What senior care costs in California (2026)
Real median figures for California (not national averages with a local label), plus what each care level includes and the honest math between them.
How California compares to the rest of the country
In-home care in California runs about $40 an hour, about 14% above the national median of $35/hour. That works out to roughly $3,450/month at 20 hours of help a week. Assisted living, at $7,000/month, sits about 13% above the national median of $6,200/month. A semi-private nursing-home room, at $12,167/month, is about 27% above the national median of $9,581/month. California runs above the national median across all three surveyed care levels.
California varies more than one median can show: the state figures run high, and within California the spread is wide. Coastal metros like the Bay Area and Los Angeles run well above these medians; inland areas like the Central Valley run below them. Treat the state figure as a midpoint, not a local quote.
The four care levels, briefly
In-home care: $40/hour
A professional caregiver in their own home: help with bathing, meals, medications, and supervision, billed by the hour. In California that’s about $3,450/month at 20 hours a week, or roughly $6,950/month at 40. If the main gap is daytime supervision, adult day health runs about $2,037/month in California, often a lower-cost way to cover daytime hours.
Assisted living: $7,000/month
An apartment-style community with meals, activities, and daily help built in. The median is the base rate. Level-of-care fees (medication management, bathing assistance) are often add-ons, so always ask for the full fee schedule, not the brochure price.
Memory care: estimated $8,400–$8,750/month
Memory care isn’t a separately surveyed category, so this is a labeled estimate: secured dementia care typically runs 20–25% above assisted living, which in California works out to roughly $8,400–$8,750/month.
Nursing home: $12,167/month (semi-private room)
The highest level of care outside a hospital, with 24-hour nursing supervision. The figure is for a semi-private room; private rooms run higher.
Nursing homes in California, from Medicare’s records
Medicare’s records list 1,165 certified nursing homes in California. Of those California homes, 113 carry the CMS abuse icon, which marks a home cited for abuse, neglect or exploitation that caused harm, or the potential for harm more than once. Medicare’s Special Focus Facility program, for homes with a persistent record of serious problems, lists 5 California homes, with 31 more as candidates.
Of the 1,154 California homes Medicare rates, 24% hold five stars and 17% hold one, against 20% and 21% across all Medicare-certified homes.
The median California home reports 4.24 nurse staffing hours per resident per day, above the national median of 3.68; for registered nurses alone the medians are 0.50 in California and 0.58 nationally.
The counties with the most homes are Los Angeles (369), San Diego (83) and Orange (72).
When a California resident’s savings run out, Medicaid is the program that pays for long-term nursing home care, and in California, where it is called Medi-Cal, it is run by the California Department of Health Care Services; how a California resident qualifies is covered in Medicaid basics when money runs out.
To see the California homes near your parent, with each one’s stars, staffing and inspection findings, use Nursing home compare, translated.
Source for these California figures: CMS Provider Data Catalog, Provider Information, CMS release of August 1, 2026, refreshed monthly; percentages are of California homes with an overall star rating, and staffing is reported nurse staffing hours per resident per day, with medians from the same release.
Drag to see how today’s California medians grow at the 4% annual care-inflation assumption used across this site.
Assumes 4% annual care inflation, in line with recent cost-of-care survey trends. A planning assumption, not a prediction; real inflation varies.
What to do with these numbers
A median tells you the size of the decision. It can’t tell you which options fit what you’re seeing. That’s what the assessment is for: thirteen gentle questions, a clear summary, and California cost context built in.
See which of these fits what you’re seeing
Three minutes, in your browser. The result pairs a summary of what you described with these California figures and ranked next steps.
Start the free assessment →Check the quality side, not just the price
- Check California nursing homes against Medicare’s own data: star ratings, staffing, fines, and red flags, translated into plain English.
- Check California home health agencies: Medicare’s quality ratings and outcomes, by ZIP.
- Run the “can we afford this?” math: the calculator pre-loads California medians.
How neighbouring states compare
Care is sometimes materially cheaper just over the state line, and for families near a border that is a real option worth pricing.
- Nevada: assisted living $6,241/month, nursing home $11,786/month, in-home care $37/hour.
- Arizona: assisted living $6,250/month, nursing home $8,365/month, in-home care $38/hour.
- Oregon: assisted living $6,875/month, nursing home $16,760/month, in-home care $40/hour.
Guides that pair with these figures
- Home care vs. assisted living: the real cost math, including the costs the headline numbers hide.
- How to pay for home care: the funding paths families actually use.
- Assisted living vs. memory care: what you’re buying with the difference.
- How to check an assisted living facility: why it has no Medicare rating, and what to look up instead.
Source: CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025 (surveyed July–November 2025), the most recent full cost-of-care survey published. These are California median figures. Local prices vary, sometimes widely within a state. Memory care figures are estimates, not survey medians. Percentage comparisons are computed from the survey’s own state and national medians. See every state.