Finding out how much assisted living costs—especially at a particular facility—can be frustrating. Assisted living homes rarely advertise their costs on their websites. When they do, you might only get a broad range or a starting price. Getting specifics often requires a conversation with the 𒅌sales depaꩵrtment, which you might find intimidating, annoying, or even shady.

Why isn’t assisted living pricing more transparent? These facilities may be afraid of scaring off prospective residents and their families with sticker shock. The price is not comparable to a mortgage or monthly rental payment because it includes far more than jꦗust housing.

The monthly cost of assisted living may include utilities, common area maintenance and repairs, landscaping, unit maintenance and repairs, nurses, nurse aides, and other staff. The size and location of your room—and whether you have a roommate—also affect cost. Then, the specific services each resident needs are factored into their custom cost. What’s more, that cost is likely to fluctuate throughout each resident’s stay as their needs change.

Some assisted living websites will give you base prices if you complete a form that💙 asks for your name, email, and phone number. Ultimately, you’ll have to talk to the specific facilities you’re interested in to learn about their current pricing, but you can at least go into the conversation prepared and rule out places that are definitely not in your budget without wasting anyone’s time. 

Understanding Assisted Living Costs

The annual national median cost of assisted living in 2023 was $64,200, according to the annual Genworth Cost of Care Survey. That comes out to $5,350 a month. Genworth is a long-term care insurance company that has produced this survey since 2004. The 2023 survey covered 429 regions in 382 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs).

Costs can fall within a wide range even at assisted living facilities owned by the same company. For example, Brookdale, a major elderly living provider with over 650 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:communities in 41 states, says starting rental costs range from $2,380 to $14,580 per month as of 2023 depending on location, apartment type, and level of service.

If you want to live a block from the beach in Santa Monica, you’re going to pay toward the higher end of that range. Brookdale is an outlier in pricﷺe transparency, even if it couldಞ do more by providing detailed breakdowns for the cost of care services and other items not included in the base rent.

Assisted living costs increased by 1.4% from 2022 to 2023. Inflation was the contributing factor to assisted living facility increases. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Medicare does not cover the costs of assisted living facilities.

Which Services Does Assisted Living Provide?

Assisted living, which may be called “residential care” in California, is permanent housing where residents receive personal care and healthcare. The level of care is typically 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:less than a nursing home would p🐬rovide, but more than a home health aide can offer. Someone who needs help with activities of daily living can receive these services in an assisted living home.

These are the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:activities of daily living:

• Dressing
• Bathing/showering
• Toileting
• Transferring/mobility
• Eating
• Continence

Assisted living can also help people with cognitive impairments such as dementia, which can endang꧟er their health and safety. Memory care—a higher, more expensive level of care—can provide specialized assistance to these individuals to make sure they eat regularly, maintain proper hygiene, take medications on schedule, and don’t get lost. 

In addition to basic daily services that keep residents alive and healthy, assisted living homes usually provide meals, transportation, laundry, cleaning, easy access to medical care, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:fitness activities, and social activities. In many ways, life in a nice assisted living facility✨ is not unlike life in a high-end college dorm.

💫Assisted Living Costs Compared With Other Types of Care

Assisted living is about 2.6 times as expensive as adult day healthcare. It’s a little more than half of what a semiprivate nursing home room costs.

The national average m༒onthly costs for 2023 are:

• Adult day healthcare: $2,058
• Assisted living facility: $5,350
• Homemaker services: $5,720
• Home health aide: $6,292
• Semiprivate nursing home room: $8,669
• Private nursing home room: $9,733

It’s difficult to generalize about assisted living costs, not only because people need different levels of care but also because there are so many facilities and they set their own prices. The United States had about 30,600 residential care communities as of 2020 (the most recent year available), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hidden Costs of Assisted Living

Genworth’s 2023 Cost of Care survey found that 61% of the 3,739 facilities that completed its survey charged a nonrefundable community or entrance fee.

Help with specific activities of daily living is another expense that is added to the base price. Depending on the home, you may pay an additional rate based on a certain threshold of care. The pricing can also be more a🦩 la carte.

You may pay extra for help with dressing and undressing🌠, showering, medication administration, getting to and from the dining room, and transportation to doctor’s ෴appointments.

Affordable Housing for the Elderly

Some assisted living communities offer 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:affordable housing for the elderly who meet locati🦂on-specific income requirements. Your local government may be able to pro⛄vide information about these communities and their requirements.

Another way to save is by having a roommate. Sunrise Senior Living, one of the country’s biggest elderly living providers, offers “Companion Living” for people who need a more affordable option and/or prefer not to live alone. They say they try to match residents according to common characteristics that can serve as a basis for friendship.

The Bottom Line

The cost of assisted living, at a median of $5,350 a month, may not sound like a bargain, but it can be comparable to the cost of hiring someone to help with activities of daily living at home. It wraps many ongoing living expenses, such as rent, utilities, maintenance, and transportation, into a single monthly fee, and then it adds fees for help with things such as eating, bathing, and taking medication.

Assisted living can also provide balance and peace of mind for a loved one’s caregivers. For those who can afford it, 🎐it can be worth every penny. For those who can’t, a combination of family caregiving and a home health aide may be a reasonable solution.