Where to start › Planning ahead › The in-between options
The options between "home" and "nursing home"
Most families are shown two choices: stay home, or move into a facility. There are several steps in between. Some of them keep more independence and cost less than people expect. Here is the whole set, with one warning. We could not confirm almost any of the prices people commonly quote for these. So this page gives you the choices and tells you what to ask.
Stay home, with support around you
- Villages. These are member groups that help people grow old in their own neighborhoods. A national group, the Village to Village Network, ties them together. It was created in 2010 by Beacon Hill Village and Capital Impact Partners, and is now a nonprofit based in St. Louis. The Network reports 170 open villages and 160 more being set up, with over 200 in the Network in all. They are 34% in cities, 38% in suburbs and 22% in rural areas.[1] What one village really does — rides, small repairs, help with technology, social events — and what it charges in dues are different from place to place. The Network's own page does not spell that out. Ask the village near you what it offers, what membership costs, how volunteers are screened and insured, and if the services you want are running now. Find one: vtvnetwork.org.
- NORC programs. NORC stands for naturally occurring retirement community. In New York's words, it is "a community or neighborhood with a growing population of older adults in which the dwellings were not purposefully intended for older adults when they were originally designed and/or built." In plain words: a regular neighborhood where a lot of the people have grown old. New York's NORC program brings together health care, social services, information and other support for people living in a chosen community. The state's budget for fiscal year 2027 included $8 million in new money to grow it.[2] That is a New York program with New York money. In other places the name, the setup, and even having something like it all differ. Ask your Area Agency on Aging if a program covers your neighborhood.
- Home sharing. Housemates who are matched and screened, with a written agreement. One gives rent or help. The other gets company and someone around. The National Shared Housing Resource Center lists programs (nationalsharedhousing.org). We have not checked how it screens or what its listings promise. So treat it as a place to start, and ask any program how the matching, the background checks and the written agreement work.
Move somewhere easier, before care is needed
Independent living is apartment living with meals, activities and upkeep, and no personal care. The case for it is about timing, not money. Moving while someone is well means choosing a place for the life there, not for its beds. And it happens once, with that person doing the choosing.
This page used to give a median of about $3,065 a month. We could not confirm it, so it is gone. Ask communities for a current list of fees in writing and what is included. And ask one thing in particular: what happens if someone starts to need help with daily tasks? Independent living generally does not give that help, and that is the change that catches families off guard.
When daily help is needed
- Assisted living and personal care homes. The middle of the range. They are covered on the residential care page, and you can search for them in our directory. CareScout's 2025 survey puts the national median (middle price) at $6,200 a month, gathered July to November 2025.[4] That is the one price on this page we can stand behind. It is a median, not a quote, and fees for services are often added on top.
- Small board-and-care homes. Depending on the state, these are called residential care homes, adult family homes or personal care homes. It is a licensed caregiver's house with a handful of residents. It generally has fewer extras than a large community, and more staff for each resident. Families who dislike the idea of a facility often like these better. This page used to say "4 to 10 residents" and "around $5,500 a month." We took those out, because each state sets its own rules on size, staffing and licensing, and we found no national source for either number. Ask the state licensing agency what that type of license allows. Ask each home how many residents it has, how it is staffed at night, and its price. Our state directories include them where states license them.
- Memory care — assisted living that is locked for safety and built for dementia. This page used to say it costs about 25% more than regular assisted living, and about $6,690 a month. Both are gone because we had no source. The memory care page has what is really known about wandering, safety and picking a place.
Two more choices each have their own page. CCRCs have every step on one campus, under a contract you should read with care. Small-house nursing homes give nursing-home-level care in a building shaped like a house.
Free local help. Your Area Agency on Aging will talk through your choices with you for free. It is the right first call to learn which of these exist in your county. Find yours through the federal Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 or eldercare.acl.gov (run by the Administration for Community Living).[3] To learn about the four kinds of local helpers, see Who helps me locally.
Quick answers
What options exist between living at home and a nursing home?
More than most families are shown. Staying home with support around you: a "village," a NORC program where there is one, or home sharing. Moving somewhere easier before care is needed: independent living. When daily help is needed: assisted living and personal care homes, and small board-and-care homes. Then memory care, CCRCs, and small-house nursing homes. We could confirm only one price on this page: CareScout's 2025 median (middle price) of $6,200 a month for assisted living. Treat the others as questions to ask locally, not numbers to plan with. [4]
What is the village movement for seniors?
Villages are member groups that help people grow old in their own neighborhoods. A national group, the Village to Village Network, ties them together. It was created in 2010 by Beacon Hill Village and Capital Impact Partners. The Network reports 170 open villages, 160 being set up, and over 200 in the Network. They are in cities (34%), suburbs (38%) and rural areas (22%). The dues, what volunteers really do, and whether a village near you is up and running are local questions. The Network's own page does not answer them. [1]
What is a NORC?
It stands for naturally occurring retirement community. New York State defines it as "a community or neighborhood with a growing population of older adults in which the dwellings were not purposefully intended for older adults when they were originally designed and/or built." In plain words: a regular neighborhood where a lot of the people have grown old. New York's NORC program brings health care, social services, information and other support into a chosen community. The state's budget for fiscal year 2027 included $8 million in new money to grow it. That is a New York program. Other states may use other names and setups, or have nothing like it. [2]
Sources and what they support
Sources checked 2026-09-23 using AI-assisted editorial research. This is a source check, not a housing or financial review.
- Village to Village Network. Supports that the Network was created in 2010 through a partnership between Beacon Hill Village and Capital Impact Partners and is now a nonprofit headquartered in St Louis, that it provides technical assistance to member villages, and the reported figures of 170 open villages, 160 in development, over 200 in the Network, and the 34% urban / 38% suburban / 22% rural split. The Network's own page does not define what an individual village provides, does not state membership dues, and does not vouch for any member village's services, screening or insurance — so this page makes no claim about any of those. An earlier version said "a few hundred villages" and gave a dues range; neither is stated here.
- New York State Office for the Aging, NORC program. Supports the quoted definition of a naturally occurring retirement community, that the NORC program brings together health care, social services, information and assistance and other supports in a designated community setting, and that the FY27 enacted state budget included $8 million in new funding to expand the program. This is New York's programme and New York's money: it establishes nothing about whether a comparable programme exists in any other state, and the URL previously used on this page has been replaced with the one that resolves.
- Administration for Community Living, Eldercare Locator. Supports the referral route to a local Area Agency on Aging for free options counselling. Which of the options on this page exist in a given county, and whether any are funded this year, varies locally.
- CareScout Cost of Care Survey, 2025. Supports the $6,200 monthly national median for an assisted living community, collected July to November 2025. A commercial survey with its methodology in a separate document; a median is not a quote, it does not say what a base rate includes, and assisted living commonly adds service fees on top.
Removed in this pass, for want of a source we could open: the independent living median of about $3,065 a month; the board-and-care figures of 4–10 residents and about $5,500 a month; the memory care median of about $6,690 and the claim that it runs about 25% above assisted living; village dues; and "a few hundred" villages. Where a number went, a question to ask took its place.