Nobody plans for a bill they’ve never seen. So here it is — long-term care costs in plain numbers, roughly what families are paying today. Exact figures vary by city and facility, but the shape of the problem doesn’t.
The Menu, Roughly
- Home health aide: roughly $30–$40+ per hour. A modest 40 hours a week runs $65,000–$85,000 a year — and round-the-clock home care can exceed everything else on this list.
- Assisted living: roughly $5,000–$7,000 a month nationally — $60,000–$85,000 a year, with Colorado’s Front Range typically toward the higher end.
- Memory care: add 20–30% on top of assisted living for dementia-specific units.
- Nursing home: roughly $8,000–$10,000+ per month for a semi-private room — $100,000–$130,000+ a year, more for private.
The Math That Actually Hurts
It’s not the monthly number — it’s the multiplication. The average care need runs about three years; dementia can run eight or more. Three years of assisted living plus one year of nursing care is a $300,000–$400,000 problem, and costs have been inflating faster than general prices. Now recall that Medicare pays for none of it, and you understand why this is the number-one destroyer of otherwise solid retirement plans.
The Quiet Cost: The Family
When there’s no funding plan, the plan becomes a person — usually a wife or a daughter cutting her hours, draining her own retirement, and doing lifting a professional should do. Funding care isn’t just about your money; it’s about which role your family gets to play. More on that in long-term care for women.
Cost by Type of Care
Care costs vary enormously by setting. In-home care from a licensed aide typically runs the least per hour but adds up fast at full-time hours. Assisted living communities bundle housing, meals, and some care into a monthly rate that’s often less than round-the-clock home care. A private room in a skilled nursing facility sits at the top of the range, generally the most expensive tier nationally. The right number for your plan depends heavily on which of these your family would realistically choose.
Why Colorado Costs What It Costs
Care costs track local labor markets more than almost anything else — wages for aides and nurses are the biggest line item in any facility’s budget. Front Range communities tend to run closer to (or above) the national median, while rural mountain and plains counties can run either direction depending on staffing availability. If you’re planning around a specific location, the state average is a starting point, not the number to build a plan on.
How Costs Have Changed Over the Last Decade
Long-term care costs have consistently outpaced general inflation for years, driven mostly by wage growth for caregivers — a labor-intensive service doesn’t get cheaper through automation the way manufactured goods do. If you’re planning for care that’s 15 or 20 years out, using today’s cost figures without building in continued above-inflation growth will understate what you’ll actually need, sometimes significantly.
Building Your Own Cost Estimate
Start with a realistic care setting for your situation, multiply the monthly cost by an expected duration (national averages tend to run two to three years, though outcomes vary widely), and you’ll have a rough total exposure number. That number is what a long-term care plan — whether insurance, a hybrid policy, or self-funded savings — needs to be sized against. Most people are surprised by how large the number gets once duration is factored in, not just the monthly rate.
Regional Variation Beyond Colorado
Care costs can vary by a wide margin between states, and even between counties within the same state. Rural areas sometimes cost less for home care but have fewer facility options, forcing families to travel or relocate for placement. Urban and mountain-resort areas often run well above the state average due to higher wages and real estate costs. If you or a parent might relocate in retirement, it’s worth pricing care in the destination, not just where you live today.
Rob’s Take
“Once you’ve seen these numbers, funding them is the easy part — that’s just picking a tool: traditional coverage, a hybrid policy, or repositioned savings. The expensive move is not picking. And the price of every tool goes up each birthday you wait.”
Talk It Through With Rob
Rob has spent 25+ years in retirement and longevity planning, and long-term care is where good plans get stress-tested. No call centers, no pressure — just a straight answer about your situation. Call 719-539-4790 or send a message. Start with the big-picture guide: Long-Term Care in Plain English.
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