Long term care cost over time - Adult day care vs Assisted living vs Home care aide vs Nursing home (private room) in South Carolina: 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 South Carolina: $118,305 ($287,421 below the next-cheapest type). Adult day care: $118,305; Assisted living: $405,726; Home care aide: $616,665; Nursing home (private room): $728,942. 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 South Carolina, 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 $118,305; Assisted living $405,726; Home care aide $616,665; Nursing home (private room) $728,942. 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: $87,689 to $128,767
- Assisted living: $300,730 to $441,606
- Home care aide: $289,303 to $1,082,596
- Nursing home (private room): $540,302 to $793,405
What does each type of care cost per month today?
Compare the state median monthly costs in South Carolina today to see what each type of long-term care costs per month.
- Adult day care: $1,560 a month
- Assisted living: $5,350 a month
- Home care aide: $5,982 a month
- Nursing home (private room): $9,612 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, SC: 1560 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
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Calculation data
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| state | SC |
| 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) | 118,305.00 | 405,726.00 | 616,665.00 | 728,942.00 |
| Total at the 10th percentile of observed inflation (USD) | 87,689.00 | 300,730.00 | 289,303.00 | 540,302.00 |
| Total at the 90th percentile of observed inflation (USD) | 128,767.00 | 441,606.00 | 1,082,596.00 | 793,405.00 |
| State median monthly cost today (USD) | 1,560.00 | 5,350.00 | 5,982.00 | 9,612.00 |
| Distance from winning value (USD) | 0.00 | 287,421.00 | 498,360.00 | 610,637.00 |
| Decision | Winning value | Alternative value | Alternative value | Alternative value |
Winner: Adult day care. Objective: minimize. Margin to next option: 287,421.00 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, SC: 1560 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 2026-11-01; price index fetched 2026-10-11. Sample size: UNAVAILABLE.
Fetched: 2026-11-07T19:50:21.713Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-11-01; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD02, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
45586288e98794849a0b36c44f81a34fb86e5730c25c84b7b9fc8eb0cb5c0011Assisted 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 2026-11-01; price index fetched 2026-10-11. Sample size: UNAVAILABLE.
Fetched: 2026-11-07T19:50:22.021Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-11-01; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD02, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
2499fb9543f82e0a0d24e89e9e8da487ec26b1aa2f51a6a6bf069b40e2a3ee5dHome 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 2026-11-01; price index fetched 2026-10-11. Sample size: UNAVAILABLE.
Fetched: 2026-11-07T19:50:22.256Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-11-01; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD03, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
3fadc991f64ecc4119e4c8f2cdca1740256a433948deffce1e94dcc677c51151Nursing 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 2026-11-01; price index fetched 2026-10-11. Sample size: UNAVAILABLE.
Fetched: 2026-11-07T19:50:22.599Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-11-01; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD02, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
b4572bbaee5d22df6e3344e77b823cbf8f91b3f92a0de5df3c65f791a8bdca6aQuestions about this comparison
Which type of long-term care costs the least in South Carolina?
Adult day care has the lowest projected total cost for 3 years of care starting at age 80 in South Carolina: $118,305 ($287,421 below the next-cheapest type). Adult day care: $118,305; Assisted living: $405,726; Home care aide: $616,665; Nursing home (private room): $728,942. 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 South Carolina, 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.