What memory care actually costs here

The median above is computed from the 14 memory care communities in our index whose starting rate was either published on their own website or supplied to us directly by their staff, and which we could verify. It is a median of starting rates — the lowest advertised rate for the smallest unit — not of what any individual family pays after care-level assessment.

19 of the 33 memory care communities we track do not disclose pricing publicly. They are excluded from the figure, not guessed at. If disclosure is skewed toward higher- or lower-priced communities, this median inherits that skew — we can't correct for a number we're not given, and we won't pretend to.

What the starting rate typically excludes: the one-time community fee, care-level charges added after assessment, medication management, and second-person fees. On any profile, the "What it costs" section lists each of these separately with its own verification date.