How much does memory care cost per month?
- The national median cost of memory care is about $6,690 per month, based on actual costs paid by 10,474 residents who moved into memory care communities across a national referral network during 2025
- That monthly median works out to roughly $220 per day and about $80,280 per year
- Memory care prices climbed 3.7% from 2024 to 2025, and tend to rise 3% to 8% each year
- Estimates vary by methodology and year; the 2025 national median of $6,690 follows a 2024 median of $6,450, while other national estimates run as high as $7,645 a month
- The fee usually bundles housing, three meals, 24-hour supervision, dementia-specific therapies and secured-building safety features into one rate
- Medicare generally does not pay for long-term custodial care, including most memory care, so families usually cover it with private funds or long-term care insurance
- Medicaid may cover some services for eligible residents in certain states but generally not room and board, and Veterans benefits may help some eligible veterans or survivors depending on program rules
| Pay period |
National median cost |
| Daily |
$220 |
| Monthly |
$6,690 |
| Annual |
$80,280 |
These national medians were compiled in 2026 from costs paid by residents who moved in during 2025. For funding strategies, see our guide on how to pay for memory care.
The 2025 national median memory care cost is $6,690 per month, or about $220 per day and $80,280 per year.
What is the average monthly cost of memory care?
- The most useful national benchmark is the $6,690 median, with state medians ranging from about $4,806 to $11,195 per month, a swing tied to local cost of living, availability, care needs and community pricing
- Vermont is the most expensive state for memory care at $11,195 per month, followed by North Dakota at $10,100 and Massachusetts at $9,840
- Utah is the most affordable at $4,806 per month, with Georgia ($5,000) and South Carolina ($5,050) close behind
- In California, the memory care median runs $6,850 per month, just above the national figure (see our California senior care cost research)
- The median is more useful than the average here, since a handful of very high-cost communities can pull an average upward and overstate what most families pay
The table below lists every state plus the District of Columbia. Alaska shows as no data available because no memory care median is reported for that state.
| State |
Median monthly cost |
Median annual cost |
| United States (national) |
$6,690 |
$80,280 |
| Alabama |
$5,461 |
$65,532 |
| Alaska |
No data available |
No data available |
| Arizona |
$5,833 |
$69,996 |
| Arkansas |
$6,000 |
$72,000 |
| California |
$6,850 |
$82,200 |
| Colorado |
$7,270 |
$87,240 |
| Connecticut |
$9,273 |
$111,276 |
| Delaware |
$8,005 |
$96,060 |
| District of Columbia |
$8,455 |
$101,460 |
| Florida |
$5,495 |
$65,940 |
| Georgia |
$5,000 |
$60,000 |
| Hawaii |
$9,547 |
$114,564 |
| Idaho |
$5,968 |
$71,616 |
| Illinois |
$7,495 |
$89,940 |
| Indiana |
$6,600 |
$79,200 |
| Iowa |
$6,900 |
$82,800 |
| Kansas |
$7,250 |
$87,000 |
| Kentucky |
$6,178 |
$74,136 |
| Louisiana |
$5,075 |
$60,900 |
| Maine |
$9,503 |
$114,036 |
| Maryland |
$7,885 |
$94,620 |
| Massachusetts |
$9,840 |
$118,080 |
| Michigan |
$5,949 |
$71,388 |
| Minnesota |
$7,880 |
$94,560 |
| Mississippi |
$5,580 |
$66,960 |
| Missouri |
$6,638 |
$79,656 |
| Montana |
$8,238 |
$98,856 |
| Nebraska |
$6,775 |
$81,300 |
| Nevada |
$7,400 |
$88,800 |
| New Hampshire |
$8,695 |
$104,340 |
| New Jersey |
$9,665 |
$115,980 |
| New Mexico |
$5,492 |
$65,904 |
| New York |
$8,250 |
$99,000 |
| North Carolina |
$7,113 |
$85,356 |
| North Dakota |
$10,100 |
$121,200 |
| Ohio |
$6,798 |
$81,576 |
| Oklahoma |
$7,150 |
$85,800 |
| Oregon |
$8,190 |
$98,280 |
| Pennsylvania |
$7,050 |
$84,600 |
| Rhode Island |
$7,100 |
$85,200 |
| South Carolina |
$5,050 |
$60,600 |
| South Dakota |
$5,545 |
$66,540 |
| Tennessee |
$5,900 |
$70,800 |
| Texas |
$6,673 |
$80,076 |
| Utah |
$4,806 |
$57,672 |
| Vermont |
$11,195 |
$134,340 |
| Virginia |
$7,125 |
$85,500 |
| Washington |
$8,000 |
$96,000 |
| West Virginia |
$7,345 |
$88,140 |
| Wisconsin |
$6,833 |
$81,996 |
| Wyoming |
$8,200 |
$98,400 |
Memory care costs vary widely by state in 2026, with Vermont the most expensive, Utah the most affordable and California slightly above the national median.
How much does memory care cost per year?
- Memory care costs a national median of about $80,280 per year, calculated from the $6,690 monthly median across twelve months
- Annual medians range from roughly $57,672 in Utah to about $134,340 in Vermont, a gap of more than $76,000 a year
- Because rates rise 3% to 8% annually, a multi-year stay grows more expensive over time, and the length of a memory care stay varies widely, from a couple of years to a decade depending on how dementia progresses
- As a planning example, a two-to-three-year stay at the national median works out to about $160,560 to $240,840 before yearly increases
Yearly figures assume twelve full months at the national median. Because costs climb as a resident’s needs grow, families often pair this with our look at the lifetime cost of long-term care.
Memory care costs about $80,280 per year nationally, with state-level annual medians ranging from roughly $57,672 in Utah to $134,340 in Vermont.
How much does memory care add over assisted living?
- Measured against the medians listed here, memory care costs about 23% more than assisted living and roughly twice the price of independent living
- In dollars, that premium is about $1,271 per month within the same dataset, where memory care runs $6,690 against $5,419 for assisted living
- Over a year, the memory care premium adds roughly $15,250 compared with assisted living
- The gap reflects added cost for specially trained staff, lower resident-to-caregiver ratios, secured building design and personalized dementia programming
- Methodology matters; another widely cited national survey puts assisted living higher, near $6,200 a month, so the size of the premium depends on which assisted living benchmark you use
| Care type |
Median monthly cost |
| Independent living |
$3,200 |
| Assisted living |
$5,419 |
| Memory care |
$6,690 |
| Nursing home (semi-private to private) |
$9,581 to $10,798 |
See our full breakdown of assisted living costs for the other side of this comparison.
Memory care costs about 23% more than assisted living, adding roughly $1,271 per month because dementia care requires specialized staffing, secured spaces and specialized programming.
How much does memory care cost compared to a nursing home?
- A nursing home costs more than memory care; a semi-private room runs about $9,581 per month and a private room about $10,798, versus $6,690 for memory care
- That makes a nursing home roughly $2,900 to $4,100 more per month than memory care, or up to about $49,000 more a year
- The price gap reflects a difference in care model; memory care is dementia-focused residential care built around supervision, safety and daily support, while a nursing home generally provides a higher level of medical and skilled nursing care
- For a resident whose primary need is dementia supervision rather than round-the-clock skilled medical care, memory care may be the lower-cost setting to discuss with a clinician, care manager or prospective community
| Care type |
Median monthly cost |
Care model |
| Memory care |
$6,690 |
Dementia-focused residential care |
| Nursing home, semi-private room |
$9,581 |
Skilled medical |
| Nursing home, private room |
$10,798 |
Skilled medical |
Because the memory care and nursing home figures come from different surveys, treat the comparison as a directional guide rather than an exact difference. See our deeper research on nursing home costs.
Nursing homes cost roughly $2,900 to $4,100 more per month than memory care, reflecting the higher cost of skilled medical care.
What drives memory care pricing tiers?
- The biggest cost drivers are specially trained staff, low resident-to-caregiver ratios, secured building design that prevents wandering and highly personalized dementia programming
- Most memory-care-only communities charge an all-inclusive monthly fee, often allowing more specialized care as needs grow without raising the rate
- When memory care sits inside a larger community, pricing is usually tiered; a base rate covers standard services and a care assessment adds fees for higher needs
- A one-time community fee is common, with a national median of $3,000, covering the extra onboarding a new dementia resident requires
- Costs typically rise as dementia progresses and a resident needs more help with eating, mobility and incontinence care
- Choosing the right setting can trim the bill; in one reported case, a family cut close to $1,000 a month by moving a parent from a high assisted living care tier into a memory care unit, where the same person’s needs were scored at a lower level
Because pricing structures differ widely, families should request an itemized quote that separates the base rate from care add-ons. For the clinical context behind these care levels, see our research on when dementia begins and memory care statistics.
This research is for informational purposes only and is not financial, legal or medical advice. Cost figures are medians that reset each year and vary by community and care level. Medicaid coverage for memory care services depends on your state and waiver availability. Confirm current pricing directly with providers and verify benefit eligibility with the relevant agency.
Memory care pricing is shaped by specialized staffing, secured environments, dementia-focused programming and rising care needs as dementia progresses.
Sources and additional resources
Source note: National and state memory care medians, along with the assisted living and independent living comparison figures, come from A Place for Mom’s 2026 cost data. Nursing home figures come from CareScout. Annual totals are the monthly median multiplied by twelve. The alternative $6,200 assisted living benchmark and the $7,645 upper-range estimate come from CareScout and U.S. News respectively.
A Place for Mom’s memory care cost article and its downloadable 2026 report both list West Virginia at $7,345 and Wisconsin at $6,833, while the interactive version of that data set reverses the two. This table follows the memory care cost article and the published report.
Raya’s Paradise provides assisted living, memory care, hospice support and short term respite care in residential homes across Southern California. Families comparing these dementia care medians to real options can tour memory care in Los Angeles and memory care in Orange County to see how a secured, social-model community supports daily life.
