The Grandparent Economy
Grandparent Caregivers: An Invisible Workforce
Grandparents today often do far more than “help out.” They function as a quiet but essential workforce holding up American families, not occasionally or symbolically, but week after week.
Over two thirds of grandparents (69%) take care of their grandchildren at least once a year, and close to half (45%) do so once a month or more often. Three in ten (31%) have not taken care of any grandchildren within the past year.
On average, grandparents spend over 500 hours a year providing care for grandkids. This is the equivalent of 12.5 weeks of full-time work.
On average, grandparents devote the equivalent of
One in ten grandparents (10%) serve as primary caregivers with formal custodial responsibility for a grandchild.
Living arrangements fundamentally shape both the amount and rhythm of caregiving. Among grandparents who provide care, those who co-reside with their grandchildren full-time on a permanent basis contribute significantly more hours than those who live together temporarily or seasonally, or those who do not share a household at all.
Among grandparents who do not co-reside with grandchildren, six in ten (59%) still provide some level of care in a typical year:
- Nearly one in five (18%) provide care weekly or daily
- Thirteen percent (13%) provide care at least monthly
- One in four (28%) provide care less than once per month.
As one 56-year-old grandfather shared, “Helping my daughter raise my granddaughter has been a pure joy. It makes me feel so happy to be there.”
For most grandparents, care of grandchildren is a joy. Yet at times this happiness coexists with necessity. Childcare costs and family pressures pull some grandparents into roles they may not have actively chosen. One 62-year-old grandmother reflected that with all of the caregiving she does for her grandchildren, “I do not get the ‘me time’ that I thought I would have. I feel tired and overworked sometimes.”
Mean hours of grandchild care provided by grandparents per year
Among those who provide care, by living arrangement
Grandparents’ relationships towards grandchild care
Among grandparents who provide care
Confident vs. unsure/unprepared
Appreciated vs. taken for granted
Fits easily vs. disrupts routines
Brings joy vs. out of necessity
Spend more time vs. spend too much time
Energized vs. physically taxed
Care of grandchildren across backgrounds
By race/ethnicity of grandparent
Grandparent caregiving is not only about the joy of time spent with grandchildren. It is also about how responsibility and relief are distributed across modern family life and how often that distribution rests on grandparents’ shoulders, with the higher care hours among grandparents of color often a response to systemic barriers such as economic inequality and high childcare costs.
These demands are further shaped by the broader constellation of care within families. While much grandparent caregiving focuses on supporting younger children, many grandparents are simultaneously navigating other caregiving responsibilities.
Grandparents’ Financial Support
Our research finds that nine in ten U.S. grandparents have provided financial support to their grandchildren in the last year. For many, this giving is a steady, ongoing commitment.
On average, grandparents report spending $2,654 per year on all grandchildren combined, compared to $2,562 in our 2018 grandparenting study. While the nominal figure has risen slightly, it has not kept pace with inflation. Adjusted for the cumulative 26% rise in consumer prices between 2018 and 2025, the 2018 figure would be roughly $3,240 in today’s dollars, meaning grandparents’ real spending has declined substantially. This likely reflects the squeeze that inflation itself has created: the same dollars now buy less, and grandparents, many of whom are on fixed incomes, may be maintaining their commitment to supporting grandchildren while absorbing higher costs across every other area of their lives.
Today, the average amount grandparents give to support grandkids annually ($2,654) is more than the average Social Security monthly benefit of approximately $2,000.
Grandparent spending on grandchildren
(among all grandparents)
(among those spending any amount)
(among all)
grandchildren in the past year
Total spending
Spending differs sharply by age, and older grandparents carry a larger financial load. Grandparents in their 50s report below-average annual spending ($1,815), while grandparents 80-plus are spending nearly twice the overall mean ($5,316). Older grandparents often have more grandchildren (spread across multiple ages), and may be called on more as family needs expand.
Living arrangement is another strong factor. When families live together, grandparent spending rises. Long-term co-residence is associated with the highest annual spending ($4,398), compared with temporary ($2,579) or seasonal arrangements ($1,744).
What Grandparents Spend On
Grandparents most often give for special occasions such as gifts, celebrations, and treats (85%), reflecting a spending pattern that was already well established in our 2018 survey of grandparents. But their financial involvement extends beyond discretionary giving. Four in ten (41%) are purchasing basic needs like diapers, clothing, shoes, and school supplies. As was also evident in 2018, education remains a core area of support, with about one in four (23%) contributing. A similar share (23%) helps with household costs such as groceries, utilities, rent, or mortgage payments.
At times grandparents provide critical support to help their families make ends meet. For example, one 75-year-old grandmother and great-grandmother in our study said she makes sure her grandchildren know: “You can go shopping in my pantry, and you can take home whatever you need.”
About a quarter of grandparents (23%) spend money to support grandchildren’s education and activities. With rising day-to-day living and tuition costs, this intergenerational giving can make a significant impact. For example, grandparental spending represents a portion of the over $13 billion that 50-plus households collectively give to college students to help smooth education costs.
Grandparents spending on grandchildren and average amounts spent in 2025
By spending category
Percent spending on…
Average annual spend on…
For some grandparents, giving is a form of family protection. They feel responsible for preventing their grandchildren from going without, even when doing so requires real trade-offs in their own budgets.
One 49-year-old grandmother reflected on times when her daughter and young granddaughter “needed help with the rent, or they needed help with the food, and I didn’t always have it. But I couldn’t let my grandbaby be on the streets or be hungry, so I would charge it with a credit card…It was a big challenge because I’m still paying them off. But I felt like it was worth it, and I’d rather do it than not.”
Joyful or voluntary spending versus spending that is a financial strain or sacrifice
Among grandparents who spend any amount on their grandchildren
Joyful or voluntary
Financial strain or sacrifice
This is the quiet crisis in the data: the collision between generational love and financial security, between what grandparents want to provide and what they can afford. Looking ahead to the next 12 months, most grandparents expect their giving to remain steady (56%), but more than one in four (27%) anticipate increasing support to meet growing family needs.
The Grandparent Economy: America’s Quiet Safety Net
What becomes clear across this research is that grandparents are not just family members: they are also an economic engine and a stabilizing force in American life. From caregiving hours to financial transfers to emotional support, America runs on grandparents.
Grandparents currently contribute over $172 billion in direct financial support1 to grandchildren each year, a slight decrease from the $179 billion estimated in 2018 (due primarily to a smaller grandparent population, even as the same dollars today cover fewer expenses than they did in 2018). But their contributions stretch far beyond what shows up in spending measures. They also provide an estimated $731 billion in unpaid care of grandchildren, a labor contribution that families and the broader economy rely on but do not formally count.2
Together, these contributions total $903 billion annually, making the “grandparent economy” a powerful force in the broader American economy.
Grandparents provide an estimated $731 billion in unpaid care of their grandchildren. Taken together with the more than $1 trillion economic value of mostly unpaid care provided by adults to other loved ones needing help due to disability, aging or illness, the broader care economy is worth more than $1.7 trillion. This essential yet largely unpaid infrastructure reduces strain on public systems and helps families stay afloat.
Sources: Powering Families: The Essential Role of Grandparents in Care, Connection and Support, AARP Research 2026; AARP’s Valuing the Invaluable 2026.
Annual economic contribution of grandparents
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But even this enormous figure understates true impact of grandparents. Our research makes clear that grandparents contribute in distinct and deeply human ways through the multi-dimensional roles they play in holding families together—from transmitting culture and identity to providing emotional safety and stepping in whenever families need them most. The real measure of grandparents’ value lives in the countless ways they help their families grow, cope, adapt, and thrive each day.
1 The direct financial support total estimate is based on the number of grandparents times the average spend (65 million x $2,654).
2 This estimate is based on a calculation of average annual caregiving hours for each living arrangement times an average national hourly rate of $22.15 for childcare services (Bureau of Labor Statistics Nov. 2025).