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What care actually costs
Here are the published numbers with their sources, dates and units, so that planning starts from something real and the cost-runway calculator has honest inputs.
The national medians
From CareScout's Cost of Care Survey, collected July to November 2025 across metropolitan regions in all 50 states. Use their tool for your own area, because state medians differ a great deal:[1]
- Non-medical caregiver at home: $35 an hour — which CareScout annualises to $80,080 at 44 hours a week for 52 weeks. That assumption is doing a lot of work; at 20 hours a week it is about $36,400.
- Skilled nursing at home: $90 an hour.
- Adult day health care: $95 a day — about $24,700 a year at five days a week.
- Assisted living: $6,200 a month — $74,400 a year, before service fees.
- Nursing home, semi-private room: $9,581 a month, stated as $315 a day — about $114,975 a year.
- Nursing home, private room: $10,798 a month, stated as $355 a day — about $129,575 a year.
A median is the middle of a range, not a price you will be offered, and it does not tell you what is included. Ask any provider for the base rate, what triggers an extra charge, and how often the rate has risen.
The odds, with their denominators
The federal figures come from an HHS/ASPE microsimulation of adults turning 65 in 2021–2025.[2] Its definition of a significant need matters as much as its numbers: needing help with at least two activities of daily living, or supervision because of severe cognitive impairment, expected to last at least 90 days.
- 56.4% of that cohort are projected to develop a significant need. Women 63.7%, men 48.6%.
- Duration depends entirely on who you are counting. The average is 3.1 years across the whole cohort — which includes everyone who never needs care — and 5.4 years among those who do develop a significant need. Women 3.6 and 5.6 years; men 2.5 and 5.1. If you see 3.1 years quoted as how long care lasts, that is the wrong denominator.
- About 22% of all adults will have a disability for more than five years.
On cost, in 2020 inflation-adjusted dollars: projected average lifetime long-term services and supports costs from 65 through death are $120,900 — $154,300 for women and $85,400 for men.[2] These are 2020 dollars in a model published in 2022, so today's prices are higher; use the CareScout medians above for current rates.
And the answer to who ends up paying, which is the reason this site is shaped the way it is. Of those projected lifetime costs:[2]
- Medicaid: $51,800, about 43% — the largest single share.
- Families, out of pocket: $44,800, about 37%.
- Other public programs: $18,300, about 15%.
- Private insurance: $6,000, about 5%.
That is why the Medicaid road and the five-year window sit at the centre of this site, and it is also the honest context for long-term-care insurance: privately insured care is a very small slice of how this actually gets paid for.
One more figure worth sitting with. For people who receive unpaid care, ASPE puts the average value of that family care at $204,000, valued at each state's median hourly wage for home care workers — more than the projected paid costs.[2] The largest contribution to elder care in this country is made by relatives, and it does not appear on any bill.
Run your own runway
Our calculator runs these costs against your person's actual savings and income, entirely on your own device. It is the fastest honest answer to how long the money would last.
Who helps you locally, free. Your Area Agency on Aging gives free options counseling. Reach any of them through the federal Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 or eldercare.acl.gov (Administration for Community Living).[3] More on the four people who help on Who helps me locally.
Quick answers
How much does a nursing home cost per month in 2026?
The most recent published medians are from CareScout's survey collected July to November 2025: $9,581 a month for a semi-private room, which it also states as $315 a day, and $10,798 a month for a private room, or $355 a day. Those are national medians, not quotes, and state figures differ substantially — use CareScout's own tool for your area and then ask facilities directly. [1]
How much does assisted living cost?
A national median of $6,200 a month, or $74,400 a year, in the same 2025 survey. What that base rate includes varies by facility, and service fees are commonly added on top. An earlier version of this page said memory care typically runs about 25% above assisted living; we could not source that, so it is gone. [1]
What are the odds of needing long-term care?
Federal ASPE modelling of people turning 65 in 2021–2025 projects that 56.4% will develop a significant need for long-term services and supports, defined as needing help with at least two activities of daily living, or supervision because of severe cognitive impairment, expected to last at least 90 days. The average duration is 3.1 years across the whole cohort including people who never need care, and 5.4 years among those who do. About 22% of all adults will have a disability for more than five years. This is a population model, not a forecast for you. [2]
Sources and what they support
Sources checked 2026-09-19 using AI-assisted editorial research. This is a source check, not financial advice.
- CareScout Cost of Care Survey, 2025. Supports every median on this page and the survey window of July to November 2025: $35 an hour for a non-medical caregiver at home with the $80,080 annualisation at 44 hours a week, $90 an hour for skilled nursing at home, $95 a day for adult day health care, $6,200 a month for assisted living, $9,581 a month or $315 a day for a nursing home semi-private room, and $10,798 a month or $355 a day for a private room. A commercial survey with its detailed methodology in a separate document. Medians are not quotes, they do not describe what a rate includes, and the annualised figures inherit CareScout's own hours assumption. An earlier version of this page described the survey as covering "25,000+ providers", which is not what the publisher states.
- HHS / ASPE, Long-Term Services and Supports for Older Americans: Risks and Financing, 2022 (official GovInfo copy). Supports the cohort of adults turning 65 in 2021–2025; the 56.4% projected to develop a significant need and the 63.7% / 48.6% split by sex; the definition of significant need as help with at least two activities of daily living or supervision for severe cognitive impairment expected to last at least 90 days; the 3.1-year whole-cohort and 5.4-year among-those-with-need averages and their by-sex figures; that about 22% of all adults will have a disability for more than five years; the $120,900 average projected lifetime cost with $154,300 for women and $85,400 for men; the payer shares of $51,800 Medicaid, $44,800 family out-of-pocket, $18,300 other public programs and $6,000 private insurance; and the $204,000 average value of unpaid care. All figures are modelled projections in 2020 inflation-adjusted dollars for one birth cohort — not current prices, not a personal forecast, and not a measurement of what has happened. ASPE's own landing page and direct PDF were not retrievable in this pass, so this is the official GovInfo copy of the same report.
- Administration for Community Living, Eldercare Locator. Supports the referral route to a local Area Agency on Aging. It does not quote prices or determine eligibility for any program.
Removed in this pass, for want of a source: that families consistently underestimate these numbers by half; that memory care typically runs about 25% above assisted living; and the description of the survey as covering 25,000+ providers. The claim that Medicaid pays the largest share has been kept, because the ASPE table supports it — but only as a share of projected lifetime costs for this cohort, at 43%, which is the denominator it needs.