15 Cheapest States for Long-Term Care: 2021

Related: 15 Most Expensive States for Long-Term Care: 2021

Genworth's recently released 18th annual cost-of-care survey showed that the cost of long-term care services increased across all provider types in 2021 and increased more substantially for certain settings. The cost of care services rose as follows:

• Assisted living facility: up 4.7% to an annual national median cost of $54,000 per year.
• Home health aide, which includes "hands-on" personal assistance: up 12.5% to $61,776.
• Homemaker services, which include assistance with "hands-off" tasks, up 10.6% to $59,488.
• Semi-private room in a skilled nursing facility: up 2% to $94,900.
• Private room in a nursing home: up 2.4% to $108,405.

Increases were largely due to greater demand for labor and the current national labor shortage, according to Brian Haendiges, president and chief executive of Genworth U.S. Life Insurance. Making the situation even more challenging, Haendiges said in a statement, are the broader trend of growing wages and increases in the cost of doing business associated with regulatory, employee certification, and equipment costs. The survey found wide variability in care costs for markets across the U.S., which it said likely will continue, owing to state and local regulations, demographics and population shifts. See the gallery for the 15 least expensive states for long-term health care.