What senior care costs around Columbia

How much is assisted living in Columbia, SC?

No Columbia-only figure exists; CareScout's 2025 survey puts South Carolina's median for a private one-bedroom in assisted living at $64,200 a year, about $5,350 a month, up 3% from 2024 and well under the $74,400 national median.

CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey, South Carolina results (released March 2, 2026). Monthly figures are the annual medians divided by 12. Home care is priced at 44 hours a week for 52 weeks (about $31.37 an hour). CareScout's South Carolina release publishes statewide medians only: there is no Columbia-only figure and no memory care figure.

South Carolina ranks 37th among the states for assisted living cost in that release. Quotes around Columbia spread widely around the median, from small residential homes in North Columbia to full-service campuses in Lexington and Northeast Richland. Ask every community to separate base rent from the care-level fee in writing, because the care fee is the part that grows.

What does a nursing home cost in South Carolina?

CareScout's 2025 statewide medians are $108,405 a year for a semi-private room (about $9,034 a month) and $115,340 for a private room (about $9,612).

At those prices, few Midlands families can pay privately for more than a year or two, which is why most long-stay residents eventually rely on Healthy Connections Medicaid. Medicare covers only short skilled stays after a qualifying hospital admission. The two pages on Medicaid for nursing home care and what Medicare pays explain the hand-off.

What does in-home care cost per hour around Columbia?

The 2025 South Carolina median for a non-medical home care worker is $71,786 a year at 44 hours a week, roughly $31 an hour or $5,982 a month, a 5% rise over 2024.

The hourly rate is what turns the home-versus-assisted-living question into arithmetic. Below roughly 40 paid hours a week, help at home tends to cost less than the assisted living median; above that it costs more, and round-the-clock coverage costs several times as much:

How much is adult day care in the Midlands?

CareScout's 2025 South Carolina median for adult day health care five days a week is $18,720 a year, about $1,560 a month, the least expensive paid option in the survey.

DPH licenses 17 adult day care centers in the six counties, with room for 1,084 participants in total. Many Columbia families pair a weekday program with a few evening hours of in-home help so a parent can stay home while adult children work. Community Choices waiver members can receive adult day health care as a waiver service, and PACE participants attend PACE's own center.

Is there a memory care price for Columbia?

No. CareScout does not survey memory care separately, and no state or Columbia source publishes a memory care median, so any specific number you see is one facility's price or someone's estimate.

A secured Alzheimer's unit usually costs more than standard assisted living in the same building because of the locked environment and added staffing. Ask for the full monthly charge in writing, including any dementia fee, and how it changes as care needs rise. The disclosure required by the Alzheimer's Special Care Disclosure Act should list charges beyond basic care.