Free long-term care calculator
Project the future cost of long-term care — nursing home, assisted living or home care — from today's annual cost, a care-inflation rate, the years until you'll need it and how long care lasts, with the total and first-year cost updated live as you type.
On this page12 sections
Hypothetical projection at fixed rate. Actual savings returns vary. Excludes taxes.
Results are estimates. Consult a professional.
What this long-term care cost calculator projects
A long-term care cost calculator projects the future price tag of the help most people eventually need with daily living — a nursing home, an assisted-living apartment, or care at home. It takes today's annual cost, applies a care-inflation rate for the years until you are likely to need care, then totals the bill across the years of care you expect. The result is the lump sum your future self may have to find, in tomorrow's dollars.
The need is common, not exotic. The federal government's longtermcare.gov estimates that about 70% of people turning 65 will need some form of long-term care in their lifetime, and women — who live longer — need it for longer on average.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (ACL) — How Much Care Will You Need? Someone turning 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care.How the future cost is calculated
Care costs do not stand still — they have historically risen faster than general inflation. The calculator grows today's cost forward to the year you expect to need care, then keeps inflating it across each year of care and adds the years together.
- Current annual care cost. What a year of the care you expect costs today — nursing home, assisted living or home care.
- Years until need. How far in the future you are projecting; longer horizons compound far more.
- Care inflation rate. How fast care prices rise each year — 4–5% is a common planning assumption.
- Expected years of care. How long care lasts; the calculator inflates and sums each year.
A worked example: projecting a future nursing-home bill
A year of care costs $60,000 today. You are planning 20 years out, assume care costs rise 4.5% a year, and expect to need 3 years of care. What is the projected total?
Step 1 — Grow today's cost to the year care begins
First-year cost = $60,000 × (1.045)^20 = $144,703. Two decades of 4.5% inflation more than doubles the annual cost.
Step 2 — Inflate across each year of care and add them up
Year 1 ≈ $144,703, year 2 ≈ $151,214, year 3 ≈ $158,019. Added together the three years total $453,936.
Typical long-term care costs by setting
Cost depends heavily on the setting and your region. The ranges below are typical national figures for the United States — start from the one that matches the care you are planning for, then adjust for your area.
| Care setting | Typical annual cost (recent US) | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Home care (home health aide) | ~$60,000–$75,000 | An aide who helps with daily activities at home |
| Adult day health care | ~$20,000–$25,000 | Daytime supervision and activities; you live at home |
| Assisted living facility | ~$54,000–$64,000 | Room, meals and help with daily activities |
| Nursing home (semi-private) | ~$94,000–$105,000 | 24-hour skilled nursing and personal care |
| Nursing home (private room) | ~$108,000–$120,000 | Skilled nursing in a private room |
Indicative national medians based on Genworth Cost of Care survey ranges; costs vary widely by state and year. Use a figure for your own region for the closest estimate.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (ACL) — Costs of Care, on the typical price of nursing home, assisted living and home care.What Medicare and Medicaid do — and do not — cover
A common and costly assumption is that Medicare pays for long-term care. It largely does not. Medicare covers short, skilled post-hospital stays, not the ongoing custodial care — help with bathing, dressing and eating — that makes up most long-term care.
- Medicare: covers only limited, short-term skilled care after a hospital stay — not long-term custodial care.
- Medicaid: the largest payer of long-term care, but only after you spend down most of your assets and meet strict income limits.
- Out of pocket: what many families pay until savings run out — exactly the cost this calculator projects.
- Long-term care insurance: a policy bought ahead of time to cover the bill; premiums rise sharply the older you are when you buy.
What pushes your projected cost up or down
- How far out you are planning. A 30-something projecting 40 years ahead faces enormous compounding; someone already 70 has a much shorter runway.
- The inflation rate you assume. Nudging the rate from 4% to 5% can add tens of thousands over a long horizon — it is the most sensitive input.
- The setting. Home care for a few hours a day costs a fraction of round-the-clock nursing-home care.
- Duration. Average stays run a few years, but dementia care can last far longer; women's longer life expectancy lengthens the average.
- Where you live. Costs in high-cost states can be double those in the least expensive states.
Long-term care terms, defined
How accurate is this long-term care cost projection?
The compounding math is exact, but a multi-decade projection rests on assumptions that no one can know in advance: the future inflation rate, how long care will last, and which setting you will need. Small changes to those inputs move the total by a lot, so treat the figure as a planning range rather than a precise forecast.
Use this as a planning estimate of future care costs — not financial or insurance advice. For current local prices check a recent cost-of-care survey for your state, and to turn this projected cost into a savings target, use the companion long-term care required savings calculator.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (ACL) — longtermcare.gov, the federal long-term care planning resource.Medicare.gov — Long-term care coverage details.Frequently asked questions about the free long-term care calculator
About this Long-term care calculator
This long-term care cost calculator runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere. It grows today's annual care cost forward by a care-inflation rate over the years until you need care, then inflates and sums each year of care to project the total future cost. It is a planning estimate over a long horizon, not financial or insurance advice.
To turn the projected cost into a savings target, use the long-term care required savings calculator. It is one of our free insurance calculators — or browse the complete calculators directory.