Data on the population distribution by age are derived from calculations using the most recently released year of the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS-ASEC) microdata provided through a Minnesota Population Center (MPC)'s Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) extract pulled on July 21, 2025. The population data reflect a weighted aggregate count of individuals for each age, which are then categorized into Early (aged 0-24), Middle (aged 25-64), and Late (65+) Stages of Life.

The level of support required for individuals to maintain daily well-being, health, and functionality varies based on life stage, personal circumstances, and health conditions. Care on a given day is calculated using time diary data from recent years of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and demographic data from the most recent month of the CPS-ASEC.

• ATUS: Used to estimate a weighted mean daily average of unpaid self-care activities for an individual living alone. It includes both weekday and weekend time use data adjusted by survey weights. We assume that those in this sample are the sole recipients and providers of their completed care activities. This provides a baseline from which we estimate inequality in engagement of care activities among all individuals.

The capacity to offer care to others is influenced by factors such as time availability, employment status, household responsibilities, and existing care obligations. Capacity to care is calculated by using the IPUMS ATUS to estimate both unpaid and paid care activity minutes, where paid care is an activity engaged in for a wage or payment and unpaid care is an activity receiving no direct compensation for the work. Paid care is often done for non-family members, whereas unpaid care is often done for family and other household members. Due to data limitations, we cannot capture "gray market" care, which includes "under the table" payment to babysitters or grandparents, for example, unless they were self-reported in the survey.

• ATUS: Used to estimate the number of minutes in unpaid care activities and the number of minutes spent in paid care occupations, considering all individuals regardless of living arrangements. These activities are categorized into Care Focuses: Developmental, Daily Living, and Health.

To estimate the economic value of care provision across the Developmental, Daily Living, and Health care focuses, we calculate the respective total daily care hours and apply the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. This provides a baseline for understanding a lower-bound monetary valuation of unpaid care, translating daily care hours into a minimum estimated value.

The amount of time spent providing direct or indirect care, including child-rearing, elder care, household maintenance, and supporting dependents' well-being. Care time can be both paid and unpaid.

Time spent on non-care activities, including paid work, education, and sleep.

Women aged 18 and over living with at least one own child under the age of 18. This classification includes biological, adoptive, and stepmothers and excludes women whose children live elsewhere.

Women aged 18 and over who do not have any own child living in their household. This includes women with their own children who live elsewhere.

Men aged 18 and over living with at least one own child under the age of 18. This classification includes biological, adoptive, and stepfathers and excludes men whose children live elsewhere.

Men aged 18 and over who do not have any own child living in their household. This includes men with their own children who live elsewhere.

"Other" includes parents under the age of 18 and parents with adult children aged 18 and over living in their household. The GitHub contains all files needed to replicate Care Board findings, including the "Other" category.

Combines both "Mothers" and "Fathers" based on the above definitions into a single category.

Combines both "Non-Mothers" and "Non-Fathers" based on the above definitions into a single category.

Mothers and Fathers living with adult children aged 18 and over. These responses are a subset of the "Other" category.

A Gini coefficient is a statistical measure of inequality within a population. It has a scale of 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality). It is often used as a measure of wealth or income inequality within a country or state. Our Gini statistic is like the income inequality Gini; however, we compute inequality of paid care (as a resource) across the population of those who are at risk for receiving care. A higher Gini coefficient, closer to one, indicates greater inequality in the distribution of care jobs across the U.S. A lower Gini coefficient, closer to zero, indicates greater equality. We computed this statistic at both the state and national level, which provides a measure of overall inequality in the distribution of care jobs across the country relative to where the at-risk need is located. We calculated the Gini coefficient for each state by comparing the internal distribution of paid care jobs with the distribution of where people live. To estimate the number of individuals in paid care jobs, we use census tract estimates from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LODES) data files. Specifically, we used the Workforce Area Characteristics (WAC) data. This data uses various surveys, administrative data, and unemployment claims to create census tract estimates of workforce by industry across two-digit NAICS codes. We filter this data to only include the industries of "Educational Services, Health Services, and Food and Accommodation" services. We use 5-year American Community Survey data to acquire census tract estimates of the U.S. population. Using 5-year ACS data is necessary to create census tract-level data; however, this data tends to lag behind in reporting compared to the CPS-ASEC. Census tracts are one geographic step beneath a county and one above a census block. For more information about this statistic, see "Despite Improvement, the U.S. Care Economy Remains Geographically Unequal (Ahn & Bommarito)."

This ratio is a direct comparison between the number of individuals in a geographic area needing care (children, elderly, and disabled) and the number of able-bodied adults aged 18 to 65 capable of caring for those individuals. The ratio was calculated by dividing the population available to provide care (numerator) by the population in need of care (denominator). These populations were further weighted based on their capacity to provide care as outlined in the capacity to care section. To estimate the number of individuals who need care at the census tract level, we used data from the 5-year ACS estimates. To estimate the number of individuals capable of providing care, we used LODES WAC to identify paid care workers and ACS 5-year estimates to identify people of caregiving age at the census tract level. We applied transformations based on estimated time spent caregiving by the average person in that area based on the data from the Capacity to Care Section.

• A care ratio of one indicates that there was one able-bodied adult capable of providing care for every one dependent/at-risk of care person. A care ratio of two indicates two able-bodied adults for every one dependent. A care ratio below one indicates a higher number of dependents needing care than those capable of providing care.

Includes individuals aged 18 and over sandwiched between minor children under age 10 and aging parents. For our purposes, they are individuals who have their own minor child(ren) under age 10 and, on an average day, spend at least one minute on either primary or secondary elder care activities. Sandwich generation individuals shoulder unique responsibilities and complexities that set them apart from other caregivers. We estimated the sandwich generation population and their median daily caregiving hours to highlight the magnitude of caregivers in this category and the average amount of effort they spend caring for others each day.

Individuals who live with their own child under age 10 and spend at least one minute providing unpaid care for an elderly person needing support because of a condition related to aging. We present this both as a count and as a percentage of the total adult population.

The median hours per day spent in care activities for sandwich caregivers, computed using only responses from sandwich caregivers (as defined above) from the IPUMS ATUS.

Secondary caregiving activities are included in this estimate. Secondary activities occur when a person is engaged in two tasks simultaneously (e.g., cooking dinner while supervising a child).

Combines both "Non-Mothers" and "Non-Fathers" based on their respective definitions into a single category.

The capacity to offer care to others, influenced by factors such as time availability, employment status, household responsibilities, and existing caregiving obligations.

The support required for individuals to maintain daily well-being, health, and functionality, varying based on life stage, personal circumstances, and health conditions.

The act of supplying care, support, or services to meet a care need, encompassing both paid and unpaid labor.

A classification of care activities based on the type of support provided or received. The three care provision focuses—Developmental, Daily Living, and Health—capture distinct caregiving needs and responsibilities across life stages.

A direct comparison between the number of individuals in a geographic area needing care (children, elderly, and disabled) and the number of people in the paid and unpaid economy capable of caring for those people. The ratio is calculated by dividing the population available to provide care (numerator) by the need for care (denominator).

The amount of time spent providing direct or indirect care, including child-rearing, elder care, household maintenance, and supporting dependents' well-being. Care time can be both paid and unpaid.

Activities or services that facilitate daily living, including household tasks and personal maintenance. This includes housekeepers and food service workers in the paid sector and cooking or cleaning in the unpaid sector.

Activities or services that nurture and support human development needs, such as education, play, and supervision. This includes teachers and childcare workers in the paid sector and parental nurturing or education activities in the unpaid sector.

The annual earnings a person doing this task would make were they paid for the effort. This is estimated using a crosswalk of the median annual income from similar jobs and activities in the paid labor market.

Men aged 18 and over living with at least one own child under the age of 18. This classification includes biological, adoptive, and stepfathers and excludes men whose children live elsewhere.

The Gini Coefficient of Care Jobs reveals inequalities in how caregiving resources are distributed across the country.

Activities or services that address health needs, including medical care, therapy, and caregiving for sick, disabled, or elderly household members. This includes doctors and nurses in the paid sector and caring for sick or elderly family members in the unpaid sector.

Women aged 18 and over living with at least one own child under the age of 18. This classification includes biological, adoptive, and stepmothers and excludes women whose children live elsewhere.

Time spent on non-care activities, including paid work, education, sleep, and leisure.

Men aged 18 and over who do not have any own child living in their household. This includes men with their own children who live elsewhere.

Women aged 18 and over who do not have any own child living in their household. This includes women with their own children who live elsewhere.

Includes parents under the age of 18 and parents with adult children aged 18 and over living in their household. This category acts as a fill for any case that does not meet the criteria of mothers, fathers, non-mothers, or non-fathers. This category is only available in replication data obtained on GitHub.

Care activities that are done in exchange for a wage, salary, or stipend; usually performed by a non-family member.

Mothers and Fathers living with adult children aged 18 and over. These responses are a subset of the "Other" category.

Combines both "Mothers" and "Fathers" based on their respective definitions into a single category.

When caregiving is a primary activity and the main focus, including tasks like feeding, bathing, or directly supervising a child or adult in need of care. This follows the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) classification.

Individuals who live with their own child under age 10 and spend at least one minute providing unpaid care for an elderly person needing support because of a condition related to aging.

When caregiving happens alongside some other primary activity, including situations where a caregiver is responsible for a child or dependent while simultaneously engaging in another activity, such as cooking or working from home. Secondary care is considered a secondary activity in the collection of time-use data. This follows the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) classification.

Care activities that are not directly reimbursed in exchange for a wage, salary, or stipend; usually performed by a family member, neighbor, or others in one's social network.