today's best AI models could do about 7% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 93% of the time, stays with people.
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.
$35,800 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
Reviewed on September 30, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work3 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people37 h
Home Health Aides, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 3 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 37 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Keep care records and report to supervisor (about 2 h, a person checks); Plan and prepare meals to a diet (about 1 h, a person checks).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 3%
- 4%
- 2%
- 25%
- 66%
Anthropic's data does not cover this job.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 7% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 7%. Today's estimate: 7%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 15 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0024% to 0.0077% (released February and March 2025); 0.0021% to 0.011% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0024% | 681 of 708 | 1 of 15 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0077% | 536 of 703 | 2 of 15 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0021% | 622 of 655 | 1 of 15 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0071% | 528 of 672 | 3 of 15 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.011% | 476 of 677 | 4 of 15 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 15 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 15 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 74% of this job's working time as physical work. For 36% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 33% in a purpose-built cell, 3% in a structured facility. 0.39 of 3, the 346th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 26%
- No robot shown 38%
- In a purpose-built cell 33%
- In a structured facility 3%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
93% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Plan and prepare meals to a diet, the hands-on work, 13%
- Do laundry, cleaning and personal care, the hands-on work, 13%
- Help patients move, dress and groom, the hands-on work, 10%
- Care for children in the home, the hands-on work, 10%
- Support and instruct patients and families, the in-person work, 9%
- Keep patients company, the in-person work, 8%
What becomes checking the machine
7% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it.
- Keep care records and report to supervisor, severe if wrong, 4%
- Plan and prepare meals to a diet, severe if wrong, 3%
What to learn
- The hands-on craft. About 66% of the time is hands-on work, which no model here does; robots are rated separately on this page.
- Judgment where errors are severe. Some tasks are severe if wrong. Knowing when not to trust an output matters more there than speed.
- The conversations. About 26% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
- Dealing with people outside the organization. Customers, patients, suppliers or the public: trust with them is built by a person.
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check or sign: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 15 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan, purchase, prepare, or serve meals to patients or other family members, according to prescribed diets.Cooking to a prescribed diet, with a little planning.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Chef Robotics ChefOS food-assembly robots (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 17% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Hands-on 80%, documents 20% | 20%Desk part half by now |
| Care for patients by changing bed linens, washing and ironing laundry, cleaning, or assisting with their personal care.Housework and care by hand.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 13% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Provide patients with help moving in and out of beds, baths, wheelchairs, or automobiles and with dressing and grooming.Lifting and steadying the patient by hand.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 21 min8 min to 42 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Care for children with disabilities or who have sick parents or parents with disabilities.Hands-on care and attention to the children.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | Hands-on 60%, in person 40% | Stays with people |
| 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.Talking with the family at home.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | In person 100% | Stays with people |
| Entertain, converse with, or read aloud to patients to keep them mentally healthy and alert.Talking and reading aloud in the patient's home.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | In person 100% | Stays with people |
| Perform a variety of duties as requested by client, such as obtaining household supplies or running errands.Shopping and errands on foot or by car.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Ocado On-Grid Robotic Pick (OGRP) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Bathe patients.Hands-on personal care.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Mirai Ningen Sentakuki (human washing machine of the future) (Science Co.) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 29 min17 min to 50 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Maintain records of patient care, condition, progress, or problems to report and discuss observations with supervisor or case manager.Notes in the care record, and a call to the case manager.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Systems 70%, conversation 30% | 70%Desk part half by now |
| Direct patients in simple prescribed exercises or in the use of braces or artificial limbs.Coaching the patient in person, with a steadying hand.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, hunova (Movendo Technology) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 25 min13 min to 38 min | In person 60%, hands-on 40% | Stays with people |
| Accompany clients to doctors' offices or on other trips outside the home, providing transportation, assistance, and companionship.Driving and helping the client along, with company on the way.Done yearly or less by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | Hands-on 70%, in person 30% | Stays with people |
| Administer prescribed oral medications, under the written direction of physician or as directed by home care nurse or aide, and ensure patients take their medicine.Handing over the medicine and seeing it taken, under a nurse's direction.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Evondos E300 in-home medicine dispensing robot / telecare system (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Hands-on 80%, in person 20% | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
- Individual and Family Services2,312,380 people
- Home Health Care Services1,079,060 people
- Residential Intellectual and Developmental Disability, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Facilities321,290 people
- Continuing Care Retirement Communities and Assisted Living Facilities for the Elderly265,100 people
- Vocational Rehabilitation Services56,970 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Home Health Aides is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 7% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 7% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Home Health Aides come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Keep care records and report to supervisor (70% of the task's time now); and Plan and prepare meals to a diet (20% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Home Health Aides stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Do laundry, cleaning and personal care; Help patients move, dress and groom; and Care for children in the home. Together such tasks are about 78% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Home Health Aides learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are the hands-on craft; judgment where errors are severe; and the conversations. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 93% of the working time stays with people, 7% becomes checking a model's work and 0% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Home Health Aides?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Home Health Aides?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 74% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 36% of the working time, 3% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.39 of 3. One example: Evondos E300 in-home medicine dispensing robot / telecare system for "give prescribed oral medications". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 15 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on September 30, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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