A semi-private room in a nursing home costs a national median of $315 per day, or about $114,975 per year. A private room runs $355 per day, totaling roughly $129,575 annually. Those figures come from the 2025 CareScout Cost of Care Survey (formerly Genworth), and they represent a modest increase of 1% to 2% over the prior year. Where you live, what level of care is needed, and how you pay can shift that number dramatically in either direction.
National Average Costs
Most families budget for nursing home care in monthly terms. At the national median, a semi-private room (shared with one other resident) costs roughly $9,580 per month. A private room costs about $10,800 per month. These figures reflect the “private pay” rate, meaning the price you’d pay out of pocket without government assistance.
The gap between semi-private and private rooms is smaller than many people expect. You’re paying roughly $1,200 more per month for your own room. For families weighing comfort against cost over a stay of several months or longer, that difference adds up, but it’s not the biggest variable in the equation. Geography is.
How Costs Vary by State
Nursing home prices vary more by location than by almost any other factor. In the least expensive parts of Missouri, a shared room can cost as little as $144 per day, or about $52,560 per year. In Fairbanks, Alaska, that same type of room runs $915 per day, more than six times as much.
The most expensive states for a shared nursing home room include:
- Alaska: $915/day (Fairbanks)
- North Dakota: $812/day (Bismarck)
- New York: $690/day (Glens Falls)
- California: $638/day (Salinas)
- Connecticut: $565/day (Bridgeport)
The least expensive states include:
- Missouri: $144/day (Cape Girardeau)
- Texas: $167/day (Longview)
- Louisiana: $173/day (Monroe)
- Oklahoma: $229/day (Tulsa)
- Arkansas: $233/day (Jonesboro)
These figures represent specific metro areas within each state, so costs can differ between cities in the same state. A nursing home in Manhattan will cost far more than one in rural upstate New York. When researching options, get quotes from the actual facilities in your area rather than relying on state averages alone.
Nursing Homes vs. Other Care Options
Nursing homes are the most expensive form of long-term residential care because they provide the highest level of medical support: 24-hour skilled nursing, help with all daily activities, and on-site medical oversight. If the person you’re planning for doesn’t need that intensity of care, other options cost significantly less.
Assisted living facilities typically run about half the cost of a nursing home. National estimates place assisted living at roughly $5,000 to $7,000 per month, compared to the $9,500 to $10,800 range for nursing homes. Assisted living is designed for people who need help with daily tasks like bathing, dressing, and medication management but don’t require round-the-clock medical care.
Memory care units, which specialize in Alzheimer’s and dementia support, fall between the two. The national average for memory care is about $8,400 per month. These units offer secured environments, structured routines, and staff trained in dementia care. They cost more than standard assisted living but generally less than a full nursing home stay.
The right level of care depends on medical needs, not budget alone. But understanding the price tiers helps families plan realistically and avoid paying for a higher level of care than necessary.
What Medicare Actually Covers
Medicare covers nursing home stays only under narrow conditions, and only temporarily. To qualify, you must have been hospitalized for at least three consecutive days and need skilled nursing or rehabilitation services (like physical therapy after a hip replacement). Medicare does not cover long-term custodial care, which is what most people mean when they think about “going to a nursing home.”
When you do qualify, Medicare pays the full cost for the first 20 days. From day 21 through day 100, you’re responsible for a daily copayment of $209.50 in 2025 (rising to $217 in 2026). After day 100, Medicare stops covering entirely. Most Medicare-covered stays are far shorter than 100 days. This benefit is designed for post-hospital recovery, not ongoing residence.
This is the single most important distinction families need to understand. Many people assume Medicare will cover a parent’s nursing home indefinitely. It won’t. For stays beyond a short rehabilitation period, you need another plan.
Paying With Medicaid
Medicaid is the largest payer of long-term nursing home care in the United States. Unlike Medicare, Medicaid does cover indefinite stays for people who qualify. The catch is strict financial eligibility. In most states, an individual can have no more than $2,000 in countable assets (not including a primary home, in most cases) to qualify for Medicaid-funded nursing home coverage.
That $2,000 threshold means most people must spend down their savings before Medicaid kicks in. The process, often called “Medicaid spend-down,” is exactly what it sounds like: paying for care out of pocket until your assets fall below the limit. For married couples, rules exist to protect the spouse still living at home from total financial depletion, but the specifics vary by state.
Medicaid planning, ideally done years before a nursing home becomes necessary, can help protect some assets through legal strategies like certain types of trusts or asset transfers. Most states look back five years at financial transactions when evaluating eligibility, so last-minute transfers of money or property can result in a penalty period where Medicaid won’t pay.
Long-Term Care Insurance
Long-term care insurance is designed specifically for this expense. Policies typically pay a fixed daily or monthly benefit toward nursing home costs, assisted living, or even home care. The value depends heavily on when you buy the policy. Premiums are far lower if you purchase coverage in your 50s, and many insurers won’t sell policies to people already in their mid-70s or those with existing cognitive decline.
Only a small percentage of Americans carry long-term care insurance. Policies have become more expensive and harder to find over the past decade as insurers realized they had underpriced the risk. Still, for people who purchase coverage early enough, a policy can cover a substantial portion of nursing home costs and prevent the kind of asset depletion that Medicaid requires.
How Costs Are Trending
Nursing home costs have risen steadily for years, driven by labor shortages, higher wages for nursing staff, and increasing regulatory requirements. The 2025 survey data shows increases of 1% to 2% over the prior year, which is modest compared to the sharper jumps seen during and immediately after the pandemic. Over the past decade, costs have roughly doubled in many markets. Producer price data from the Federal Reserve shows the cost index for nursing care facilities has nearly tripled since the mid-1990s.
For planning purposes, financial advisors commonly assume nursing home costs will rise 3% to 5% annually. That means someone who is 55 today and might need care at 80 should expect costs roughly double to triple what they are now. A semi-private room that costs $115,000 per year today could cost $230,000 to $345,000 per year in 25 years. Planning early, whether through insurance, savings, or legal strategies, makes a meaningful difference in how manageable those numbers are when the time comes.