Adult Care Home Care Costs

What are the Costs of Elder Care in an Adult Care Home?

Monthly fees typically range from $3,000 to $9,000 a month, with many options ranging $4500 to $7,000 per month range.

This range is broad because there are a broad range of options available in our community. Each adult family home owner is allowed to structure their pricing in a manner they choose. Every home is also allowed to create their own residency agreement with certain requirements to be included as outlined by the State of Washington.

The price charged is based primarily upon:

  • Whether the provider/owner is managing the home or whether there is an on-site manager.
  • The number of people staffed to provide care
  • Whether or not there are awake caregivers on duty throughout the night
  • The number of services that are hired to support the operation of the home such as cleaning services, lawn maintenance, shopping and cooking, offering of activities
  • The location of the home
  • The level of care the older adult requires
  • Whether the older adult requires awake staff at night or not
  • The complexity of delivering care to the older adult
  • The number of competitor adult family homes in the area
  • The occupancy rate of the adult family home – as an example, one vacancy may not be burdensome to a home; but two vacancies may be highly worrisome for a home owner

Many adult family homes do not derive a profit in operating their home until they are able to attract their 5th or 6th resident. Very few homes can be profitable at caring for four or fewer residents.

If the older adult had the foresight to purchase long-term care insurance, care provided by an adult family home may be partially or fully covered. Also, veterans and spouses of veterans may qualify for substantial financial assistance in paying for adult family home care.

Because there are unexpected expenses that occur in operating an adult family home, such as home repairs, recruiting and training new staff and advertising expenses, creating a profitable home is a very difficult process. Some adult family home owners rely upon the values of their home increasing over time as their source of profit.

Depending upon the location of the home they may or may not admit someone who may outlive their savings. Just a few years ago, it was common for homes to accept one or two residents who could pay privately for a year or two; and then they were willing to transition to accepting Medicaid. This has recently changed dramatically. The reimbursement rates from the state are so low, that homes often decline caring for people who may or have outlived their savings.