Senior care cost calculator
Pick your choices below — the estimate updates instantly, computed from real prices we collected from local communities. Assisted living is the most common form of long-term care, and this is what it actually costs.
Estimate your monthly cost
Full results always shown — no email, no phone call, no advisor wall.
Your estimate
$5,700/mo
Most people pay $5,075 – $7,150/mo
- Per year
- $60,900 – $85,800
- Over 2 years
- $121,800 – $171,600
In today’s prices · 18 real prices · 13 communities · verified Jul 18, 2026
Prices verified 18 prices from 13 communities, collected Jul 18, 2026 How we collect prices
How this senior care cost calculator works
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Step 1
Base rent, from real prices
We take the middle band — the 25th to 75th percentile — of the prices we collected for your apartment type in your metro. That is what most residents actually pay, not a marketing “starting at” rate.
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Step 2
Care-level fees on top
Communities add a monthly care fee after assessing daily needs. We add the local fee range for the care level you pick, and medication management if you include it — the two most common surprises on a first bill.
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Step 3
Your timeline, in today’s prices
Monthly becomes annual and multi-year totals for the stay length you choose. Totals are in today’s prices — most communities raise rates about once a year, so treat long horizons as a floor.
What the estimate doesn’t include
Honest math means being clear about the edges. Ask every community about these before you sign:
- The one-time community fee — many communities charge a move-in fee that isn’t part of the monthly rate.
- Second-person fees — couples sharing an apartment usually pay a monthly add-on for the second resident.
- Annual rate increases — most communities raise rates once a year; our totals are in today’s prices.
- Care reassessments — if needs increase mid-stay, the care-level fee moves with them.
Where the calculator has data today
We only compute estimates where we have collected real prices — today that’s assisted living in the Phoenix metro and the Tucson metro. Denver ships with the pilot batch, and every new metro on the care-costs index appears here automatically once its prices clear our minimum sample size.
Questions people ask
Is this calculator really free — no email, no phone call?
Yes. The full estimate is on the page the moment you change a dropdown. We never gate a number behind an email address, a phone number, or a "talk to an advisor" form. Sharing your email afterwards is optional and only gets you a copy of your estimate and price-change alerts.
Where do the numbers come from?
Every estimate is computed from prices we collect ourselves from communities in each metro — published rates and direct quotes, each one dated and sourced. The estimate uses the 25th–75th percentile band of real prices for your apartment type, plus the community's own care-level fee schedules. Our collection rules are published on the methodology page.
Is assisted living the same as long-term care?
Assisted living is the most common residential form of long-term care — daily help with bathing, dressing, meals, and medication in an apartment setting. Long-term care also covers memory care, nursing homes, and in-home care; we're adding cost data for each care type metro by metro, and every new one appears in this calculator automatically.
Why is the estimate a range instead of one number?
Because that is how assisted-living pricing works: the base rent depends on the apartment, and the total depends on the care level the community assigns after its own assessment. A single number would be false precision. The range shows what most residents actually pay; the midpoint figure is the typical case.
What should I do with this estimate?
Use it as your planning band and your negotiating context. When you tour a community, ask for the all-in monthly number at the care level from their assessment — base rent, care fee, and medication management — and compare it against this range before you sign.