Home Instead Senior Care: Reviews and Costs in 2025
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February 13, 2025
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Home Instead is a leading care network serving around 100,000 older adults in almost 1,200 U.S. locations. The company’s tailored care plans and skilled caregivers make Home Instead a great choice for anyone who wants care in the comfort of their home.
Offering services in all 50 states, Washington, D.C, and other countries, you should be able to find a Home Instead location in your area. If you’re looking for an alternative to assisted living communities, a caregiver from Home Instead might be a great solution.
Pro Tip: New to the world of home care? Take a look at our guide: What Is Home Care?
Home Instead Senior Care Pros and Cons
Pros
- Tailor-made care services: Home Instead provides people with customized care solutions based on a detailed assessment and discussion regarding your loved one’s needs.
- Highly trained caregivers: Caregivers with Home Instead pass comprehensive training in emergency response and dementia care. This training occurs online as well as in person with a registered nurse. Additionally, caregivers are trained on a continual, annual basis.
- In-depth pre-employment screenings: In addition to extensive training, Home Instead caregivers must pass state and federal background checks, an FBI fingerprint search, and a sex offender registry search. They must also pass a drug test and driving record review, and employees are drug tested at random.
Cons
- Minimum service requirements: Many Home Instead locations require minimum hours per visit and weekly hour commitments, meaning those in need of sporadic care might want to look elsewhere.
- Higher costs: Compared to average costs of home care, Home Instead services tend to cost $5 more per hour, but it depends on the location.
- No skilled nursing: Home Instead provides nonmedical care only, so it’s not for you if you want a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse rather than a home health aide or a certified nursing assistant.
Home Instead Senior Care Review
Background
Established in response to the minimal care options available to their family’s matriarch, Paul and Lori Hogan established Home Instead in 1994, hoping to change the way people experience aging through compassionate and high-quality caregiving. Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Home Instead’s more than 1,200 offices throughout the U.S. serve about 100,000 older adults, making them one of the country’s largest care networks.
Home Instead organizes their services into seven categories listed below. But note that not every Home Instead location offers all of these services, so check your local franchise to see what’s available in your area.
- Companionship: To combat senior loneliness, Home Instead’s caregivers will spend time with an older adult, talking, doing puzzles, and playing games.
- Chronic illness support: Although the caregivers aren’t nurses, they can support clients with various health problems, such as Alzheimer’s or dementia, heart disease, Parkinson’s, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, or weight-related issues. They can also help someone who is recovering from a stroke.
- End of life care: The caregivers can support someone who needs hospice care.
- Enhanced services care: Caregivers can remind their patients to take medications as well as check glucose levels and tend to wounds.
- Meal prep and help around the home: Caregivers can cook meals and do light housekeeping.
- Personal care: Caregivers help older adults maintain their independence and dignity by assisting with activities of daily living such as bathing, grooming, dressing, toileting, transferring, and medication adherence.
- Transportation: Finally, caregivers can transport seniors to do errands, attend events, or go to church, for a few examples.
Customer Experience
With each Home Instead being independently owned and operated, each franchise will have different prices, services, and, of course, personnel. This is what we’ve learned about Home Instead, based on our clients’ experiences:
- Clients paid anywhere from $35 an hour for light personal care to $55 an hour for more specialized care.
- Most locations require minimum shifts of at least four hours.
- Some locations require at least 12 hours of care scheduled per week.
- Each location is independently owned and operated, so pricing and minimums vary greatly.
Among the contacted reps from Home Instead, we were impressed by their compassion and knowledge. They displayed a thorough understanding of home care needs and offered to promptly schedule an in-home consultation.
Third-Party Reviews
Because Home Instead is a franchise with hundreds of locations throughout the U.S., the only way to get an accurate gauge of customers' experience is to look at reviews for your nearest location. That being said, on Trustpilot and Consumer Affairs, customers rated the company as a whole, with ratings of 2.6 and 2.1 out of five stars, respectively. Those are pretty low scores, but let’s take a look at some specifics:
“I needed a reliable home care company for 24 care for someone who Ives alone, no family and transitioned to hospice care. Lillian came out to the house to Understand the care needed and staffed it with great caregivers. Lillian was available to resolve any issues and provide excellent customer satisfaction. I will use them again.”- Sugarland, Texas
“We have been clients for three years and it has been mostly a nightmare. Their workers are not trained or professional. They never had enough workers to fill schedule. Always a different untrained caregiver without notice. Communication between management and caregiver and client is non existent. Every mistake they would make they would try to blame us. Glad to be rid of them.”- Puyallup, Washington
“Caregiver stole money from my Alzheimer's mother and the company did not do an investigation. Then they send me an overdue bill with services that were not provided. I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.”- Fort Worth, Texas
Again, take these reviews with a grain of salt, and research recent reviews of your nearest location on sites like Google, Yelp, and the Better Business Bureau.
Care.com runs background checks on all of its caregivers.
Cost & Pricing
Since Home Instead is a franchise, pricing will depend upon the location, the day of the week, the hours of care per week, and the level of care. In Phoenix, Arizona, our customers paid $36 to $40 an hour, with lower prices for people that booked 12 hours or more per week. This location also offers care for a couple for about $45 an hour. They also offer medical or care management for $75 per visit, which could include prescription refills and coordination with medical providers. The median cost of home care in Arizona is $36 an hour, so this location has average to slightly above average costs, based on 2023 data from Genworth.
Clients in Philadelphia, on the other hand, have paid $38 an hour if they booked fewer than 20 hours a week, or $36 per hour if they booked caregivers for 20 hours a week or more. These prices are above the state’s median of $31 an hour. There’s also a minimum of four hours per shift at this location.
Finally, clients in Delray Beach, Florida, paid about $35 an hour for light personal care, with specialized care ranging from about $45 to $55 an hour. This location requires at least 12 hours of care per week, which each shift a minimum of four hours. Given that the median cost of care in Florida is $30 an hour, Home Instead is on the pricey side.
Areas Served
Home Instead provides senior care services in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and in other countries, such as:
- Australia
- Canada
- Germany
- France
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Singapore
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
Bottom Line
With hundreds of locations and tens of thousands of adults cared for, Home Instead is a trustworthy provider for in-home, nonmedical care. To find care, you can visit the Home Instead website or contact the company via telephone at 888-343-7175. To learn more about our other favorite home care agencies and caregiving techniques, check out our helpful guides:
Home Instead Senior Care Frequently Asked Questions
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What is Home Instead senior care?
Home Instead is a global network of caregivers who provide high-quality in-home care services that help older adults age safely at home.
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How much does Home Instead cost?
Home Instead costs $35 to $55 an hour, depending on the level of care needed, the location of the care, the number of hours booked per week, and other factors. Check with your nearest location to find out about their caregiving costs, as each location is an independently owned and operated franchise.
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How do I hire care from Home Instead?
To hire care from Home Instead:
- Call 888-331-4413.
- Or, click Get Started and answer the short quiz about your needs: https://www.homeinstead.com/home-care-services/.
- Fill out your contact information and click Find Care for a Loved One. The company will call you to discuss your needs and help you hire care.
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What services does Home Instead Senior Care offer?
Home Instead offers the following services:
- Personal care including help with dressing, grooming, and bathing
- Enhanced care such as checking to make sure someone took their medication
- End-of-life care
- Meal prep and light housekeeping
- Transportation
- Companionship
- Support for chronic illnesses including Alzheimer’s, dementia, cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, Parkinson’s, etc.
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Can I use Medicaid with Home Instead Senior Care?
Yes, you may be able to use a Medicaid waiver with Home Instead, depending on your eligibility and what state you’re in.