CalSDP A free Self-Determination reference from Sentinel Four FMS

Tool

What a caregiver really costs

Pay someone $22 an hour and it does not cost $22 an hour. Employer taxes, workers' compensation and paid sick leave sit on top — and unlike your FMS provider's fee, they come out of your individual budget.

$

What the worker takes home before their own taxes.

%

This is Sentinel Four's Co-Employer rate. Change it to model any other provider — everything updates as you type.

Among the 18 providers offering Co-Employer, burden runs from 17.23% to 24.86%. DDS lists 31 FMS providers in total, and 23 have a rate on file. Any provider will give you theirs if you ask.

These are Co-Employer rates, deliberately. Co-Employer is how the large majority of families in the program are set up, and — more importantly for a comparison — every Co-Employer total includes workers' compensation. Most Sole Employer totals on the DDS table show workers' comp as "TBD", because in that model the participant carries their own cover. Those totals leave a real cost out, so putting them beside Co-Employer numbers makes Sole Employer look several points cheaper than it is. We don't mix the two.

Optional add-ins

Things some providers offer and others don't. Neither of these is wages, so neither carries employer burden — they sit on top of the figures above.

True hourly cost

$26.60

for a $22.00 hourly wage

Each week
$665.06
Each month
$2,882
Over a budget year
$34,583

Of that yearly figure, $5,983 is burden rather than wages.

What the burden rate costs you, in hours

How this works

Burden comes out of your budget. The FMS fee does not. If you want to employ someone, your individual budget pays the full cost of employing them — wages and burden both. Your FMS provider's own fee is separate and is paid by the regional center, which is why it appears nowhere in this calculator.

What burden includes. The employer's share of Social Security and Medicare, federal and state unemployment insurance, California's Employment Training Tax, workers' compensation insurance, and California paid sick leave accrual.

Why providers differ. Nearly all of it is workers' compensation. Every provider pays the same Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%); federal and state unemployment and the training tax vary only slightly. Workers' comp on the DDS table ranges from about 2.5% to 9.2% across Co-Employer providers — driven by the insurer, the classification code and the provider's own claims history. Paid sick leave adds roughly 2% to 5%.

Which rates we compare, and why. Only Co-Employer. It is how the large majority of families in the program are set up, and every Co-Employer total on the DDS table includes workers' compensation — so the numbers are genuinely comparable to each other. Sole Employer totals mostly do not include it, which makes them look lower than the real cost. Mixing the two is the most common way to get this comparison wrong.

How current is the rate you're quoted? The DDS table carries a "last updated" date for each provider, and they range from 2024 to 2026. A rate approved two years ago may not reflect what a provider's insurance costs today. It is a fair question to ask.

How the add-ins are treated. Health coverage through an ICHRA, and regular per-paycheck payments such as a technology reimbursement or stipend, are not hourly wages — so no employer burden is applied to them. They are added as flat yearly amounts on top, and in the budget direction they come off your budget before the hours are worked out. Both are paid from the individual budget. Not every provider offers either; ask before you assume.

What this does not include. Overtime, mileage, bonuses, or retirement contributions. California's overtime rules for domestic workers are genuinely complicated and getting them wrong would be worse than leaving them out — ask your FMS to model overtime with you.

The FMS fee is deliberately absent. Since July 1, 2022 the regional center pays it outside your individual budget, so it does not reduce what you have to spend and it is the same to you whichever provider you choose. That is why this calculator asks about burden and not about fees.

  • A year is treated as 52 weeks; a month as one twelfth of the year.
  • Figures are rounded for display and may differ by a few cents from your FMS statement.
  • This is a planning tool, not a certified budget. Your regional center certifies the budget and your spending plan.

Sources

Burden range and provider rates: Summary of Approved FMS Employer Burden, California Department of Developmental Services, published 24 August 2026 — 23 providers, 38 provider-and-model rows, linked from the DDS Financial Management Service Contact List. FMS fee treatment: DDS Self-Determination Program FAQ. Burden components: California EDD and DIR requirements for household employers.

Last reviewed 11 September 2026 · Next review December 2026 · Spotted an error? Tell us and we will check it and date the correction.