DSP Wages Crossed $15 Per Hour in 2022, but Turnover Stayed Above 40% and Provider Cuts Continued

Since this story's prior coverage, the background on direct support professional (DSP) workforce conditions has sharpened with specific data.

What the Numbers Actually Show

In 2022, the national average hourly wage for DSPs reached $15.79, according to a data brief published by United Cerebral Palsy and the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR). That crossed the $15-per-hour threshold for the first time in the field's history.

The increase sounds meaningful. The turnover rate does not budge: it stayed above 40% in the same period.

Higher wages are necessary. They are not, on their own, sufficient to stabilize a workforce that serves some of the most vulnerable people in the country.

The Funding Cliff That Already Hit

A substantial share of the wage gains traced back to the 2021 American Rescue Plan, which included $26.3 billion directed at recruitment and retention of direct care workers. That money carried a spend-by deadline of March 31, 2025, according to the ANCOR report.

As of June 20, 2026, that deadline is more than a year in the past. Whatever structural wage improvements states locked in before the deadline remain. Anything that depended on one-time pandemic relief dollars has likely eroded unless states filled the gap with their own appropriations.

No source in this set confirms which states acted and which did not. That's the open variable.

Providers Were Already Cutting Before the Deadline

In an ANCOR survey conducted in late 2023, 77% of providers said they were refusing or no longer accepting new referrals, and 44% had discontinued specific service offerings. A majority said they were considering additional cuts.

Three in four providers pulling back on referrals means families are being told to wait, or to go elsewhere, in a system that has no real "elsewhere."

The Strongest Counterargument

Advocates for the current public funding structure argue that the wage increases demonstrate that targeted federal investment works. The American Rescue Plan did move the needle on pay, and ANCOR itself credits it with driving the wage gains. Their position: the lesson is to make that level of investment permanent, not to conclude the system is broken beyond repair. That is a fair reading of the same data.

Whether Congress or state legislatures have the appetite to replace temporary pandemic relief with permanent Medicaid rate increases sufficient to sustain wages is the central question. The evidence from prior coverage of disability service cuts and provider closures suggests that appetite has been limited.

What Happens to the People Being Served

DSPs support people with developmental disabilities living in the community, helping with daily tasks, medical needs, and independent living. When turnover stays at 40%-plus, continuity of care collapses. Families don't just lose a service slot; they lose the specific person who knows their family member's routines, communication patterns, and medical history. High turnover in this field is not an abstraction. It is a direct-care disruption for people who often cannot advocate for themselves.

The Unresolved Question

The ANCOR brief was the first in a planned series of data snapshots under the Case for Inclusion umbrella. Whether subsequent snapshots covering 2023, 2024, and post-deadline 2025 data show the wage floor holding or slipping back below $15 per hour remains to be seen. The March 2025 American Rescue Plan spending deadline has passed. The wage and turnover data from that period has not yet appeared in the available sources.