Elder Care Cost Planning

Assisted living vs staying home.

Enter what staying home would cost, including paid care, and what an assisted living community would charge. Compare monthly cost, total over several years, and the weekly care hours at which the two break even.

Your numbers

Paid care hours per week at home

Home care hourly rate

Home housing cost per month (mortgage or rent, tax, insurance, upkeep)

Other home costs per month (utilities, food, other)

One-time home costs (modifications, for example)

Assisted living base fee per month

Assisted living care add-on per month

Other assisted living costs per month

One-time assisted living costs (entrance or community fee)

Years to compare

Yearly cost increase on both sides (percent)

Use quotes and your own bills. No prices are built in. The same yearly increase is applied to both sides; the 3 percent shown is only an example you should replace.

Result

Fill the form and press Calculate.

Compare total monthly cost of each option, then total over your chosen years. The break-even shows how many hours of paid home care a week make staying home cost the same as assisted living.

Not financial, legal, insurance or medical advice. This is arithmetic on the numbers you enter. It is not a care assessment, a quote, or a recommendation. Talk to a qualified financial planner, elder law professional, insurance adviser or your care team before you commit money or choose care.

Worked example

At home: 25 hours a week at $32 is $3,466.67 a month of care, plus $1,800 housing and $900 other = $6,166.67 a month. Assisted living: $4,500 + $1,200 + $300 = $6,000.00 a month. Over 5 years with a 3% yearly increase and one-time costs of $12,000 (home) and $3,000 (assisted living), staying home totals $404,876.05 and assisted living $385,257.78, so assisted living is $19,618.27 lower. Home care costs the same as assisted living at about 23.8 hours a week.

How it works

Home monthly = care hours x 52 / 12 x rate + housing + other. Assisted living monthly = base + care add-on + other. Total over N years = sum over each year of 12 x monthly x (1 + yearly increase) to the power of the year number starting at 0, plus one-time costs. Break-even hours = (assisted living monthly - home housing - home other) / (rate x 52 / 12). Quality of life, safety, location and how needs change over time are not priced here.

Public funding by region

Pick a region for a pointer to the official source. These notes do not say what you qualify for or how much it pays.

Region

Sources

Long-term care in Ontario (ontario.ca), opened 2026-10-08.
Long Term Care Coverage (Medicare.gov), opened 2026-10-08.
Money, work, benefits and social care (NHS), opened 2026-10-08.
My Aged Care (Australian Government), opened via a Web Archive snapshot, opened 2026-10-08.

All figures are arithmetic on the costs you enter. No prices are built in. The funding notes link to official pages only.

FAQ

Is assisted living or home care cheaper?

It depends on how many hours of paid help are needed. The more hours of paid care at home, the closer home gets to the cost of assisted living, and the break-even figure shows where they meet for your numbers.

What costs should go in the home column?

Housing costs you keep paying whether or not care is needed, such as mortgage or rent, property tax, insurance and upkeep, plus food, utilities and the paid care itself.

What are one-time costs?

For home, items like grab bars, a ramp or bathroom changes. For assisted living, an entrance or community fee if one is charged. They are added once to each total.

Does this include what Medicare or Medicaid pays?

No. Medicare.gov says Medicare does not pay for long-term care and that Medicaid may cover it if you meet your state requirements. Subtract any funding you know you will receive from the monthly costs yourself.

Does this include inflation?

Only the single yearly increase you enter, applied to both options. Use the care cost inflation projector for a year-by-year view.