Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: the national median for assisted living is $6,200 a month and for a private nursing-home room $10,798 a month — 2025 figures. Two things matter more than the numbers: Medicare does not pay for any of it, and the median tells you almost nothing about your own area.
2025 national medians
| Level of care | National median | Change from 2024 | Annualised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assisted living community | $6,200 per month | +5% (from $5,900) | $74,400 |
| Nursing home, semi-private room | $9,581 per month | +2% (from $9,277) | $114,975 |
| Nursing home, private room | $10,798 per month | +1% (from $10,646) | $129,575 |
| Non-medical caregiver (home health aide and homemaker, now one category) | $35 per hour | +3% (from $34) | $80,080 at 44 hours a week |
| Adult day health care | $95 per day | -5% (from $100) | — |
| Skilled nursing in the home | $90 per hour | new category for 2025, no comparator | — |
Source: CareScout Holdings, Inc. (the Genworth-affiliated successor that has run this annual survey since 2004; previously published as the Genworth Cost of Care Survey). Data collected July through November 2025; figures are 2025 medians. Read at source on 3 August 2026.
Two things in this table that are easy to get wrong
Home health aide and homemaker are now one category. The publisher states: “Due to price convergence, CareScout has streamlined its reporting; homemaker and home health aide services are now collectively classified as “non-medical caregiver.””
Any comparison against older tables that list the two separately is comparing against a category that no longer exists, and the stated reason is that their prices converged. If you are comparing against a table that lists the two separately, you are comparing against a category that has been retired — and the reason given is that the prices converged, which is itself the finding.
Adult day care fell. Adult day health care is the only level that FELL – down 5% from $100 to $95 a day – while every other level rose. It is the cheapest formal option in the table by a wide margin and the only one that got cheaper, which makes it worth a look for anyone whose actual problem is daytime supervision rather than round-the-clock care.
What is not here, and why
Independent living and memory care are not in this survey, and we could not reach a substitute primary source. So we publish no figure for either rather than borrowing one. Memory care in particular is commonly quoted at a large premium over assisted living; we have not verified that and are not repeating it.
Also not published: state-level figures. The publisher states the cost for any particular provider may differ significantly from the median for similar providers in your location. State-level tables were not reachable, so no range or multiple is published.
Medicare does not pay for this
Medicare’s own words: “Medicare doesn’t pay for long-term care”
“Since most long-term care is non-medical, Medicare and most health insurance, including Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap), don’t pay for long-term care services, including care in a nursing home or in the community.”
This is the most expensive misunderstanding in retirement planning, and it survives because Medicare does pay for a narrow, short, medical slice that looks like the same thing.
What Medicare does cover, exactly
Skilled nursing, briefly. In 2026: days 1–20, $0 each day after the deductible of $1,736; days 21–100, $217 each day; day 101 and beyond, you pay all costs. 100 days in each benefit period.
And only after a qualifying stay: “Medicare will only cover care you get in a SNF if you first have a “qualifying inpatient hospital stay.” This means a prior medically necessary inpatient hospital stay of at least 3 days in a row (starting the day you were admitted as an inpatient, but not including the day you leave the hospital).” Observation and emergency-room time do not count toward the three days. Someone kept in hospital under observation for four days has not had a qualifying stay, and finds out when the nursing-home bill arrives. Ask, while in hospital, whether you are an inpatient or under observation.
Home health. Part-time or intermittent skilled nursing or therapy for a homebound beneficiary, generally capped at 8 hours a day and 28 hours a week combined, up to 35 if a provider certifies it is necessary. Medicare does not cover 24-hour home care, meal delivery, or custodial care when that is the only care needed.
Hospice. Two 90-day benefit periods followed by an unlimited number of 60-day periods. Up to $5 per prescription for symptom drugs and up to 5% of the approved amount for inpatient respite. Room and board in a nursing home is NOT covered by the hospice benefit.
How to use these numbers
Use them for the shape of the problem, not the amount. The publisher itself says the cost for any particular provider may differ significantly from the median in your location. Call three providers where you actually live and ask what they charge, what is included, and what triggers a move to a higher level of care.
The comparison that matters: what each path costs over time · how people pay for it.
General information drawn from IRS, Medicare, HUD and state statute and regulation, not legal, tax or financial advice. Continuing-care law is state law and differs materially between states; every figure here is year-labelled and every source named so you can check it against your own contract. Read your own signed agreement before relying on any general description, including this one.