New Jersey, New Hampshire and Washington are home to the cities with the most expensive assisted living communities in the country on average, according to a new analysis from Seniorly.
The senior living search website based its analysis on move-in data from its more than 60,000 senior living community network. The site calculated estimated pricing for the communities using its proprietary pricing estimator algorithm, which takes into account zip codes, community size and average cost of living. Washington, D.C., was not included in this year’s city rankings.
Princeton, New Jersey was found to be the most expensive city for seniors in assisted living with an average rent of $9,711 per month. Seniorly notes this is nearly double the national median of $4,567.
Rounding out the remaining top five most expensive cities were:
- Peterborough, New Hampshire, $8,811 per month
- Bedford, New Hampshire, $7,992 per month
- Tacoma, Washington, $7,963 per month
- Nashua, New Hampshire, $7,848 per month
New Jersey also had two other cities in the top-10 most expensive list, Bridgewater, where the average assisted living rent is $7,543; and Voorhees, where the average assisted living rent is $7,476). Additionally, New Hampshire has six of the top 25 most expensive cities on the list and is one of the most expensive states for assisted living, according to Seniorly.
California had the largest number of high-cost cities, with 28 in the Golden State alone. Minnesota has the second-most number of high-cost cities, with 20; followed by Virginia, which had 17 cities that were among the top 200 costliest for assisted living in the U.S.
All told, 17 states did not have any of the costliest cities for assisted living in the U.S.
On the flip side, Seniorly found that Lake Mary, Florida is the least expensive city for assisted living with an average cost of just $1,126 per month.
Georgia had the most cities with the lowest costs for assisted living, with 37 cities. Other states with the highest number of low-cost cities for assisted living included Florida, with 29 cities; and California, which had 17 cities on the list.
Other cities with some of the lowest average costs for assisted living include:
- Lebanon, Tennessee, $1,139 per month
- Catonsville, Maryland, $1,943 per month
- Chattanooga, Tennessee, $1,950 per month
- Brandon, Florida, $2,076 per month
Another 21 states did not have any of the 200 lowest-cost cities for assisted living in the U.S.
The report comes following the recent announcement from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care that occupancy is reaching near peak levels, while the amount of inventory growth has dwindled down to 1.5% and the number of new units under construction are at the lowest seen in nearly a decade.