How To Become A Direct Care Aide: What It Is and Career Path

What is a direct care aide and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a direct care aide. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.63 an hour? That's $30,429 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 36% and produce 1,185,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDirect Care AideUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,429

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

8.0

Growth Rate 36%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.08%

Asian 7.99%

Black or African American 12.08%

Hispanic or Latino 13.31%

Unknown 4.25%

White 61.30%

Gender

female 79.16%

male 20.84%

Age - 50

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 50

Stress Level

8.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.4

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

9.6

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a direct care aide

Explore direct care aide education requirements

Most common direct care aide degrees

High School Diploma

34.7 %

Associate

20.3 %

Bachelor's

18.8 %

Start to develop specific direct care aide skills

Skills	Percentages
Home Health	16.83%
Foster Care	10.28%
CPR	9.05%
Patients	7.21%
Meal Prep	6.82%

Gain additional direct care aide certifications

Direct care aide certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific direct care aide certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for direct care aides include Medical Assistant and Advanced First Aid & CPR.

More About Certifications

Research direct care aide duties and responsibilities

Provide individuals appropriate assistance in completing ADL's, such as showering, toileting, transferring, dressing, and feeding.
Assist mentally disable adults with ADL's such as showering, grooming, oral care, eating, dressing and toileting.
Provide emotional and mental support to unstable patients and are experience in dealing with aggressive residents
Provide caring and companionship to elderly and developmentally disable consumers and provide primary resident care and assistance with daily living activities.

Prepare your direct care aide resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your direct care aide resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a direct care aide resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Direct Care Aide Resume templates

Build a professional Direct Care Aide resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Direct Care Aide resume.

Apply for direct care aide jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a direct care aide job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do direct care aides rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Direct Care Aide reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2022

Cons

Working behind a caregiver that’s not well trained

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2021

Pros

I like helping people and providing for their needs