Long term care cost over time - Adult day care vs Assisted living vs Home care aide vs Nursing home (private room) in Tennessee: 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 Tennessee: $131,425 ($311,840 below the next-cheapest type). Adult day care: $131,425; Assisted living: $443,265; Home care aide: $609,346; Nursing home (private room): $761,249. 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 Tennessee, 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 $131,425; Assisted living $443,265; Home care aide $609,346; Nursing home (private room) $761,249. 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: $97,414 to $143,047
- Assisted living: $328,554 to $482,465
- Home care aide: $285,869 to $1,069,746
- Nursing home (private room): $564,248 to $828,568
What does each type of care cost per month today?
Compare the state median monthly costs in Tennessee today to see what each type of long-term care costs per month.
- Adult day care: $1,733 a month
- Assisted living: $5,845 a month
- Home care aide: $5,911 a month
- Nursing home (private room): $10,038 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, TN: 1733 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 | TN |
| 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) | 131,425.00 | 443,265.00 | 609,346.00 | 761,249.00 |
| Total at the 10th percentile of observed inflation (USD) | 97,414.00 | 328,554.00 | 285,869.00 | 564,248.00 |
| Total at the 90th percentile of observed inflation (USD) | 143,047.00 | 482,465.00 | 1,069,746.00 | 828,568.00 |
| State median monthly cost today (USD) | 1,733.00 | 5,845.00 | 5,911.00 | 10,038.00 |
| Distance from winning value (USD) | 0.00 | 311,840.00 | 477,921.00 | 629,824.00 |
| Decision | Winning value | Alternative value | Alternative value | Alternative value |
Winner: Adult day care. Objective: minimize. Margin to next option: 311,840.00 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, TN: 1733 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: 2026-10-31T18:50:14.992Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD02, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
f59b69d2d3d2615df0a44a65faaebb81e0bb147d46a558c4beced66a2f65499fAssisted 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: 2026-10-31T18:50:15.251Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD02, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
426da124e8e5140956044a5d1d13098f9b874d825ebf071bf6e8db37e9ae6b5fHome 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: 2026-10-31T18:50:15.505Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD03, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
8ad6dbbcbfd510991cb9f308d8adc28708c1c0a4447bf8edfdb01bd010b0fd47Nursing 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: 2026-10-31T18:50:15.750Z
Source updated: survey 2025, fetched 2026-10-25; CPI series CUUR0000SEMD02, fetched 2026-10-11
Cache: Unreported
Response SHA-256
faf52190c9a22fa28a4635e8a76093300b5fac1d0abc4c0739527e84eb195965Questions about this comparison
Which type of long-term care costs the least in Tennessee?
Adult day care has the lowest projected total cost for 3 years of care starting at age 80 in Tennessee: $131,425 ($311,840 below the next-cheapest type). Adult day care: $131,425; Assisted living: $443,265; Home care aide: $609,346; Nursing home (private room): $761,249. 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 Tennessee, 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.