An estimated 26,735 workers across the US hold home visitor jobs and another 6,677 hold home visiting supervisor jobs. They work in local agencies delivering services to families with young children and pregnant women in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five US territories and in at least 65 percent of US counties. These estimates reflect the broader home visiting workforce regardless of home visiting model or funding source.
What do we know about home visitors?
Our analyses identified several key characteristics about home visitors—
- A large share of home visitors are new to home visiting work: 26 percent have less than one year of related work experience and 32 percent have 1-3 years of experience. However, almost one in five home visitors (19 percent) have more than 10 years of experience.
- Home visitors are 40 years old on average, but widely range in age, with nearly 15 percent under age 30 and 9 percent 60 or older. Most home visitors (97 percent) are female.
- About 5 out of 6 home visitors (84 percent) have a postsecondary degree, with more than half holding a bachelor’s as their highest degree.
How well does the supply of home visitors meet potential demand from families?
We estimate there is one home visitor for every 135 families in the US with a pregnant woman or at least one child under age 6 and not yet in kindergarten. This ratio improves when restricting to families with low incomes, with one home visitor per 56 families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
If narrowing to families with a pregnant woman or an infant or toddler under age 3, the ratio is one home visitor per 113 families overall or one home visitor per 48 families with low incomes.
What are national trends in jobs related to home visiting?
Graduates from related fields of nursing, early childhood education, social work, and community health compose nearly half a million graduates nationally. States and counties vary in their number of local graduates, with higher numbers coming from more populous areas.
- Early childhood education program graduates are highest in California, New York, and Arizona whereas nursing graduates are highest in Florida, Texas, and California.
- Social work graduates are highest in New York, California, Texas, as well as Illinois. California, New York, and Florida also have the most graduates in community health worker programs.
The density of jobs in nursing, early childhood education, social work, and community health work varies widely across US states and counties.
- Early childhood education ranges from a low of 0.1 times the national average in Iowa to 4.2 times the national average in Georgia.
- Nursing ranges from 0.7 in Utah to 1.6 in South Dakota.
- Social work ranges from 0.2 in Louisiana to 2.2 in Alaska.
- Community health work range from 0.2 in Tennessee to 4.5 in Alaska.
Annual earnings potential varies across postsecondary graduates, with the highest national-level average earnings for graduates in nursing ($91,539) followed by early childhood education ($60,028), social work ($55,235), and community health work ($47,636).
Graduates vary in how much they earn five years after degree completion compared to their school debt at completion. Data show return on investment in higher education. Community health workers have the lowest return among occupations related to home visiting—earning 1.45 times their debt—while nurses have the greatest return—earning 2.25 times more than their debt.