Nursing Home Costs Up 3%, Assisted Living Unchanged

Last Updated: 10/30/2007

The average daily cost of a private room in a nursing home in the United States is $77,745 a year, or $213 a day, according to the 2007 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home & Assisted Living Costs. This is a 3 percent increase over last year, when the average daily rate for a private room in a nursing home was $75,190 a year, or $206 a day, according to MetLife.

Meanwhile, assisted living costs remained virtually unchanged at $2,969 per month or $35,628 yearly.

Once again, the highest rates for a private nursing home room in 2007 were found in Alaska, where the cost is $510 a day on average. The lowest rates were found in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at $123 a day.

The survey also reports on the cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home, which now averages $189 a day, or $68,985 a year, also a 3 percent increase over last year.

The monthly base rate for assisted living rose only one dollar on average from $2,968 in 2006. These costs were highest in the Washington, D.C. area at $5,031 per month and lowest in Indianapolis at $1,963.

Also noteworthy is the fact that more assisted living facilities are providing dementia care (59 percent versus 48 percent in 2006) and that the additional costs for those services average $1,110 per month. The average monthly rate for facilities charging an extra fee for Alzheimer’s care is $4,270, or $51,240 annually.

For the full 2007 report, including a list of average daily nursing home and assisted facility costs in selected cities, click here.
(The report is available in PDF format. If you do not have the free PDF reader installed on your computer, download it here.)