Using CareScout's 2025 New York State medians, in-home non-medical caregiving costs $35 per hour, or about $6,673 per month at 44 hours a week, compared to assisted living's median of $7,110 per month ($225 per day). At roughly 45 to 46 hours per week of paid in-home care, the monthly cost crosses over and exceeds the assisted living median; families needing care beyond that, including any overnight or 24/7 coverage, would generally spend more on home care than on a private one-bedroom assisted living apartment.
The distinction that matters
This crossover point is a useful, if rough, budgeting benchmark for Nassau and Suffolk families trying to decide between aging in place with paid help versus moving to an assisted living community, though it's an oversimplification in a few important ways. The $35-per-hour figure reflects non-medical caregiver support only; it doesn't capture the value of staying in a familiar home, nor does it capture assisted living's built-in amenities like meals, housekeeping, and social programming, which would otherwise be separate costs for someone aging in place. It also doesn't account for a spouse or family member providing significant unpaid care, which lowers the effective home-care cost but shifts the burden onto that caregiver instead. Still, as a purely dollar-for-dollar comparison using CareScout's own state medians, the math suggests that once a person needs roughly round-the-clock paid coverage, the per-month cost of hourly home care generally exceeds assisted living's median monthly rate.
Related questions
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- What's the difference between a CCRC or Life Plan Community and a standalone assisted living or nursing facility on Long Island?
