About a quarter of adults in Wyoming provide unpaid care to family or friends, according to a new study from AARP.
That means more than 100,000 people support loved ones to help them stay in their homes as they get older, doing things like going grocery shopping, helping with medication and providing rides to doctors’ appointments.
All that time adds up and translates to roughly $54 million of unpaid care every year, according to AARP Wyoming State Director Sam Shumway.
Without those caregivers, he said many more people would need professional home healthcare or end up in nursing homes.
“ In Wyoming and in other states, Medicaid often pays for nursing home stays and it's a significant amount of money,” said Shumway.
Providing that care can also come at a personal financial cost.
“Eighty percent of those folks are paying for caring for their loved one out of their own pockets,” he added. “That amounts to, on average, around $7,000 a year.”
AARP has about 38 million members nationwide and 75,000 in Wyoming, and its work focuses on improving the lives of adults over the age of 50.
According to the nonprofit’s “Caregiving in the US 2025: Caring Across States” report, that “above 50” category includes both caregivers and those receiving care. In the intermountain West, the average age of a caregiver is 54 and the average age of a care recipient is 65.
Shumway said about half of those caregivers are dealing with financial setbacks, like not being able to save or taking on more debt. And some of them are part of what some call “the sandwich generation,” meaning they’re taking care of their own kids as well as an older family member.
On a national level, AARP is advocating for a caregiver tax credit to help offset what caregivers often pay out-of-pocket to support loved ones. Congress is currently considering a bill that would provide up to $5,000 to do just that.
While on the campaign trail, Pres. Donald Trump expressed support for the caregiver tax credit, but he has yet to take action on the topic since taking office.
Shumway with AARP Wyoming said he’ll also be watching the upcoming state budget session for any conversations about potential cuts to senior centers.
He had these words of advice to share with caregivers in Wyoming.
”While it feels thankless, oftentimes it's not. We appreciate the work that they're doing, the person that they're caring for appreciates the work that they're doing,” said Shumway. “There are supports available. Don't try to go it alone. Don't try to carry this burden by yourself. You don't have to.”
