Assisted living cost by state

CareScout, a subsidiary of Genworth Financial, has run the Cost of Care Survey for more than twenty years. For the 2025 edition it contacted 211,985 long-term care providers and completed about 16,000 surveys between July and November 2025, including 4,944 licensed assisted living communities, across all 50 states and the District of Columbia³. The assisted living figure in each row below is the monthly rate 'as reported' for a private one-bedroom; the annual figure is twelve months of that rate¹. In California the category is called a residential care facility¹.

A median is the middle of a spread, and a state is a wide place. CareScout publishes its results for 434 regions³, and its cost page lets you enter a town; a city median can sit well above or below the state's. Use the table to compare states and to set expectations, then get written quotes at the level of care needed, because the next section is where the real number moves.

The survey figure is a community's reported monthly rate for a private one-bedroom¹. What a base rate buys is described similarly by the National Institute on Aging and by A Place for Mom. NIA: residents 'have access to many services, including up to three meals a day; assistance with personal care; help with medications, housekeeping, and laundry; 24-hour supervision, security, and on-site staff; and social and recreational activities', and 'Typically, a few levels of care are offered, and residents pay more if they need extra services or special care'⁹. A Place for Mom lists housing with utilities, three meals plus snacks, help with activities of daily living, housekeeping, programming, care coordination and transportation to medical appointments as what the base fee and up-front costs typically include⁴.

What moves the bill above the median is the care level and the apartment. A Place for Mom describes three pricing models, all-inclusive, a la carte and tiered, and says the second person fee for a couple has a national median of about $1,200 a month⁴. Its assisted living guide adds that personal care help, internet, beauty and barber services, laundry and pet fees may cost extra, and that assisted living 'doesn't provide medical care'⁵. NIA's wording on paying: 'Most people pay the full costs of assisted living themselves', 'Medicare does not pay for assisted living', Medicaid 'may provide coverage for some aspects of assisted living, depending on the state and whether the person is eligible', and some long-term care insurance policies cover part⁹. Our paying for senior care guide covers the VA and state waiver routes.

Both run a search service that costs the family nothing, and both say on their own pages how they are paid. A Place for Mom: 'We're paid by our participating communities if a family member moves into a senior living community or signs up with a home care provider. Our personalized guidance is free to our families.' and 'Our advisors are not compensated based on which community in our network you choose.' Its process is three steps, connect with a local advisor, review a tailored list, then evaluate, tour and decide, with a team it puts at 400-plus advisors and a network of 11k-plus communities and 5k-plus home care agencies⁶.

Caring.com: 'Some of these providers pay us a referral fee when a family hires them or moves into a senior living community. Other providers pay us if we send them your name and contact information, regardless of whether you hire them or start care. Still other providers pay us an annual subscription fee to get enhanced features in our directory.' It adds that its 'free referral service is for informational purposes only' and that it does not endorse the providers in its directory⁷. Its Family Advisors can be reached at (800) 558-0653 and its assisted living guide cites a 2023 national median of $5,350 a month⁸.

What that means for you: a quote from either service's advisor is a quote from a community that has agreed to pay for referrals, which is most of the market but not all of it. Ask any community you tour the same questions, whether or not an advisor sent you.