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What Senior Care Costs

North Carolina's published state median costs for assisted living, nursing homes and in-home care, plus the caveat that no memory care median exists anywhere.

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What senior care costs in the Triangle

Short answer

North Carolina's statewide 2025 CareScout Cost of Care Survey (formerly the Genworth Cost of Care Survey) median for assisted living is $6,496 per month. No metro-specific figure is published for Raleigh, Durham, or any Triangle city -- CareScout surveys at the state level only. No memory-care cost median exists anywhere; CareScout does not survey it as a category.

Care typeNC state medianBasis
Assisted living, private, one bedroom$6,496per month
Nursing home, semi-private room$9,733per month
Nursing home, private room$10,798per month
Homemaker services (non-medical home care)$5,720per month, based on published hourly rate x typical 44 hrs/week

Source: 2025 CareScout Cost of Care Survey (formerly the Genworth Cost of Care Survey) (Rates collected from providers July-November 2025; results published March 2, 2026). North Carolina's 2025 assisted living median ($6,496/month) runs slightly above the U.S. national median ($6,200/month), while its nursing home private-room median ($10,798/month) is essentially identical to the national figure ($10,798/month, i.e. $355/day), per the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey.

Why we do not publish a Raleigh-specific number. CareScout publishes state medians only -- there is no published Raleigh-metro-specific cost figure. Local pricing in Wake/Durham/Orange counties likely runs at or above the state median given the Triangle's cost of living, but do not invent a specific metro number. There is no published memory-care cost median anywhere -- CareScout does not survey it as a category. Never invent one.

The $5,720/month homemaker-services figure is derived from CareScout's published hourly non-medical home care rate multiplied by a typical 44 hrs/week -- actual cost depends heavily on hours needed; a few hours a week costs far less than full-time live-in care.

Questions families ask

What is State/County Special Assistance, and is it a Medicaid waiver?

State/County Special Assistance (SA) is a state- and county-funded cash supplement that helps pay the room-and-board cost for eligible low-income residents of licensed adult care homes and family care homes — it is explicitly not a Medicaid waiver or Medicaid program itself. SA recipients do become automatically eligible for Medicaid, which then covers separate medical and personal-care costs, but the SA cash payment for room and board comes from state and county funds, not the Medicaid program.

Did North Carolina's 2023 Medicaid expansion change anything about nursing home coverage for my father in Durham?

No — North Carolina's ACA Medicaid expansion, effective December 1, 2023, created a separate eligibility pathway covering low-income adults ages 19–64 generally, and it did not change the eligibility rules, income limits, or asset limits for long-term-care Medicaid (the aged/blind/disabled category covering nursing facility and waiver services). Nursing facility Medicaid eligibility continues to run through its own, generally lower, income and asset tests.

What are the asset limits to qualify for nursing facility Medicaid in North Carolina in 2026?

For 2026, the NC DHHS Aged/Blind/Disabled resource limit for nursing facility Medicaid is $2,000 for a single applicant and $3,000 for a married couple where both spouses need coverage, per NC DHHS's Basic Medicaid Eligibility Requirements. These limits are far lower than the ACA expansion Medicaid category's rules and apply specifically to the long-term-care eligibility pathway.

What's the income limit to qualify for nursing home Medicaid in North Carolina?

NC's general nursing facility Medicaid income cap is approximately $2,982/month, derived by applying the standard rule of 300% of the 2026 SSI federal benefit rate ($994/month) used in NC's aged/blind/disabled long-term-care Medicaid category. This is a derived estimate based on the SSA-published 2026 SSI rate rather than a figure independently confirmed in the current MA-2270 policy manual excerpt, so families should verify the exact current figure with NC Medicaid or a county DSS caseworker before relying on it for planning.

How much money can a nursing home Medicaid resident in North Carolina keep for personal expenses each month?

NC's nursing facility Medicaid Personal Needs Allowance (PNA) is $70 per month for an institutionalized individual, or up to $140/month combined for a married couple sharing a room in the same facility. Nursing facility Medicaid residents generally must apply nearly all of their remaining monthly income toward the cost of care beyond this allowance, per the NC DHHS MA-2270 policy manual.

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