Modify or Move? What New Cost-of-Care Data Means for Aging-in-Place Decisions

I have this conversation more than almost any other. A family is sitting across from me, or from one of the professionals I've trained, and someone says some version of, "We looked into modifying the bathroom, but it's just not in the budget right now." What almost never happens in that same conversation is a real number for the alternative. Nobody has priced out what happens if they don't modify the house.

CareScout's latest Cost of Care Survey just put a number on it, and it's worth sitting with. The national median cost of an assisted living community is now $6,200 a month, or $74,400 a year. A semi-private room in a nursing home runs $315 a day, or just under $115,000 a year. A private room runs $355 a day, over $129,000 a year. Even in-home, non-medical care, someone coming into the house to help with bathing, dressing, and daily tasks, now carries a national median of $35 an hour, which adds up to over $80,000 a year at 44 hours a week. These figures come from CareScout's own 2025 survey, one of the largest of its kind, built from more than 25,000 rates collected from providers across the country between July and November of last year.

These Are National Medians, Not a Prediction

I want to be direct about what this data is and isn't. These are national medians. Costs vary meaningfully by state, by metro area, and by the specific level of care a person needs. A family in a rural county will see different numbers than a family in a major metro. CareScout collects its rates at the metropolitan level for exactly this reason, because a single national figure can be a useful starting point and a misleading final answer at the same time. Nobody should walk away from this piece thinking their own care costs are locked in at $74,400. What they should walk away with is a sense of scale. And at scale, the comparison changes the conversation.

The Comparison Nobody Runs Until They're Forced To

Most families don't compare a home modification estimate to a year of assisted living. They compare it to nothing, or to their own discomfort with spending money on a house they've lived in for thirty years. A curbless shower, a widened doorway, a stair lift, none of that is inexpensive. But almost none of it approaches even one year of the alternative, let alone the years that often follow.

This is not a scare tactic, and I don't use it as one. I've watched what happens when a family avoids the modification conversation until a fall forces it, and I've also watched what happens when someone brings the real numbers into the room early and calmly. The second conversation almost always goes better. It's not about frightening anyone into a decision. It's about giving people the same information they'd want before any other major financial choice, so the choice they make is actually theirs.

What This Means for the Professionals in the Room

If you're an OT scoping a modification plan, a remodeler pricing a project, a real estate agent talking with a client about whether to sell or stay, or a consultant helping a family think it through, this data is one of the more useful tools you have. It doesn't require persuasion. It requires a side-by-side: a one-time modification cost against a recurring, five- or six-figure annual bill. Let the family do that math themselves. They usually don't need you to make the case for them once the numbers are actually on the table.

It also belongs in a bigger conversation, not a standalone one. Cost of care data works alongside, not instead of, the funding conversation. Some families will offset part of a modification cost through home modification funding options like HUD, VA, or Medicaid programs, and others will be paying entirely out of pocket either way. Either way, the comparison against the true cost of the alternative is worth having before anyone rules out a modification as unaffordable.

The Business Case, Stated Plainly

Eighty-four percent of homeowners who renovate a bathroom already bring in a professional to guide the project, and the families weighing modification against relocation are looking for the same thing: someone who can speak plainly about cost, not just design or safety in isolation. That's exactly the fluency CAPS certification training is built to give builders, remodelers, designers, OTs, and real estate professionals, the ability to walk a family through what a modification actually costs, set next to what the alternative actually costs, without turning the conversation into a sales pitch or a scare tactic.

Quality of life and family preference still matter more than any spreadsheet, and they should. But it's a lot easier to choose to stay in a home you love when you know exactly what you're choosing against. If you want to talk through how to bring this kind of cost comparison into your own client conversations, reach out directly. It's one of the most useful tools I teach.

---

Fritzi Gros-Daillon, MS, CAPS, SHSS, is an NAHB Master Instructor and 2019 NAHB Educator of the Year. She teaches CAPS courses nationwide and consults with builders, remodelers, designers, OTs, and real estate professionals on aging-in-place home assessment and modification.