Women drinking coffee in assisted living unit

The District of Columbia ($80,400) and Missouri ($32,400) represent the ends of the spectrum for average annual charges for private-pay assisted living in a new report released by the AARP.

Meanwhile, the supply of assisted living and residential care units among various states showed even more divergent statistics: Oregon led with 121 units per 1,000 people, whereas Louisiana was last at 20 per 1,000.

The figures are included in the newly released AARP Public Policy Institute’s 2018 edition of “Across the States/Profiles of Long Term Services and Supports.”

Following D.C. as the most costly places for assisted living were Delaware ($72,180), Alaska ($72,000) and New Jersey ($69,732). The least costly, after Missouri, were Georgia ($33,600), South Carolina ($34,380) and Arkansas ($36,156).

The national average was $45,000 per year. Cost figures used 2017 annualized numbers, except for D.C., for which only 2016 numbers were available.

The largest ratios of assisted living supply after Oregon were North Dakota (105 per 1,000 people),  Washington (103) and Wisconsin (92). The rest of the bottom four were: District of Columbia (21), Wyoming (25) and West Virginia (26). Figures used 2014 data but did not include Connecticut or Iowa.

The “Across the States” report highlighted a handful of key trends. Among them:

  • The 85-plus population is expected to triple by 2050.
  • The elderly population is becoming more ethnically diverse, with Hispanics, for example, expected to quadruple by 2050.
  • Long-term services and supports provided by state Medicaid programs are becoming more balanced between institutional care and home- and community-based services (such as provided in assisted living communities).