Senior living & memory care

What Assisted Living Costs, State by State

Assisted living prices are quoted as one number and billed as two: rent, then a care level set by the community's own nurse after you apply. This guide gathers what each state page publishes — a surveyed median where one exists — explains the tier that gets added later, and shows why a survey figure is a floor rather than a quote.

Last updated: August 2026History

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Base rent, care level, and the assessment

Base rent buys the apartment, meals, housekeeping, activities and the building's staffed presence. The care-level charge buys help: medication management, bathing, transfers, incontinence care. Communities price care in tiers or by points, and the tier is set by their own nurse's assessment after you apply.

That sequencing is why families are surprised by the first invoice. Ask for the tier schedule in writing before signing, ask what triggers a move up a tier, and ask how much notice you get before a rate change. Most communities also charge a one-time community fee.

What assisted living costs by state

Each row is that state's own published summary. Survey medians cover broad regions and often blend metros across state lines — read them as a floor, not a quote.

State	What the state's own guide reported
Alabama	Assisted living in Alabama runs below the national median, and most quoted monthly base rates land in the low-to-mid four figures. The number that matters is not the advertised rent. It is base rent plus the care level the community assesses, plus the add-ons.
Alaska	Alaska is the most expensive state in the country for assisted living, and the gap is not small. Freight, fuel, and a thin labor market push every line of the rate card up, and the base rent is only the start, because care is assessed in tiers on top of it.
Arizona	Arizona's assisted living median sits below the national figure, but the state average hides an unusually wide split: a small licensed home and a large center are different products at different prices.
Arkansas	Assisted living in Arkansas prices well below the national median, and the state licenses it at two levels. Level I and Level II are not marketing tiers: only a Level II facility may serve residents with heavier needs, and only a Level II facility can accept Living Choices, the Arkansas Medicaid program that pays for assisted living care.
California	A California assisted living quote is a base rent, and the base rent is not the bill. Care is priced on top of it, level by level, and the level is set by an assessment the community performs. The national median is near $5,900 a month.
Colorado	Colorado has three assisted living markets, not one, and a statewide median blends them into a figure that fits none. The Front Range, the mountain resort counties, and the rural plains and Western Slope pay very different wages for the same caregiver. Nationally the median runs $70,800 a year.
Connecticut	Connecticut does not license assisted living as one thing. It licenses the building, and it separately licenses the care agency operating inside it, and a resident signs a contract with each. That is why a Connecticut bill carries two escalators rather than one. The national median for assisted living is $70,800 a year.
Delaware	Delaware is three price markets stacked inside a ninety-minute drive. New Castle County pays Philadelphia metro wages, Kent County does not, and Sussex County is priced by retiree demand rather than by what it costs to operate there. Nationally, the median assisted living bill runs $70,800 for the year.
Florida	Florida's assisted living median runs below the national one, but the statewide figure hides two markets: the coastal retirement belts price like the Northeast, and the interior and Panhandle price far lower. What changes a Florida bill most is not the address. It is the licence — a standard facility, an extended congregate care facility, and a limited nursing facility are three different prices and three different answers to whether your parent has to move again.
Georgia	Georgia's assisted living median runs below the national one, and the state is unusual in splitting this care between two licences: personal care homes and assisted living communities.
Hawaii	Assisted living in Hawaii prices above the national median, which surprises no one who buys groceries here. What does surprise families is the alternative: Hawaii runs much of its elder care through small licensed care homes rather than large communities, and that tier is often substantially cheaper.
Idaho	Assisted living in Idaho is quoted as a monthly base rate, and the real bill is that rate plus an assessed care fee plus add-ons. Most Idaho families land somewhere in the four figures a month.
Illinois	Assisted living in Illinois is quoted as monthly rent, and the bill is that rent plus an assessed care fee plus add-ons. The Chicago metro prices well above downstate, and the state median splits the difference for nobody.
Indiana	Assisted living in Indiana is quoted as monthly rent plus an assessed care fee plus add-ons, and most families land in the four figures a month. The Indiana-specific catch comes first: the state has no licensure category called assisted living.
Iowa	Assisted living in Iowa is quoted as monthly rent, and the real bill adds an assessed service fee and per-item charges on top. Iowa's structural difference comes first: the state certifies an assisted living program rather than licensing a building, its Medicaid Elderly Waiver can pay for the services but never the rent, and Iowa publishes what its inspectors found, which many states do not.
Kansas	Kansas prices assisted living the way it licenses it. The state regulates four kinds of adult care home — assisted living facility, residential health care facility, home plus, and boarding care home — and the category a building holds shapes both what it can charge and what it may do for a resident. Nationally the median ran $70,800 a year in 2024.
Kentucky	Kentucky does not license assisted living. It certifies it — and the certification is for a social model, not a medical one, which is why the state's assisted-living communities are almost entirely private pay and why Kentucky Medicaid's waiver stops at the door. The national median was $70,800 a year in 2024.
Louisiana	Louisiana does not have an assisted living license. It has an adult residential care license in four levels, and the level a building holds tells you more about the price than any brochure will. The 2024 national median was $70,800 a year.
Maine	Maine files these buildings under a phrase most states never use: assisted housing. Underneath it sit two different shapes — a residential care facility and an assisted living program — and which one a family is touring changes the rate, the paperwork, and whether MaineCare can ever help. The 2024 national median was $70,800 a year.
Maryland	There is no single Maryland price. The 2024 Cost of Care Survey puts the national median for assisted living at $5,900 a month, and it prices Maryland across six separate regions rather than one statewide figure.
Massachusetts	Massachusetts has no single surveyed price. The 2024 Cost of Care Survey reports a national median of $5,900 a month for assisted living and breaks Massachusetts into eight regions — Boston, Worcester, Springfield, the Cape, the Berkshires, the Pioneer Valley, a Providence line, and a rest-of-state catch-all.
Michigan	Michigan has no single surveyed price, and it has more separate prices than most states. The 2024 Cost of Care Survey puts the national median for assisted living at $5,900 a month and reports Michigan across sixteen regions — Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Flint, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Traverse City and eight more.
Minnesota	Minnesota has no single surveyed price, and much of it is not filed under Minnesota. The 2024 Cost of Care Survey reports a national median of $5,900 a month for assisted living and splits Minnesota into ten regions — four of them named for cities in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Mississippi	Mississippi is consistently one of the least expensive states in the country for assisted living, and its published median sits well below the national one. But the median is a base rent. It buys an apartment, meals, and housekeeping.
Missouri	Missouri licenses two different kinds of buildings, and that is the first thing to understand about a Missouri assisted living quote. A residential care facility and an assisted living facility are separate license classes with different capabilities and different price points.
Montana	Montana licenses assisted living in three categories — A, B, and C — and the letter on a facility's license is a harder limit on your parent's future than the price is. It sets what care the building may legally deliver.
Nebraska	Roughly half of Nebraska lives in Omaha and Lincoln, and the other half is spread across ninety-odd counties. Assisted living prices split along that line. A quote in Douglas County reflects a metro wage market; a quote in the Sandhills reflects a building that may be the only one for sixty miles.
Nevada	Assisted living in Nevada generally costs less per month than the national median, but almost every price you will be quoted comes from one of two places: the Las Vegas valley or the Reno-Sparks area. The base rent buys housing, meals, and a light level of help.
New Hampshire	A month of assisted living in New Hampshire typically costs more than the national median. The southern tier competes with Greater Boston for the same caregivers, and wages set the price of care.
New Jersey	Assisted living in New Jersey costs meaningfully more per month than the national median, and there is nowhere in the state to drive to escape it. What varies is not really the county.
New Mexico	Assisted living in New Mexico generally costs less per month than the national median. The harder problem here is not price but supply: the fifth-largest state by area holds only three or four real markets, so many families are choosing between a long drive and a shorter list.
New York	New York has no single surveyed assisted living price. The 2024 Cost of Care Survey puts the national median at $5,900 a month and reports New York across fourteen separate regions.
North Carolina	North Carolina has no single surveyed assisted living price. The 2024 Cost of Care Survey reports a national median of $5,900 a month and splits North Carolina into sixteen regions — including one headed Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk and one, Charlotte, Concord, Gastonia, that South Carolina claims too.
North Dakota	North Dakota gets five lines in the national cost data, and that is the whole state. The 2024 Cost of Care Survey puts the national assisted living median at $5,900 a month and names just four North Dakota markets — Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks, and Minot — before sweeping everything else into a single ND Rest of State line.
Ohio	Ohio has no single surveyed assisted living price. The 2024 Cost of Care Survey puts the national median at $5,900 a month and reports Ohio across sixteen regions — three of which are headed by cities that are not in Ohio at all.
Oklahoma	Oklahoma is one of the least expensive states in the country for assisted living, and its median sits well below the national midpoint of $5,900 a month. That gap is real.
Oregon	Oregon runs above the national midpoint of $5,900 a month for assisted living, and the reason is concentrated geography rather than anything statewide. Nearly all of Oregon's delineated metro markets sit in the Willamette Valley and the southwest, where nearly all Oregonians live.
Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania is one of the harder states in which to find your own cost figure. Its largest region spans four states, two of its corners are filed under a neighbour's city name, and something like eighteen metro areas divide the rest. The national midpoint is $5,900 a month, but no single Pennsylvania number is meaningful — a Main Line quote and a northern-tier quote are barely the same product.
Rhode Island	Rhode Island is a single cost region, and that region is not entirely Rhode Island. All five of its counties sit inside one federally delineated metro area, which also takes in Bristol County, Massachusetts — Fall River and New Bedford included.
South Carolina	Assisted living in South Carolina typically costs less than the national median, but that single state figure hides the spread that will actually decide your bill.
South Dakota	South Dakota's assisted living median sits below the national one, but the state figure is an average of two small cities and a great deal of open country. Sioux Falls and Rapid City set most of it.
Tennessee	Tennessee's assisted living median runs below the national one, and Nashville has been pulling it upward for a decade. The larger difference is structural: Tennessee does not pay for long-term care through an ordinary Medicaid waiver.
Texas	Texas assisted living costs less than the national median, and the state figure is close to meaningless on its own — Texas has 254 counties and five major metros pulling in different directions. The fact that changes a Texas bill most is the licence.
Utah	Assisted living in Utah is billed as two numbers stacked together: a base rent for the apartment and meals, and a separate care fee set by an assessment of how much help your parent needs. Most of the state's licensed capacity sits along the Wasatch Front, where rents run higher and choice is real.
Vermont	Vermont does not have one assisted living market — it has two licences with two price points. Residential care homes, many of them small and family-run, are generally priced below the apartment-style assisted living residences most people picture.
Virginia	Virginia has one state median and at least three different markets underneath it. Northern Virginia prices against the Washington metro; Southwest Virginia prices against Appalachia; Richmond and Hampton Roads sit between.
Washington	Washington gives families a second licensed option most states don't have at this scale: the adult family home, an ordinary house licensed for up to six residents, often priced below an apartment-style assisted living facility. Rates run highest around Puget Sound and lower east of the Cascades.
West Virginia	Assisted living in West Virginia is a private-pay decision for most families: Medicare does not cover it, and the state's Medicaid dollars are built mainly around care delivered at home.
Wisconsin	Wisconsin prices assisted living by license type, and that is unusual. A community-based residential facility, a residential care apartment complex and an adult family home are three different licenses with three different service ceilings and three different price points.
Wyoming	Wyoming is the least populous state, and that shapes the bill more than any price list does. Unlike many states, Wyoming Medicaid's Community Choices Waiver can pay for care in an assisted living facility for people who qualify.

Every figure above is carried across from the state guide it came from, unchanged. Where a row quotes a national range or median instead of a figure of its own, that is the state page's own wording carried across with it — no state has a state-specific survey figure invented for it here. The sources behind these numbers are listed at the end of this guide 1Ref 1CareScout (Genworth) (2024).Cost of Care Survey 2024.Source carried forward from the state pages consolidated here; it is cited by 50 of them..

Why the survey number is a floor

National cost-of-care surveys report a median for a region, and regions are wide. A state with one expensive metro and a large rural remainder produces a median that describes neither. Some survey regions are even headed by a city in a neighboring state, which is why a state figure can look oddly disconnected from what local communities quote.

The second reason is the care level. Surveys generally price a typical resident; a resident who needs two-person transfers or extensive medication management pays a materially higher tier.

Turning a state figure into three real quotes

Use your state's row to set expectations, then call three communities in the specific county and ask for base rent, the care-tier schedule, the community fee, and last year's rate increase. Compare that total against home care at the hours you actually need — the two cross over sooner than most families expect.

Common questions

No. Medicare does not cover room and board or personal care in assisted living, and that surprises most families at exactly the wrong moment. Some state Medicaid waivers cover the care portion of the bill while the resident pays room and board from their own income — your state's row above describes what its program does.

A one-time move-in charge, often a month's rent or more, and generally non-refundable. It is separate from rent and from the care tier, and it is negotiable more often than families assume — particularly when a community has vacancy. Ask for it in writing alongside the rate schedule.

Ask for the last three years of increases in writing before signing. An annual increase and a care-tier change can land in the same year, and together they move a budget substantially. Communities that publish their history are usually the ones comfortable with it.

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Signs the Current Setting Is No Longer Safe

—Repeated falls, or a fall that was not discovered for hours
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—Wandering, or leaving appliances on

Sudden confusion, a fall with a head injury, chest pain, or trouble breathing is an emergency: call 911.

This article covers typical assisted living costs by state. It is general information, not financial advice; confirm current pricing with communities in your area.

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References

1.CareScout (Genworth) (2024). Cost of Care Survey 2024. CareScout / Genworth. link ✓Source carried forward from the state pages consolidated here; it is cited by 50 of them.
2.Genworth Financial / CareScout (2025). Genworth and CareScout Release Cost of Care Survey Results for 2024. Genworth Financial Investor Relations. link ✓Source carried forward from the state pages consolidated here; it is cited by 49 of them.
3.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (2026). Long-term care coverage. Medicare.gov (U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). link ✓Source carried forward from the state pages consolidated here; it is cited by 48 of them.
4.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (2025). Home & Community-Based Services 1915(c). Medicaid.gov (U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). linkSource carried forward from the state pages consolidated here; it is cited by 29 of them.
5.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (2025). Home & Community Based Services Authorities. Medicaid.gov (U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). linkSource carried forward from the state pages consolidated here; it is cited by 28 of them.
6.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (2025). Estate Recovery. Medicaid.gov (U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). linkSource carried forward from the state pages consolidated here; it is cited by 25 of them.

6 sources, numbered by first appearance. General health information, not medical advice. AI-assisted editorial content — citations link their sources. Editorial policy

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