Bay Area families
Aging Parents in the Bay Area: Home Care and IHSS
Updated September 16, 2026. Reviewed September 16, 2026 against public CDSS, DHCS, Medicare.gov, VA, and CareScout 2025 California tables. County wages, hours, and wait times still change. Official .gov pages decide.
Adult children in San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin, and neighboring counties often search by metro name. In-Home Supportive Services is still a county file. Licensed home care is a separate hire. This page is education. The county and Medi-Cal decide the public case.
Reviewed against CDSS, DHCS, Medicare.gov, and CareScout public pages. We do not quote IHSS wages. County IHSS offices and Medi-Cal decide eligibility, hours, and pay. For current county wage rates, use the official CDSS wage page.
Bay Area county IHSS pages
Pick the county of the home address. Then open how to apply and the official CDSS office list.
San Francisco
City and County of San Francisco. A parent in the Sunset and a parent in a Japantown building still use this office.
Open the San Francisco IHSS guideAlameda County
Oakland, Hayward, Fremont, and Berkeley homes. BART does not merge this file with Contra Costa or San Francisco.
Open the Alameda County IHSS guideSanta Clara County
San Jose, Palo Alto, and Gilroy share this office. Menlo Park is a different county if that is the home.
Open the Santa Clara County IHSS guideSan Mateo County
Daly City, Redwood City, and the coast. A San Francisco job does not create a San Francisco IHSS file.
Open the San Mateo County IHSS guideContra Costa County
Richmond, Concord, and Walnut Creek. East Bay commutes still file where the parent lives.
Open the Contra Costa County IHSS guideMarin County
San Rafael and the rest of Marin. Confirm the home address before you use a San Francisco packet.
Open the Marin County IHSS guide
Home care beside IHSS
Licensed Home Care Organizations are a private hire. They can cover hours the county has not authorized. Keep the county timesheet and the agency invoice on separate calendars. Compare settings on the California home care versus assisted living page. Price private-pay planning medians on the cost hub. For a sample of public hourly rates, open the IHSS caregiver hourly pay rates page, then confirm the current figure on the official CDSS wage page.
For companion education after a hospital stay, Sevah publishes after hospital discharge and stay home. Those pages are not a county filing and do not diagnose.
Questions people ask
- Which Bay Area county do we file IHSS in?
- The county where the parent lives. A job in San Francisco or Santa Clara does not move the file. Use the CDSS county IHSS office list.
- Can an adult child in another Bay Area county be the paid provider?
- Adult children are commonly allowed after provider enrollment. The recipient is still the employer. File in the parent’s county.
- Where is the local IHSS wage?
- CDSS publishes the official county table. A short sample of how rates differ is on the IHSS caregiver hourly pay rates page. CareScout medians on the cost pages are private-pay planning estimates.
- Is this the same as licensed home care?
- No. IHSS is Medi-Cal personal care after a county notice. A licensed Home Care Organization is a private hire. Families often run both. Keep timesheets and invoices separate.
Official California sources
Reviewed against CDSS, DHCS, Medicare.gov, and CareScout public pages. We do not quote IHSS wages. County IHSS offices and Medi-Cal decide eligibility, hours, and pay. For current county wage rates, use the official CDSS wage page. CDSS county IHSS wage rates.
Official program pages: CDSS: In-Home Supportive Services, CDSS: IHSS for children, County IHSS offices, CDSS: IHSS providers, CDSS: county IHSS wage rates, CDSS: provider orientation, CDSS: Electronic Visit Verification, CDSS: Electronic Services Portal, DHCS: Medi-Cal, Apply for Medi-Cal, BenefitsCal, CDSS: hearing requests, CDSS: forms catalog, CDSS: IHSS overtime and workweek, DDS: regional centers.