How much does memory care cost in California in 2026?

Median private-pay memory care runs about $6,500 to $11,500 per month in 2026, depending on metro. The San Francisco Bay Area and West Los Angeles are the highest; the Central Valley and Inland Empire are the lowest. Acuity add-ons for late-stage dementia, behavior management, or two-person transfers typically add 10 to 30 percent.

How much does assisted living cost in California in 2026?

Median private-pay assisted living runs about $4,200 to $8,500 per month in 2026. The Bay Area tops the range; the Central Valley and Inland Empire are lowest. This is base monthly rent for a standard unit and excludes one-time community fees and higher-acuity care levels.

How much does in-home care cost per hour in California in 2026?

Non-medical, agency-arranged in-home care runs about $30 to $42 per hour in 2026 for daytime aide hours. Overnight, weekend, and live-in arrangements are priced differently. Many families combine private hours with IHSS for the highest-need shifts.

What replaced the Genworth Cost of Care Survey for California?

Genworth discontinued its Cost of Care Survey after the 2024 edition. California Care Compass publishes this open dataset, California Senior Care Costs 2026, as the California-specific successor: CC BY 4.0 licensed, downloadable as JSON and CSV, and refreshed quarterly.

California Senior Care Costs 2026: open dataset

Name: California Senior Care Costs 2026
Creator: California Care Compass
Published: 2026-05-21
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

California Senior Care Costs, 2026.

Median private-pay cost ranges for memory care, assisted living, and non-medical in-home care across seven California metros. The Genworth Cost of Care Survey was discontinued after 2024; this is the California-specific successor, with open data and a quarterly refresh.

Median cost ranges by metro and care type

Metro	Memory care USD / month	Assisted living USD / month	In-home care USD / hour
San Francisco Bay Area	$9,500–$11,500	$6,500–$8,500	$38–$42
West Los Angeles	$9,000–$11,000	$5,800–$7,500	$36–$40
Orange County (coastal)	$8,500–$10,500	$5,800–$7,500	$36–$40
San Diego	$8,500–$10,500	$5,500–$7,000	$34–$38
Sacramento	$7,500–$9,500	$4,800–$6,200	$33–$36
Inland Empire	$7,000–$9,000	$4,500–$5,800	$33–$36
Central Valley	$6,500–$8,500	$4,200–$5,500	$30–$34

Ranges represent the 25th to 75th percentile of observed private-pay rates within each metro. Add-on fees for higher acuity (two-person transfers, behavior management, late-stage dementia) typically add 10 to 30 percent. Live-in arrangements are billed at daily rates capped at 13 worked hours per day under California labor law.

Why this dataset exists

The Genworth Cost of Care Survey was the United States standard reference for senior-care costs for more than two decades. Genworth discontinued the series after the 2024 edition. Every “how much does memory care cost in California” or “assisted living cost San Diego” query had been anchored to Genworth’s data. There is currently no comparable successor with California-specific resolution and an open license.

California Care Compass publishes this dataset to fill that gap, with a deliberately narrow first-edition scope (three care types, seven metros, median private-pay ranges) and a commitment to quarterly refresh.

Methodology

Geography. Seven California metros that together cover roughly 80 percent of the state’s senior population: San Francisco Bay Area, West Los Angeles, Orange County (coastal), San Diego, Sacramento, Inland Empire, and Central Valley. The metro definitions follow California Department of Aging service-area boundaries and overlap with established RCFE-licensing geographies.

Care types. Three high-volume categories: memory care (RCFE with secured-perimeter approval), assisted living (standard RCFE, Level 1-2 base care), and non-medical in-home care (agency-arranged private-pay hours).

Source data. Four public inputs combined:

California Department of Aging (CDA) facility cost data
California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Assisted Living Waiver rate schedules
Genworth Cost of Care Survey, 2024 final edition (used as the discontinued baseline; California subset)
California Department of Social Services (CDSS) RCFE provider registry and the published rate sheets of facilities in that registry

Statistical method. Ranges report the 25th to 75th percentile of observed private-pay rates within each metro, calculated from the combined public inputs above. Memory care and assisted living are stated as base monthly rent for a standard unit; reported rates exclude one-time community fees and Level 3+ acuity add-ons. In-home care rates are median agency-arranged hourly rates for daytime non-medical aide hours, excluding overnight, weekend, and live-in pricing models.

Limitations. Facilities and agencies are not legally required to publish current private-pay rates, so this dataset reflects what is publicly observable plus the 2024 Genworth baseline. It is not a primary-research survey. Specific facilities can and do price outside these ranges.

Refresh cadence. Quarterly. The next scheduled refresh is 2026 Q3.

What the dataset is not

This is not a guarantee of price. Individual facilities and agencies set rates within and outside these ranges based on supply, demand, capacity, and the specific care needs of the resident. Add-on fees for two-person transfers, behavior management, escort to dining, medication management, and late-stage dementia care typically add 10 to 30 percent on top of base rent.

This dataset does not cover skilled nursing facility rates (which are largely Medi-Cal-set for the majority of long-term residents and Medicare-rate-set for short-term rehabilitation), independent living rates (which are real-estate driven), CCRC entry fees, or hospice care (which is 100 percent Medicare-covered under the Hospice Benefit).

License and citation

This dataset is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. You may freely cite, reproduce, and build on the data, with attribution.

Recommended citation:

California Care Compass. California Senior Care Costs 2026. Version 2026.1, published May 2026. https://californiacarecompass.com/data/california-cost-of-care-2026

How families and analysts use this data

The most common downstream use: estimating a private-pay runway before Medi-Cal kicks in. A California family with a parent moving into memory care in the Bay Area should plan for $9,500 to $11,500 per month in base rent, plus 10 to 30 percent on top for acuity add-ons. Set against typical Social Security plus pension income of $2,000 to $5,000 per month and an LTC insurance benefit of $4,000 to $7,000 per month (where a policy exists), the gap is the private-pay drawdown rate.

Analysts and journalists may use this dataset to compare California to other states once successor surveys publish for other geographies. The dataset is open and unrestricted; please attribute and link.

Updates to this edition

Version 2026.1 (May 2026), initial publication. Seven metros, three care types. Quarterly refresh scheduled.