Senior living is often high cost; aging in place at home is expensive too. Hence, before letting the sticker shock turn you away from the bountiful gains, let’s closely examine the significant factors influencing senior living costs and the value affecting these charges.
Level of Care
How much care do you or your close kin require? Your response might influence the prices due to higher levels of care requiring higher charges. These are charges you may anticipate on average every month:
Independent Living — active senior folks who need minimal daily assistance or look for some maintenance-free living with interactive events.
- Offering a range of homes you can pick from. The charges often range from $1,400 to $4,000 per month.
Assisted living — A living option offering customized nursing and medical treatments
Private, one-bedroom: $4,000
Nursing home care — Usually a superior level of care and supervision than for assisted living with inhouse care 24/7; alternatively termed as skilled care
- Semi-private room: $7,441; Private room: $8,365
Memory Care — Made for supporting and nurturing patients with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, employing skilled nurses, 24/7 supervision
- Single resident: $2,000 to $7,000 per month
Geography
Your residential location matters in similar ways that geography influences the real estate market; it might also push the senior living costs up or down. Examine these examples:
Most Costly States for Assisted Living (private, one-bedroom)
- Alaska – $6,300 per month
- District of Columbia – $9,266 per month
- New Jersey – $6,065 per month
Least Costly Places for Assisted Living (private, one-bedroom)
- Missouri – $2,844 per month
- Georgia – $3,100 per month
- Arkansas – $3,037 per month
Amenities
This is one sphere over which you hold a lot of control because the higher luxury you seek, the higher the pricing. Though you might seek a personal balcony, special meals, or luxury rooms, do you require these? More pertinently, can your budget cover it? Often, these selections pile on your monthly charges:
- Kind of residence – private or semi-private; one-bedroom, or two-bedroom, studio
- Extra resident charges – might hold if your spouse is shifting in with you
- Pet charges
- Concierge Services
- Personal transportation
Bear in mind that every community’s prices differ. Several might provide all-inclusive pricing, while several might provide an a la carte menu, allowing you some freedom to pick only the services and facilities that matter to you.
The Value of Senior Living
Aging at home might appear like a lower-cost option, but have you factored in the complete charges of staying at home? For a proper apple-to-apple contrast of monthly charges, you must extend over your rent or mortgage to cover the charges for food, home maintenance, utilities, insurance, property taxes, and entertainment, as those are factored into senior living. Then additionally consider the heavy expenses of at-home care or renovations to make your home more comfortable, and you might discover senior living is lower cost.
Apart from the overheads, factor in the value of the therapeutic effects on your quality of life with the many enrichment or social options in senior living. Depression and isolation often trend with seniors residing at home, especially when living independently, and may poorly affect your mental health and wellness.
This also excludes the mental peace of a stress-free lifestyle with no added charges, no housekeeping or maintenance, and a setting built especially for seniors with safety considerations. Retirement communities with customized care provide residents with many health care or living services. When seniors shift into residential homes with personal care, communities provide medical care accessed within residential quarters.
