The line most people compare is the hourly rate. It is the easiest number to find and the least useful one on its own. The total you pay for a week of in-home help depends on how many hours are billed, how they are counted, which tasks are included, and when the work happens. You can move each of these, and most of them are written in terms you can ask about before you sign.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Find the hidden minimums
Many in-home services bill a minimum shift length. If your parent needs an hour of help at a time, a longer minimum changes the whole week. Ask what the minimum is, whether it applies to every visit or only the first, and whether two short visits can be combined into one shift without paying two minimums.
Count travel and rounding
Ask whether travel time between clients is paid, whether mileage is billed, and how time is rounded. Some companies round to the quarter hour and some to the full hour, and the rule decides how a fifteen-minute overrun is priced. Get the rounding rule in writing before the first shift.
Price the hours outside the normal day
Overnight coverage, weekends, holidays, and last-minute requests often carry their own rates. Ask for each rate separately. Overnight time may be billed as one flat amount or hour by hour, and that difference can decide which option makes sense for your house. If you expect a holiday or a regular weekend trip, put it on the sample schedule so the cost shows up before the bill does.
What it costs: The Missouri median for non-medical in-home care is $33 an hour, per the CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025 state data tables, released March 2026. New Plan Care's standard rate is $34 an hour with a four-hour minimum, so a visit starts at $136 (newplancare.com/services).
Watch what each task does to the rate
Companionship, household help, personal care, and errands are often priced differently. Ask which tasks are in the base rate and which add a line. A hired non-medical caregiver may give medication reminders and pick up a prescription as an errand, but managing or handing out medicine stays with your family, your parent's doctor, and the pharmacist. Ask the provider to state exactly which errands are included, so the schedule you agree to matches the work that actually happens.
Compare what an agency and an independent caregiver each include
An agency rate may include insurance, screening, scheduling, and a replacement when an aide is out sick. An independent caregiver may charge a lower hourly figure but leave payroll, taxes, insurance, and backup coverage with you. Neither is automatically cheaper. Put both on the same written list of what the rate includes, and compare that list, not the hourly figure alone.
Find what lowers the rate
A fixed weekly schedule is usually easier to price than shifts that change every week. Bundling hours into fewer, longer visits can clear a minimum. A written task list prevents add-ons that show up later. Some public and nonprofit programs pay for part of in-home help when your parent meets their eligibility rules, so check those before you assume the full cost is yours. Local Help for Caregivers in St. Louis is where to begin that search.
Build a sample week and ask for the total
Write one real week: the hours, the days, any overnight blocks, the errands, and the tasks. Send that same sample to every provider you are considering. Ask each one for the total for the week, with every line visible, and for the rate sheet in writing. The number that matters is the one at the bottom of the sample week.
Ask these before the first shift
What is the minimum shift? How is time rounded, and is travel paid? Which tasks are in the base rate? What do overnight, weekend, and holiday hours cost? What does the provider include, and who covers if the aide cancels? Is there a written rate sheet, and will the total for my sample week be in writing?