the survey

Hold Missouri up against the rest of the Midwest

Missouri is 6th of 12 Midwest states on how many older adults give care (21.8 percent) and 3rd of 12 on how many of those caregivers put in 20 or more hours a week (33.6 percent). Illinois is last on the first question (16.4 percent) and first on the second (39.9 percent). CDC BRFSS questions Q36 and Q39, survey year 2021, adults 65 and older.

This page puts two questions next to each other for the twelve states the Census Bureau calls the Midwest. They are not the same question and they do not rank the same way, which is the whole reason to see them together. Nothing has been averaged, blended or scored. Every figure was read out of the CDC file named in the methodology box, and the confidence interval sits beside each one.

what to notice

Watch the two columns move in opposite directions

The first column counts how many people aged 65 and older said they gave care to a friend or family member in the past month. The second counts, among those caregivers only, how many averaged 20 hours a week or more. A state can sit high on one and low on the other, and across the river from you that is exactly what happens.

Missouri is mid-table on the first count and near the top on the second. Fewer than one in four older Missourians are caregivers, but a third of those who are put in half a working week.
Illinois has the smallest share of older caregivers of the twelve, and the largest share of them at 20 hours or more. Fewer caregivers, each carrying more.
Ohio and Wisconsin lead the first column and sit lower on the second. Many caregivers, lighter weeks on average.
Michigan is 9th on the first count and 2nd on the second, the same shape as Illinois.

If you are the one doing the work, the second column is the one that describes your week. If you are trying to work out how many other families near you are in the same position, the first column is the one to read.

the twelve

Read both questions for every state

Order	State	Gave care in the past month (percent)	95 percent CI	Caregivers at 20 or more hours a week (percent)	95 percent CI	Rank of 12 on hours
1	Ohio	25.9	24.0 to 28.0	30.4	26.2 to 35.1	6
2	Wisconsin	23.4	21.0 to 25.9	20.1	15.5 to 25.6	12
3	South Dakota	22.8	19.0 to 27.2	26.1	17.5 to 37.0	10
4	Kansas	22.6	20.6 to 24.7	30.0	25.4 to 35.0	7
5	Indiana	21.9	20.2 to 23.7	27.8	23.7 to 32.3	8
6	Missouri	21.8	19.8 to 24.1	33.6	27.9 to 39.9	3
7	Iowa	21.0	19.2 to 22.9	21.5	17.5 to 26.1	11
8	Nebraska	19.9	18.0 to 22.0	26.4	21.4 to 32.0	9
9	Michigan	19.7	16.9 to 23.0	34.5	26.6 to 43.4	2
10	North Dakota	18.5	16.7 to 20.5	31.1	25.6 to 37.1	4
11	Minnesota	17.3	15.9 to 18.7	30.4	26.2 to 34.9	5
12	Illinois	16.4	13.3 to 19.9	39.9	29.5 to 51.2	1
	Midwest census region (not ranked)	21.0	20.1 to 21.9	30.7	28.3 to 33.2

Rows are in order of the first question, highest to lowest. The last column shows where each state would land if the twelve were ordered on the second question instead. Missouri and Illinois are shaded because this desk covers the St. Louis metro; the shading changes nothing.

how to read it

Methodology

Item set: the twelve states in the Census Bureau's Midwest region, fixed before any value was read: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. All twelve reported both questions in 2021. Nothing was dropped and nothing was added.

Metrics: Q36, the share of adults 65 and older who provided care for a friend or family member within the past month; and Q39, among those caregivers, the share providing an average of 20 or more hours of care a week. Source: the CDC Alzheimer's Disease and Healthy Aging Data program, Socrata resource hfr9-rurv on data.cdc.gov, survey year 2021, age stratification 65PLUS, overall. Confidence limits are the CDC's own, at 95 percent.

Order: the table is sorted on Q36, highest first, and the ItemList markup on this page follows that single order. The Q39 column is printed alongside and is not blended into the order in any way. Ranks in the last column are among these twelve states only, not among the 48 jurisdictions on the national pages.

One survey series, this time. Every one of the twelve rows here is a single-year 2021 estimate. None of the eight pooled 2021 to 2022 jurisdictions marked (p) on the national pages is a Midwest state, so no pooled row appears on this page.

The Midwest census region row at the foot of the table is the CDC's own regional rollup, shown unranked for comparison. Pulled September 2026. Question wording, the age cut and the de-duplication rule are on the methodology page.

what it does not say

Do not read more into twelve rows than they hold

These are self-reported survey estimates. A higher share of caregivers in a state does not mean older adults there need more help, and a higher share at 20 hours does not mean care is harder to find. The survey asked people whether they gave care and roughly how much; it did not ask why.

The ranges matter more here than on the national pages, because twelve rows sit close together. Missouri's first-column range runs 19.8 to 24.1, which overlaps the range of every other Midwest state except Minnesota's. Illinois's second-column range is 29.5 to 51.2, wide enough to cover most of the column. Treat a gap of a point or two between neighbours as a gap between two ranges, not two facts. There is a page on exactly that.

Keep going

See how many older adults are giving care where you liveThe first question on its own, all 48 jurisdictions, BRFSS Q36, 2021. Find out how heavy a caregiving week getsThe second question on its own, all 48 jurisdictions, BRFSS Q39, 2021. Call the agency that covers your addressThree Area Agencies on Aging, the front door to caregiver support in this region. Check every number against its sourceQuestion numbers, years, the age cut and the de-duplication rule.