Home Care Aide Training: What It Is and How to Complete It

A home care aide delivers hands-on, non-medical personal care in a client's home: hygiene, mobility, meals, and the daily routines the job exists to support.

In the three states this page covers, the phrase is more than a plain-language label.

Washington certifies home care aides by required training plus a state exam under RCW 18.88B.031.

California law speaks of aides employed by licensed home care organizations under Health and Safety Code 1796.44.

Illinois rules use home services worker for the same kind of job.

Entry expectations outside of training are light.

BLS reports home health and personal care aides typically need a high school diploma or equivalent, though some positions do not require it.

Private care agencies that do not receive federal funds may have other employment requirements for aides that vary by state, per BLS — which is exactly why the training question is a state-by-state one.

For the profession itself — duties, settings, pay and career path — start with the caregiver career guide.

There is no single national training curriculum behind the home care aide title.

For non-medical home care work, the rules are state law and employer policy, and BLS notes private care agencies that do not receive federal funds may have other employment requirements that vary by state.

Three states show how different the rulebook looks from state to state.

• Washington certifies the title. Most long-term care workers must complete 75 hours of department-approved entry-level training within 120 calendar days of hire, with 5 of those hours before providing care (RCW 74.39A.074). Certification then requires passing the state exam (RCW 18.88B.031).
• California sets hour minimums. As of 2026, an aide employed by a licensed home care organization must complete at least 5 hours of entry-level training before being with a client, plus at least 5 hours of annual training (Health and Safety Code 1796.44). The entry hours split into 2 hours of orientation and 3 hours of safety. The version on file says it remains in effect only until January 1, 2027, so confirm the current rule with the state before you rely on these figures.
• Illinois trains home services workers. Workers at home services agencies must receive at least 10 hours of training: 5 hours before the first assignment and 5 within the first 30 days, with a competency evaluation before assignment (77 Ill. Adm. Code 245.71).

Outside the states that write rules like these, what applies comes from the employer's onboarding plus whatever your state requires — ask before you assume.

Hour totals only mean something next to their breakdown, so here is what the states above actually schedule.

Washington's 75 hours split into 2 hours of orientation, 3 hours of safety training, and 70 hours of long-term care basic training (RCW 74.39A.074(1)(d)).

The certification exam that follows has two parts: a skills demonstration and a written or oral knowledge test (RCW 18.88B.031), and state law requires the exam to be available in the applicant's preferred language.

Staying certified in Washington takes 12 hours of continuing education every year (RCW 74.39A.341).

Family members hired as caregivers in Washington train on a reduced schedule.

A parent caring only for a developmentally disabled child needs 12 hours.

From July 1, 2026, a spouse or domestic partner caregiver needs 15 hours of basic training plus at least 6 hours of focused training.

A worker caring only for a child, parent or certain other relatives needs 35 hours (RCW 74.39A.076).

California's annual training must cover core competencies such as responding to a client's daily living needs, reporting and preventing abuse and neglect, and assisting with personal hygiene.

Illinois requires at least 10 hours every year of employment, and the first year's initial 10 hours count toward that total.

Underneath the state schedules, BLS describes what aide training covers in general: personal hygiene, reading and recording vital signs, infection control, and basic nutrition — completed on the job or through programs.

Through the agency that hires you.

Aide training may be completed on the job or through programs, per BLS.

In California, an aide's entry-level and annual training may both be completed online.

In Illinois, the home services agency provides the initial 10 hours.

That agency may accept training you completed at another licensed home services agency within the prior 365 days, or a registry-approved CNA background, in lieu of the initial training.

Even then, a competency evaluation before your first assignment is still required.

Through state-approved training.

Washington's 75 hours must be department-approved entry-level training.

New York approves its PCA Training Programs directly, and there the skills work keeps the training from being purely self-paced online: it must include classroom instruction plus demonstration of PCA skills, with personal care skills taught by a DOH-approved nurse instructor.

Online, where the state allows it.

California's home care aide training may be completed through an online training program.

New York's nurse-instructor requirement keeps its PCA skills work off a purely self-paced online course.

The federal home health aide rule is stricter still: supervised practical training must happen under an RN's direct supervision, or an LPN supervised by an RN, which is why HHA certification cannot be completed fully online.

Whichever route you take, ask who recognizes the training.

An employer's own course and a state credential are not the same thing, and it is state-approved training that counts toward a state credential.

The broader caregiver training map covers employer onboarding and the CPR and dementia add-ons that sit on top of either route.

Home health aide (HHA) training at Medicare-certified home health agencies runs on a different rulebook: a federal rule, which states may add to.

There, classroom and supervised practical training must total at least 75 hours, with at least 16 hours of classroom before at least 16 hours of supervised practical training (42 CFR 484.80).

That practical training happens in a practicum laboratory or another setting where the trainee serves an individual under the direct supervision of an RN, or an LPN supervised by an RN — which is why HHA training cannot be completed fully online.

Home care aide training is the state's rule for non-medical care instead.

Washington's 75-hour schedule looks similar on paper, but it comes from RCW 74.39A.074, not the federal rule.

California's 5-and-5 (as of 2026, under a version in force through January 1, 2027) and Illinois' 10 hours are far lighter than the federal floor.

New York shows both tracks side by side in one state.

Its HHA programs deliver 75 hours — 59 classroom plus 16 supervised practical — within 60 days of the trainee's entry, while the parallel non-medical track, the PCA Training Program, sets a 40-hour minimum.

The credentials also interlock.

Federal rules give a CNA listed in good standing on the state nurse aide registry one route to qualifying as an HHA without separate HHA training (42 CFR 484.80(a)(1)).

Washington works in the other direction too: RNs, LPNs, CNAs and Medicare-certified home health aides are exempt from home care aide certification where the secretary determines it is not required (RCW 18.88B.041).

California draws a harder line on its HHA side: an active CNA there still needs a CDPH-approved 40-hour HHA training program to become a certified home health aide.

The full HHA picture — the federal 75-hour floor, the supervised practical training rules and the routes that qualify an aide, including the CNA route — is on the HHA training guide.

When the training is settled, the next step is the job search: caregiver jobs on CaregiverHires list openings from home care agencies, home health and hospice providers, assisted living communities and nursing homes.

Career information, not licensing, legal, medical, benefits or tax advice. Training and certification rules come from state law and state agencies — confirm the current requirements with the agency in your state before you enroll, test or apply.