Get paid to care for your family member in Santa Cruz County, California

Yes. California runs real Medicaid programs — like IHSS (In-Home Supportive Services) — that pay family caregivers, and they cover families in Santa Cruz County. We help you enroll, and applying costs you nothing.

Family caregivers in California typically earn $16.90–$22/hr. The rate is the same across the state, including Santa Cruz County.

Families in Santa Cruz County start with the state, not the county. Contact the IHSS office in your county and submit an Application for In-Home Supportive Services (SOC 295); a county social worker then does an in-home needs assessment.

Sometimes — it depends on the program. The fine print for California: limited — a spouse can be a paid IHSS provider but under the 'able and available spouse' rule is compensable only for personal care and paramedical services, not domestic/related services

53,400 residents of Santa Cruz County are 65 or older and about 5,040 are 85 or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 population estimates. Most of them are cared for at home by a relative rather than in a facility. California's programs exist to pay for exactly that care.

All of Santa Cruz County — including Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Scotts Valley and Capitola. Eligibility is set by California, not by your town, so where you live inside the county does not change whether you qualify.