10 metros where Home Health and Personal Care Aides are hardest to fill

A national aide range landed in Portland and the director called the wage already generous.

Portland scores 8.8.

The median is $45,570, 1.27 times the national median, and the local share is 0.68, about a third fewer of these workers than a typical metro.

Jobs per 1,000 are 18.916.

Generous against the country is not the same as generous against the agency across town, and the bench is thinner than a typical metro on top of that.

Seattle, at 8.6, pays more, $48,210, with a share of 0.95.

Urban Honolulu scores 8.0 with the thin share on this list, 0.36, and a median of $37,770.

One occupation, three shapes.

Copying Portland's story into Honolulu will misread both the wage and the bench.

Each metro

Ranked table

Swipe the table sideways. The same figures are in the blocks above.

Takeaways

• Washington, DC scores 8.5 at $38,530 with a share of 0.58. Providence scores 8.5 at $40,890.
• Boston scores 8.2 at $40,910 with a share of 0.97, close to a typical metro, so the score there is not a thin-bench story.
• Oregon's all-industry openings rate in December 2025 was 3.5. The U.S. rate was 4.0.
• Metros under 500 of these workers are not scored. Absence from the list is not a zero.

For recruiters

• In Portland, put $45,570 next to the thin share before you call the posting competitive.
• Do not ship one aide wage to every metro on this page. Honolulu and Seattle are not the same search.

FAQ

Are these posted wages or open jobs?

No. The table is a government survey or a designation file.

What should a recruiter do first?

Follow the recruiter note on this page.

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.

Related hiring pages

Methodology

Rows are the scored metro pages for Home Health and Personal Care Aides (31-1120) with the highest public market difficulty score, up to 10. Metros under 500 workers are not scored. A metro page is scored only when OEWS employment for that occupation is at least 500. Below that, the page stays up and is left off this ranking. Postsecondary teaching occupations and medical scientists are left off even when they are scored. Nominal weights, before a missing shortage match is rescaled, are projected openings divided by 2025 employment 18%, projected growth 22%, the metro median divided by the U.S. median 40%, how common the occupation is locally compared with the country 8% (the location-quotient column; a lower figure means a thinner local bench), a matching HRSA shortage designation 8%, and statewide all-industry JOLTS for December 2025 4%. Bands are Standard under 4, Elevated from 4 up to 7, and Hard at 7 and above. The Oregon total-nonfarm job openings rate for December 2025 is 3.5. The U.S. rate is 4.0. Both are all-industry JOLTS rates. The article is tagged to Oregon because that state holds the leading metro, so the publishing calendar does not stack it with another Oregon article the same day. Rounded figures in the prose: $45,570 is stated as about $45.6K. a comparison of 1.27 is stated as 27 percent. $35,800 is stated as about $35.8K.

Sources

• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics · May 2025
• BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, total nonfarm · December 2025