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What care actually costs
Here are the published numbers, with where they come from, when, and what they measure. That way planning starts from something real, and the calculator that shows how long the money lasts works from honest numbers.
The national medians
These are from CareScout's Cost of Care Survey, gathered July to November 2025 in metro areas in all 50 states. A median is the middle price: half cost more, half cost less. Use CareScout's tool for your own area, because state medians differ a great deal:[1]
- Non-medical caregiver at home: $35 an hour. CareScout works that out to $80,080 a year at 44 hours a week for 52 weeks. A lot depends on that number of hours. 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 fees for services.
- Nursing home, shared room: $9,581 a month, given as $315 a day — about $114,975 a year.
- Nursing home, private room: $10,798 a month, given as $355 a day — about $129,575 a year.
A median is the middle of a range. It is not a price you will be offered, and it does not tell you what is included. Ask any provider for the base price, what brings an extra charge, and how often the price has gone up.
The odds, and who is being counted
The federal numbers come from a computer projection by ASPE, a research office at the Department of Health and Human Services. It covers adults turning 65 in 2021–2025.[2] How it defines "needing a lot of help" matters as much as its numbers: needing help with at least two daily activities, or watching because of severe memory or thinking problems, expected to last at least 90 days.
- 56.4% of that group are expected to come to need that much help. Women 63.7%, men 48.6%.
- How long it lasts depends on who you count. The average is 3.1 years across the whole group, which includes everyone who never needs care. It is 5.4 years among those who do come to need a lot of help. For women it is 3.6 and 5.6 years. For men it is 2.5 and 5.1. If you see 3.1 years given as how long care lasts, that number counts the wrong group.
- About 22% of all adults will have a disability for more than five years.
Now cost, in 2020 dollars. The expected average cost of long-term care over a lifetime, from 65 until death, is $120,900. It is $154,300 for women and $85,400 for men.[2] These are 2020 dollars in a projection published in 2022, so today's prices are higher. Use the CareScout medians above for current prices.
Then there is who ends up paying, which is the reason this site is built the way it is. Of those expected lifetime costs:[2]
- Medicaid: $51,800, about 43% — the biggest share.
- Families, from their own pockets: $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 are at the center of this site. It is also the honest background for long-term-care insurance: care paid by private insurance is a very small part of how this really gets paid for.
One more number is worth a moment. For people who get unpaid care, ASPE puts the average value of that family care at $204,000. It prices the hours at each state's median hourly wage for home care workers. That is more than the expected paid costs.[2] Relatives give more to elder care in this country than anyone else, and it does not show up on any bill.
See how long your money would last
Our calculator runs these costs against your person's real savings and income. It works entirely on your own device. It is the fastest honest answer to how long the money would last.
Free local help. Your Area Agency on Aging will talk through your choices with you for free. 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 and what each one does, see Who helps me locally.
Quick answers
How much does a nursing home cost per month in 2026?
The newest published medians (middle prices) are from CareScout's survey, gathered July to November 2025. A shared room is $9,581 a month, which CareScout also gives as $315 a day. A private room is $10,798 a month, or $355 a day. Those are national medians, not quotes, and state prices differ a lot. Use CareScout's own tool for your area, and then ask the homes directly. [1]
How much does assisted living cost?
The national median is $6,200 a month, or $74,400 a year, in the same 2025 survey. What that base price includes is different from place to place, and fees for services are often added on top. An earlier version of this page said memory care usually costs about 25% more than assisted living. We could not find a source for that, so it is gone. [1]
What are the odds of needing long-term care?
Federal researchers at ASPE made a projection for people turning 65 in 2021–2025. They expect 56.4% to come to need a lot of help. That means help with at least two daily activities, or watching because of severe memory or thinking problems, expected to last at least 90 days. The average length is 3.1 years across the whole group, 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 describes a whole population. It does not predict what will happen to 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.