What Assisted Living Costs in the Memphis Area, and What the Monthly Rate Includes

Assisted living cost in the Memphis area

Key point: The real monthly cost is the base rate plus the care level your parent is assessed at plus ancillary fees, and only the first is advertised.

What a good provider should make clear: An all-in monthly figure, in writing, at your parent's assessed care level, with every extra fee listed and the last two years of rate increases.

Common mistake: Comparing two communities' advertised base rates when one includes care and the other charges for it by level.

Questions to ask: What will my parent's total monthly bill be at the care level you assessed, and what has your annual increase been for the last two years?

The three layers of the bill

Communities use one of three models, and you need to know which one you are being quoted:

• Tiered (levels of care): the assessment puts your parent at level one, two, three and so on, each adding a fixed monthly amount to the base rate.
• Points or a la carte: each task is scored, the points add up to a monthly care charge. More precise, harder to predict.
• All-inclusive: one monthly rate covers housing and all the care the community provides. Simpler, and usually higher at the start, but it does not jump when needs grow.

Memory care is often all-inclusive or has a higher base, because nearly every resident needs a high level of help and supervision.

What the base rate usually includes

• A private apartment or a shared suite, usually unfurnished
• Three meals a day in the dining room, and snacks
• Utilities except, often, phone and cable television
• Weekly housekeeping and laundering of bed linens and towels
• A calendar of activities and outings
• Scheduled transport to local appointments and shopping
• An emergency call system in the apartment
• Staff on site 24 hours a day

Ask for this list in writing. "Includes everything" means different things at different communities.

What is often charged on top

• Community fee: a one-time fee at move-in, often equal to some or all of one month's base rate. Ask whether any of it is refundable if your parent leaves within the first months.
• Care level or care points: the biggest variable. A parent assessed at a high level may pay more for care than for the apartment.
• Medication management: sometimes inside the care level, sometimes a separate monthly charge.
• Second-person fee: for a spouse sharing the apartment, plus their own care level.
• Incontinence care and supplies.
• Special or modified diets, and tray service to the apartment.
• Escorts to meals or activities, or to medical appointments outside the scheduled transport.
• Personal laundry, if only linens are included.
• Phone, cable and internet.
• Salon, guest meals, and outings with a cost.
• Pharmacy, therapy and medical supplies, which are billed by the provider and may go through your parent's insurance.

Why the care assessment sets the price

Before move-in, a nurse or wellness director assesses your parent: mobility, transfers, bathing, dressing, toileting, continence, eating, medications, memory and behaviour. The result is the care level, and the care level is the part of the bill families most often underestimate.

Three things to know:

1. Ask for the assessment result and the care level in writing before you sign.
2. Be honest in the assessment. Understating needs to get a lower quote leads to a reassessment within weeks and a higher bill, or to staff who were not expecting the help your parent needs.
3. Reassessments happen after hospital stays, falls, or a decline, and usually at set intervals. Each one can move the price.

Our guide to activities of daily living and care levels explains how assessments score each need.

How rate increases work

Almost every community raises its rates once a year, typically on a set date or on the anniversary of move-in. The increase applies to the base rate and usually to the care charges too. Your residency agreement says how much notice the community must give and how increases are made.

• Ask each community what its increase was for each of the last two or three years. A history tells you more than a promise.
• Ask whether increases are capped, and whether the care level charges rise on the same schedule.
• Ask whether a resident who moves in mid-year gets an increase a few months later at the next community-wide date.

Build the increases into your family's runway. A rate that is affordable in the first year can stop being affordable in the fourth.

Memory care cost

Memory care costs more than assisted living in the same community because it needs more staff per resident, specialised training, and a secured environment. Some communities price memory care as an all-inclusive rate; others use a higher base plus care levels. When you compare, compare all-in figures at your parent's assessed level, not base rates.

Of the 31 licensed Assisted Care Living Facilities in Shelby County, 23 report secured memory care beds to the state, so most families needing memory care in Memphis can compare several quotes.

The one published price benchmark in Tennessee

For residents on TennCare's CHOICES programme, the state publishes what a community may be paid. TennCare's 2026 memo sets CHOICES reimbursement for covered assisted living services at no more than $1,497.77 a month, and caps the room and board a community may charge a CHOICES member at $2,385.60 a month, a maximum total to the community of $3,883.37 a month unless the family chooses to pay for a private room. That is the price for residents who qualify for TennCare, not a market rate, and many communities limit how many CHOICES residents they accept. Our guide on what happens when the money runs out explains CHOICES in detail.

How to compare two quotes fairly

1. Get both quotes at the same care level, based on an assessment of your parent, not a guess.
2. Add the base rate, care charge, medication management and every monthly fee you will actually use.
3. Add the one-time community fee divided across the months you expect your parent to stay.
4. Ask for each community's increase history and apply it for three years.
5. Compare the three-year total, not the first month.

Common mistake: choosing the lower advertised base rate when the other community's rate already includes care.

Questions to ask before you sign

• What care level did you assess my parent at, and what is the all-in monthly total at that level?
• Do you use levels, points or an all-inclusive rate?
• Is medication management included or charged separately?
• What is the community fee, and is any part refundable?
• What has your annual increase been for the last two years? How much notice do you give?
• What triggers a reassessment, and how quickly does a new care level change the bill?
• What happens if my parent is in hospital for two weeks: do we still pay the full rate?
• Do you accept TennCare CHOICES if my parent's funds run out?

Costs families forget to budget for

• Moving: movers, a smaller set of furniture, and clearing the house.
• Pharmacy: communities often require medications in blister packs from a contracted pharmacy, which may cost more than your parent's usual pharmacy. Ask whether you can use your own.
• Personal items: clothing labels, toiletries, incontinence supplies if not included.
• Private aides: some families pay for a companion a few hours a week on top of the community's care, especially in the first weeks.
• The house: insurance, utilities and upkeep continue until it is sold or rented.
• Health insurance premiums and co-pays, which continue as before.

None of these appear on the community's bill, but they come out of the same savings.

Why location changes the price

In the Memphis area, newer and larger communities in Germantown, Collierville and East Memphis tend to quote higher base rates than smaller residences or older buildings elsewhere in the county. Location is a real part of the decision, because visiting often matters, but it is worth knowing that a community twenty minutes further out may cost noticeably less for the same care. The directory lists every licensed community with its distance from each city and hospital so you can widen the search deliberately.

Apartment size matters too. A studio or a shared companion suite costs less than a one-bedroom. Many residents spend most of the day in common areas; a smaller apartment can be the easiest saving.

Respite and short stays

Many communities offer short furnished stays, usually priced as a daily rate that includes care. Respite can cover a carer's holiday, recovery after a hospital stay, or a trial before deciding. The daily rate is higher than the long-term monthly rate divided by thirty, but there is usually no community fee, and some communities credit part of a respite stay against the community fee if the stay turns into a move.