Care Cost Comparer
What in-home care, adult day programs, assisted living and nursing homes cost in your state, converted to monthly and yearly figures from the hours you actually expect to use. The survey publishes each kind of care in a different unit, so the arithmetic that makes them comparable is ours, and it is printed beside every number. Estimate only.
Works offline — your inputs never leave this device. How that works
Your state, and how much care
The hours are the part that matters. Two families paying the same hourly rate can be a thousand dollars a month apart, and the schedule is the biggest lever most families have.
Used for the two kinds of care the survey prices by the hour. Four hours a day, five days a week is 20.
Used for the care the survey prices by the day.
What each kind of care costs in Texas
Least expensive on these hours — Adult day health care
$1,170 a month
$14,040 a year
Most expensive — Skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse)
$7,800 a month
$93,600 a year
Adult day health care
$90 a day — the Texas median
- Works out to, monthly
- $1,170
- Works out to, yearly
- $14,040
- National median
- $95 a day
A supervised daytime program in a protective setting, with health and social services, for adults who are functionally or cognitively impaired; it also gives a family caregiver the day back.
Our arithmetic, not the survey's. The survey reports this one by the day, so the monthly and yearly figures rest on the schedule you set above: $90 a day × 3 days a week × 52 weeks ÷ 12 months.
Adult day health care in Texas, and who actually pays for it
In-home care (non-medical caregiver)
$30.00 an hour — the Texas median
- Works out to, monthly
- $2,600
- Works out to, yearly
- $31,200
- National median
- $35.00 an hour
A caregiver who comes to the house to help with bathing, dressing, transferring and toileting, and who may also do light housekeeping and meal preparation.
Our arithmetic, not the survey's. The survey reports this one by the hour, so the monthly and yearly figures rest on the schedule you set above: $30.00 an hour × 20 hours a week × 52 weeks ÷ 12 months.
In-home care (non-medical caregiver) in Texas, and who actually pays for it
Nursing home, semi-private room
$5,627 a month — the Texas median
- Works out to, monthly
- $5,627
- Works out to, yearly
- $67,524
- National median
- $9,581 a month
A room shared with one other resident in a licensed nursing facility, with round-the-clock nursing supervision, meals, laundry and basic supplies included in the room charge.
Nursing home, semi-private room in Texas, and who actually pays for it
Assisted living community
$5,666 a month — the Texas median
- Works out to, monthly
- $5,666
- Works out to, yearly
- $67,992
- National median
- $6,200 a month
A licensed residential community where you rent a private one-bedroom unit and staff help with daily activities; called a residential care facility in California.
Assisted living community in Texas, and who actually pays for it
Nursing home, private room
$7,604 a month — the Texas median
- Works out to, monthly
- $7,604
- Works out to, yearly
- $91,248
- National median
- $10,798 a month
A single-occupancy room in a licensed nursing facility, with the same round-the-clock nursing supervision and included services as a shared room.
Nursing home, private room in Texas, and who actually pays for it
Skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse)
$90.00 an hour — the Texas median
- Works out to, monthly
- $7,800
- Works out to, yearly
- $93,600
- National median
- $90.00 an hour
A licensed practical nurse or registered nurse who comes to the house for medical care such as wound care, injections, IV therapy, catheters, feeding tubes and medication management.
Our arithmetic, not the survey's. The survey reports this one by the hour, so the monthly and yearly figures rest on the schedule you set above: $90.00 an hour × 20 hours a week × 52 weeks ÷ 12 months.
Skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) in Texas, and who actually pays for it
Medicare does not pay for any of this
Medicare covers short stretches of skilled care after a qualifying hospital stay, and skilled home health in limited circumstances. It does not pay for custodial care — help with bathing, dressing, meals and supervision — which is what almost every figure above is buying, often for years.
Who does pay is the question that follows, and it is worked through on the funding screener, the Medicare Savings Programs page and the VA Aid and Attendance calculator.
Where these figures come from, and what they are not
These medians come from an industry survey of providers, not from a government rate table. No federal agency publishes one, which is why the survey is the source of record here and why we label it plainly instead of dressing it up as official.
A median means half charged more and half charged less. It is not a quote, no provider is bound by it, and prices vary widely between one town and the next. Prices were collected for the 2025 survey: CareScout Cost of Care Survey ↗.
Who to ask next
We publish figures and explain how they work. We do not decide anything, and nobody who does is on this website. These are the people who can, and the first four cost nothing.
- Eldercare Locator — 1-800-677-1116 ↗Free
Run by the federal Administration for Community Living. Give them a ZIP code and they connect you to the area agency on aging that covers it, which is the office that knows what exists locally.
- Your State Health Insurance Assistance Program ↗Free
One-to-one counseling on Medicare, Medicare Savings Programs and Extra Help, from someone paid by a federal grant rather than by commission. The local name differs by state — HICAP in California, SHINE in Florida, SHIBA in Washington.
- Medicaid.gov — eligibility policy ↗Free
The federal rules Medicaid long-term care sits inside. Your own state agency administers them and is the only body that can decide your case.
- VA — find an accredited representative ↗Free
VA's own search for accredited Veterans Service Organization representatives, attorneys and claims agents. VSO representatives help with pension and Aid and Attendance claims at no charge.
- National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys ↗Directory is free; the attorney is not
Where to find a lawyer who does this work full time, if a transfer, a trust, a house or a second marriage is involved. Attorneys charge; asking one before you move money is usually cheaper than asking one afterwards.
Our own who to ask page sorts these by situation, and the paying for care hub holds the rest of this wing.
Verified 2026-08-02 against CareScout (formerly Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025, fielded July-November 2025 (effective 2026-01-01)— an industry survey, not a government figure. Why we use it.
Estimate only — not financial, tax, legal, or insurance advice. Only the provider quoting you can determine your actual amounts.
Official source: CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey ↗
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
Puts the six kinds of long-term care side by side for one state, converted to monthly and yearly figures using a schedule you set. Home care, skilled nursing at home, adult day programs, assisted living, and a nursing home in a shared or a private room.
How it works
The medians come from an industry cost-of-care survey, stored in the unit the survey publishes: hourly for care at home, daily for adult day programs, monthly for facilities. Turning an hourly rate into a monthly one takes an assumption about hours, and that assumption is ours rather than the survey's, so it is an input you control and the multiplication is printed in full beside every figure it produced.
Getting the most from it
- Pick your state. Where the survey published no figure for a kind of care, the row is left out rather than filled with a national average.
- Set the hours of care at home you expect to need each week. This is the largest single lever in the whole comparison.
- Set the days a week for an adult day program, if that is under consideration.
- Read the monthly and yearly figures, and the working underneath each derived one.
- Follow the link on any row for that kind of care in your state, and who actually pays for it.
Reading your result
A median means half of the providers surveyed charged more and half charged less, so treat it as the middle of a wide range rather than as a price. The comparison between rows is more useful than any single row: it is common for twenty hours a week of care at home to cost less than assisted living and for fifty hours a week to cost more, and where that crossover falls is a real decision.
What it can't tell you
These are survey figures, not government rates, and no provider is bound by them. Prices vary sharply within a state, memory care usually costs more than the figure shown, and the survey does not price every kind of care in every state. The tool knows nothing about the level of care a person actually needs, which is what a facility will price on. It also says nothing about who pays — that question starts at the funding screener.
Frequently asked questions
The national median is several thousand dollars a month and the spread between states is wide — this page shows your state beside the national figure. Within a state the spread is wider still, because a city and a rural county in the same state can differ by half again on the same kind of care.
Related calculators
Funding Screener
Seven questions, none of them about who you are, and the answer is a list of offices rather than a verdict: Medicare Savings Programs, Medicaid long-term care, VA pension, your free state counselors, the area agency on aging, and an elder-law attorney if property is involved. Each one names who decides and what to bring. Estimate only, never a determination.
Aid and Attendance
Aid and Attendance is paid as the gap between a maximum yearly pension rate and your income for VA purposes — and unreimbursed medical expenses above five percent of that rate come off your income first. This estimate shows both figures, so you can see why people in assisted living qualify. Not legal advice; accredited representatives help free.
Look-Back
Medicaid examines a five-year window before an application, looking for gifts and property transfers, and one found there creates a penalty period that starts only once the money has already run out. Here is how that works, how fast a spend-down happens, and a printable worksheet. Not legal advice — your state agency decides.
Funeral Costs
The national median for a funeral with viewing and burial, and for one with cremation, from the industry price survey — plus what those medians leave out and the federal rule that entitles you to an itemized price list you can keep. Education only: we do not sell, quote or refer burial insurance, and never will.
Annual update alerts — new tax and benefit figures the week they drop
One email when the numbers change. Double opt-in, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.