Caregiving has a zip code

Most caregiving statistics flatten the country into one number: roughly 12 million unpaid dementia caregivers, 27% of them giving 40-plus hours a week. This study pulls that number apart and finds the average barely describes anyone. In Idaho, 89% of dementia caregivers are White and non-Hispanic; nationally it's ~70%. Hours, chronic-disease load, and caregiver health all shift across state lines.

The practical lesson for families isn't in the percentages — it's that the help available to you depends heavily on where you live. A Medicaid waiver, a respite program, a caregiver stipend that exists in one state can be absent across the border. Any tool that promises "what every caregiver should do" is quietly assuming a caregiver who doesn't exist. The more useful question is narrower: what does your county actually offer, and how do you reach it. That's not a research finding. It's a to-do list.