Those of you who have experienced dementia in your family know of the physical and emotional stress, but a new study from the University of Southern California's Schaeffer Center sheds new light on how much of a pickpocket dementia is becoming.
Dementia will cost the United States $818 billion in 2026, up from $780 billion last year. That works out to about $143,509 per patient this year alone—and the year-over-year increase amounts to roughly $6,667 more per patient than in 2025.
Where the $818 billion Actually Goes
The study where those numbers come from breaks the number down in a way that upends the usual assumptions about who bears the cost of dementia care:
- $320 billion — the value of reduced quality of life for people living with dementia themselves: lost independence, cognition, and function
- $237 billion — the value of 6.8 billion hours of unpaid care provided by spouses, adult children, and friends
- $222 billion — actual medical and long-term care spending, of which Medicare and Medicaid cover about 70% ($154 billion), and families pay roughly 20% ($46 billion) out of pocket
- $23 billion — wages given up by people with dementia and their caregivers who cut back work hours or leave jobs entirely
Who's carrying the bulk? Families. Government programs cover a fraction, but it's everyone in the family who steps up to help and sacrifices hours of their personal time and income that nobody replaces.
What that looks like for one caregiver
About 5.2 million people are providing that unpaid care right now. Spread the 6.8 billion hours across them, and it works out to roughly 1,300 hours a year — about 25 hours a week — on top of whatever else is going on in that person's life. Value that time at what the study assigns it, and it comes to close to $45,000 a year per caregiver, unpaid.
SSD's calculator will tell you more if you want to plug in some numbers...
Smart Senior Daily · Interactive
What Is Your Unpaid Care Worth?
A 2026 USC Schaeffer Center study valued the 6.8 billion hours family caregivers give each year at $237 billion — about $34.85 an hour. See what your own caregiving hours add up to.
At today's market rate for hired in-home care (roughly $33–$35/hour nationally), replacing your care with a paid aide would run about $35,360–$37,520 a year — close to what your time is already worth.
Based on the 2026 USC Schaeffer Center U.S. Cost of Dementia Project ($237B ÷ 6.8B unpaid caregiving hours = $34.85/hr) and the 2025 CareScout Cost of Care Survey for market home-care rates. For illustration only — actual value varies by location and type of care.
That's not a side project. That's close to a second job, done for love instead of a paycheck.
Is There Anyone Who Can Help?
There are two federally funded programs that already provide real support, and both are seriously underused simply because families don't know to ask for it:
- National Family Caregiver Support Program. This program is funded through the Older Americans Act and run through local Area Agencies on Aging. It can connect families with respite care, counseling, and support services, and often at zero out-of-pocket cost.
- Lifespan Respite Care Program. Another state-level program that helps out, it funds respite care systems specifically so family caregivers can take a breather. Availability and services vary by state, so check with your state's Aging and Disability Resource Center.
A handful of states (Nebraska, Georgia, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, and South Carolina among them) have also enacted their own caregiver tax credits, which are worth checking on your state's department of revenue site.
