What counts as sandwich-generation caregiving?

Any regular, unpaid hands-on or logistical care you give in two directions at once — down to kids and up to aging parents or in-laws — whether that's transport, meals, meds, paperwork, phone coordination, or hands-on personal care.

How is the dollar value calculated?

Total weekly hours (kids + parents) multiplied by an hourly caregiving rate, multiplied by 52 weeks a year. This tool uses a sampled national rate of $20.41/hr — see the source note below.

Is this a health or burnout test?

No. This tool never assesses your health, mood, or the health of the person you care for. It only measures hours and tasks — a workload snapshot, not a wellbeing screen.

How often is this data updated?

The $20.41/hr rate is from AARP’s Valuing the Invaluable: 2026 Update (2024 data); framing stats are from Caregiving in the US 2025. These are bundled with the page, not a live feed — re-check against the current published editions before citing externally.

The Sandwich-Generation Load Calculator

Q: Where does the $20.41/hr rate come from?

It is AARP's current national estimate of the hourly economic value of unpaid family caregiving, from Valuing the Invaluable: 2026 Update (AARP Public Policy Institute, published 2026, using 2024 data). Re-check against the current published edition before citing externally — this tool does not fetch live data.

Raising kids and helping aging parents? See your true unpaid caregiving hours — and what that care is actually worth.

Free · no email needed

Log hours in both directions — down to kids, up to parents or in-laws — and get an instant receipt: total unpaid hours per week and their annual dollar value.

Step 1 · Down: kids

What does your care for your kids usually look like? (optional — just adds context)

Hours per week on kid-related care

Step 2 · Up: parents & in-laws

What does your care for them usually look like? (optional — just adds context)

Hours per week on parent/in-law care

Doesn't sound like you're in the sandwich right now.

No unpaid caregiving hours logged in either direction, so there's no receipt to show — a $0/week "load" wouldn't mean anything. If it's the mental load of running a household you're carrying, try the Invisible Load Calculator instead.

See the Invisible Load Calculator →

Your caregiving receipt

Total unpaid care

0 hrs/wk

Value of your care

$0/yr

0 unpaid hours/week worth $0

Your load

Sources & methodology

Formula: total hours/week (kids + parents) × $20.41/hr × 52 weeks = annual value, rounded to the nearest dollar. Example: 16 kid-hours + 11 parent-hours = 27 hrs/wk × $20.41 × 52 = $28,656/yr.

The $20.41/hr figure is AARP's current national estimate of the hourly economic value of unpaid family caregiving, from "Valuing the Invaluable: 2026 Update" (AARP Public Policy Institute, published March 2026, using 2024 data; the same report puts the total value of family caregiving at ~$1.01 trillion across 59 million caregivers). Framing stats referenced on this page — average caregiver load of ~26 hrs/week and the "sandwich generation" share — are from AARP / National Alliance for Caregiving's Caregiving in the US 2025 series; they inform band copy only, never the dollar math. Also from that series: women are ~61% of family caregivers (not part of this tool's calculation). Verify against the current editions before citing externally; this page makes no live data calls.

This is a workload snapshot, not a health check — it only measures your time and tasks, never your wellbeing or the health of the person you care for.