What a Quote of US$12,000 to US$15,000 a Month Could Mean
Looking at it since, I have learned that the same words can mean very different things.
Picture a couple named Dale, 71, and Marjorie, 69. Dale's mother is 92 and living alone. Marjorie called a care community in a large American city and heard a monthly price of US$13,000.
"Thirteen thousand," Dale said. "Is that high?"
Marjorie did not know. She started to look at what the number could cover.
My own family received a quote in that range for my father when we were weighing assisted living in the United States. Looking at it since, I have learned that the same words can mean very different things.
| Type of care | Reported US price a month |
|---|---|
| Assisted living, national median | About US$6,200 |
| Assisted living in New York, California, Washington | About US$7,000 to US$7,600 |
| Assisted living in Massachusetts | About US$9,600 |
| Assisted living in Hawaii | About US$12,100 |
| Memory care, national median | About US$6,700 |
| Memory care, highest state (Washington, DC) | About US$11,500 |
| Nursing home, private room, national | About US$10,800 |
| Nursing home, private room, in California, New York, Massachusetts, Washington | About US$15,200 to US$16,700 |
(Assisted living and nursing home figures: CareScout 2025 survey, released March 2026. Memory care figures: A Place for Mom and The Senior List, reported 2025 to 2026.)
So a quote of US$12,000 to US$15,000 could be several things. It could be assisted living in an expensive city. It could be memory care in a high-cost state. It could be a nursing home room. It could be assisted living with added charges, which one source puts at about US$300 to US$1,700 a month, and another article described an overnight aide fee of US$5,000 a month at one community.
It helps to ask what the staff will do. Florida's law, for one, describes the "supervision" an assisted living home gives as reminding residents about daily activities and medication. In some places the staff mostly check in.
Another way to look at the number is by the hour. At the national median of about US$35 an hour for a non-medical caregiver, a monthly spend of US$12,000 to US$15,000 buys about 340 to 430 hours a month, which is 80 to 100 hours a week. Care around the clock for 30 days at that rate comes to US$25,200.
Marjorie wrote four questions on a card. What does the price include? What changes it? Who is awake at night? What happens if care needs rise?
You could…
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Ask each community for a written list of what the monthly price covers and what costs extra.
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Ask who is awake overnight, and how many residents each person looks after.
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Compare the price per hour of care with what a caregiver at home would cost near you.
What was the price you were quoted, and what did it cover? Share it here. Someone reading may be holding a number like it.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Sources: CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025; A Place for Mom; NCOA; AARP; Florida Statutes section 429.02.
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