Cost guide
Average Cost of a Nursing Home
A semi-private nursing home room costs $315 a day, or about $114,975 a year. A private room runs $355 a day.
Those are the national medians in the CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025, published by Genworth in March 2026. Semi-private rates rose 2% over the year, private rooms 1%.
Every option, side by side
All five figures below come from the same survey and the same year, which is the only way a comparison like this means anything. Mixing editions is how people end up believing assisted living costs more than a nursing home.
The ordering is the useful part. A nursing home costs roughly four and a half times what adult day care costs, and about 55% more per year than assisted living. Care at home lands between assisted living and a nursing home once you are buying 44 hours a week, and below both if you need fewer hours.
Why nursing homes cost what they do
The price is buying skilled nursing coverage around the clock, not a room. A nursing home is a licensed medical facility with registered nurses on duty at all hours, and staffing is most of the bill. Assisted living costs less because it provides help with daily activities rather than continuous clinical care.
That is also why the semi-private and private gap is only about $40 a day. You are mostly paying for the same care either way; the difference is whether you share the room.
What moves your actual quote
- State and metro. The spread between states is far wider than the spread between room types. A national median is a planning figure, never a quote.
- Level of care. Memory care units and residents needing two-person transfers cost more than the base rate.
- What is bundled. Ask specifically whether therapies, incontinence supplies, and medication administration are included or billed on top.
Who actually pays it
Almost nobody pays $114,975 a year out of income. The usual sequence is private funds until they run down, then Medicaid.
Medicare is not the answer here, and this is the most common and most expensive misunderstanding in senior care. It covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing per benefit period after a qualifying hospital stay, and nothing toward long-term custodial care. The full rules are on our Medicare and nursing homes page.
If the bill goes unpaid, a small number of states have statutes that let a facility pursue an adult child directly. That is covered on filial responsibility laws.
Where Call Mabel fits
Call Mabel is not an alternative to a nursing home. If someone needs round-the-clock skilled nursing, they need it, and no phone call changes that.
Where a daily call earns its place is earlier: someone still at home, still managing, where the family wants to know how each day is actually going rather than guessing between visits. Many families pair it with paid help at home for part of the week.
Sources
- CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025, published by Genworth Financial, 2 March 2026. Nursing home semi-private room $315 a day and $114,975 a year (+2%); private room $355 a day and $129,575 a year (+1%); assisted living $6,200 a month and $74,400 a year (+5%); non-medical caregiver $35 an hour and $80,080 a year at 44 hours a week (+3%); adult day health care $95 a day and $24,700 a year (−5%).
Published 2026-08-20. These are national medians and they change every year; check the current CareScout survey before relying on a figure. General information about what care costs, not medical, legal or financial advice.