Long term care cost over time - Adult day care vs Assisted living vs Home care aide vs Nursing home (private room) in Arizona: what 3 years of care starting at age 80 costs
Adult day care has the lowest projected total cost for 3 years of care starting at age 80 in Arizona: $156,072 ($317,907 below the next-cheapest type). Adult day care: $156,072; Assisted living: $473,979; Home care aide: $746,864; Nursing home (private room): $867,344. These are projected totals in US dollars from state survey medians grown at the observed rate of care-price inflation, not quotes from any provider.
What stays the same in every column?
In this comparison of Adult day care, Assisted living, Home care aide and Nursing home (private room) (projected totals in US dollars), every column uses Arizona, a current age of 65, care starting at age 80 and 3 years of care. Only the care type changes. Each column is its own call to the same API with the same inputs. Compare the totals to see how the types of care rank by projected cost, lowest first: Adult day care $156,072; Assisted living $473,979; Home care aide $746,864; Nursing home (private room) $867,344. The calculation table reports the dollar figures the API returned, with the low and high end of the inflation range for each care type.
How wide is the range of each total?
Each range runs from the total at the 10th percentile of observed inflation to the total at the 90th. Compare the ranges to see the spread between those two totals for each type of long-term care.
- Adult day care: $115,683 to $169,874
- Assisted living: $351,320 to $515,895
- Home care aide: $350,384 to $1,311,168
- Nursing home (private room): $642,888 to $944,046
What does each type of care cost per month today?
Compare the state median monthly costs in Arizona today to see what each type of long-term care costs per month.
- Adult day care: $2,058 a month
- Assisted living: $6,250 a month
- Home care aide: $7,245 a month
- Nursing home (private room): $11,437 a month
What does the projection cover?
For Adult day care, Assisted living, Home care aide and Nursing home (private room), the projected totals in US dollars cover the survey's reported prices for each type of care, grown at the observed rate of care-price inflation. Each range is the same projection at the 10th and 90th percentile of past 12-month changes in the price index used for that option; for adult day care that is 2.82 to 5.32 percent a year. It covers inflation only. Sampling error in the survey median is not covered. The survey publishes no per-state sample size or standard error, so the band covers inflation only. Survey medians describe what providers reported charging, not a quote for any one provider. Nursing home means a private room. Home care aide uses the survey's non-medical caregiver rate at its standard weekly hours. Costs outside the survey (medications, supplies, home changes) are not included.
Calculation provenance
Starting figure: the 2025 state median for adult day care from the CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey, adult day care median, AZ: 2058 dollars a month. Growth: the compound annual growth of the index over the latest five years, to 2026-08, 4.76 percent a year (series CUUR0000SEMD02). Sample size UNAVAILABLE: the survey publishes no per-state sample size or standard error. Inspect the API. More Celuvra comparisons. Read the Cost of Care Survey. Read about the consumer price index. Response hashes and retrieval times are retained separately in the calculation record.
Try your own numbers
Open the Celuvra calculator. Enter your own numbers there to run the calculator.
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Calculation data
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| state | AZ |
| current Age | 65 |
| care Start Age | 80 |
| years Of Care | 3 |
| Measure | Adult day care | Assisted living | Home care aide | Nursing home (private room) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Projected total cost of 3 years of adult day care (USD) | 156,072.00 | 473,979.00 | 746,864.00 | 867,344.00 |
| Total at the 10th percentile of observed inflation (USD) | 115,683.00 | 351,320.00 | 350,384.00 | 642,888.00 |
| Total at the 90th percentile of observed inflation (USD) | 169,874.00 | 515,895.00 | 1,311,168.00 | 944,046.00 |
| State median monthly cost today (USD) | 2,058.00 | 6,250.00 | 7,245.00 | 11,437.00 |
| Distance from winning value (USD) | 0.00 | 317,907.00 | 590,792.00 | 711,272.00 |
| Decision | Winning value | Alternative value | Alternative value | Alternative value |
Winner: Adult day care. Objective: minimize. Margin to next option: 317,907.00 USD. Assumption: Lowest projected total cost of the stated years of care only. Quality of care, availability, a person's actual needs and who pays (insurance, Medicaid, savings) are not compared.
- winner
- adult-day-care
- objective
- minimize
- metric
- totalProjectedCost
Source and assumptions
- Starting figure: the 2025 state median for adult day care from the CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey, adult day care median, AZ: 2058 dollars a month. Growth: the compound annual growth of the index over the latest five years, to 2026-08, 4.76 percent a year (series CUUR0000SEMD02).
- The range is the same projection at the 10th and 90th percentile of past 12-month changes in that price index (2.82 to 5.32 percent a year). It covers inflation only. Sampling error in the survey median. The survey publishes no per-state sample size or standard error, so the band covers inflation only.
- Survey medians describe what providers reported charging, not a quote for any one provider. Nursing home means a private room. Home care aide uses the survey's non-medical caregiver rate at its standard weekly hours. Costs outside the survey (medications, supplies, home changes) are not included.
Adult day care. Data layer: Celuvra care_costs (CareScout survey medians) and care_inflation (BLS CPI-U). Source: CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U CUUR0000SEMD02. Vintage: Survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; price index fetched 2026-10-11. Sample size: UNAVAILABLE.
Fetched: 2026-10-28T18:50:22.905Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD02, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
5aee0a90821dae14f115aa659e1c42c54abfa6667f1d933a9d44ad6d7df43300Assisted living. Data layer: Celuvra care_costs (CareScout survey medians) and care_inflation (BLS CPI-U). Source: CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U CUUR0000SEMD02. Vintage: Survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; price index fetched 2026-10-11. Sample size: UNAVAILABLE.
Fetched: 2026-10-28T18:50:23.294Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD02, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
79fda5f3fefff527cf54fd640791020f7ed5172173cbd950ab6eee6f31b4f204Home care aide. Data layer: Celuvra care_costs (CareScout survey medians) and care_inflation (BLS CPI-U). Source: CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U CUUR0000SEMD03. Vintage: Survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; price index fetched 2026-10-11. Sample size: UNAVAILABLE.
Fetched: 2026-10-28T18:50:23.595Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD03, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
903224c4f7911b819a0157330ec134928b231efb9894c43793e90c0f2fedb435Nursing home (private room). Data layer: Celuvra care_costs (CareScout survey medians) and care_inflation (BLS CPI-U). Source: CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U CUUR0000SEMD02. Vintage: Survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; price index fetched 2026-10-11. Sample size: UNAVAILABLE.
Fetched: 2026-10-28T18:50:23.901Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD02, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
fa2f6798362460300933fcb65ddfe8ee780a7bfbcce23e32c73830e9acd9e07aQuestions about this comparison
Which type of long-term care costs the least in Arizona?
Adult day care has the lowest projected total cost for 3 years of care starting at age 80 in Arizona: $156,072 ($317,907 below the next-cheapest type). Adult day care: $156,072; Assisted living: $473,979; Home care aide: $746,864; Nursing home (private room): $867,344. These are projected totals in US dollars from state survey medians grown at the observed rate of care-price inflation, not quotes from any provider.
What is held constant in this comparison?
In this comparison of Adult day care, Assisted living, Home care aide and Nursing home (private room) (projected totals in US dollars), every column uses Arizona, a current age of 65, care starting at age 80 and 3 years of care. Only the care type changes. Each column is its own call to the same API with the same inputs.
What do these projections cover?
For Adult day care, Assisted living, Home care aide and Nursing home (private room), the projected totals in US dollars cover the survey's reported prices for each type of care, grown at the observed rate of care-price inflation. Each range is the same projection at the 10th and 90th percentile of past 12-month changes in the price index used for that option; for adult day care that is 2.82 to 5.32 percent a year. It covers inflation only. Sampling error in the survey median is not covered. The survey publishes no per-state sample size or standard error, so the band covers inflation only. Survey medians describe what providers reported charging, not a quote for any one provider. Nursing home means a private room. Home care aide uses the survey's non-medical caregiver rate at its standard weekly hours. Costs outside the survey (medications, supplies, home changes) are not included.
How can I try my own numbers?
The totals in US dollars for Adult day care, Assisted living, Home care aide and Nursing home (private room) come from this page's comparison. Enter your own numbers in the calculator to run it. A person's actual care needs, health and coverage will move the numbers.