Assisted Living in Idaho

The average monthly cost of assisted living in Idaho is approximately $4,600, over $500 less per month than the national median cost, according to A Place for Mom’s proprietary data.^[01] This makes Idaho one of the more affordable assisted living locations in the U.S.

In Idaho, A Place for Mom’s internal data indicates costs typically range from roughly $2,800 to just over $6,300 a month. The type of assisted living community a resident chooses, and the resident’s care needs, are factors that affect their cost of care. Standard assisted living facilities generally cost less than specialty memory care facilities for residents with dementia or cognitive decline.

The size of a community may also affect costs. A significant number of assisted living communities in Idaho are converted homes in residential neighborhoods designed to house and care for three to 15 residents. These homey settings may cost less than larger, more traditional assisted living facilities.

Monthly cost figures generally cover a senior’s complete care needs, including:

• Assistance with activities of daily living, such as dressing, bathing, and personal grooming
• 24-hour supervision and monitoring
• A safe, secure room or apartment
• Daily meals and snacks
• Assistance with personal medication management
• Social activities and event schedules
• Complimentary or at-cost transportation

Assisted living facilities that offer cognitive support and dementia care are often more expensive. More extensive staffing requirements, additional therapy programs, and increased safety features contribute to this cost difference.

Other factors can also affect the cost of assisted living in Idaho, like:

• Location. Facilities located in rural areas often cost less than those in urban centers.
• Services and amenities. Some communities have additional amenities, like on-site beauty salons, specialized fitness classes, or contracted off-site therapists. These features may come at an extra cost.
• Floorplans. Single-occupancy rooms and apartments tend to be more expensive than double-occupancy rooms. All communities in Idaho must provide at least 100 square feet of space per resident.

Medicare and Medicaid may also help offset some of the costs of medical care expenses in an assisted living community for qualified seniors.

Each family has their own unique budget and needs. The sooner you evaluate your loved one’s financial situation and determine a budget, the more options you can plan for. This is especially true if your aging relative is lower-income. Additional financial resources may be available to qualifying seniors through public assistance programs, such as stipends from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Medicaid waivers, which we’ll explain in more detail below. If you plan to use Medicare or Medicaid to cover any medical services in assisted living, an application or waiting period may apply.

Many families use a combination of private funds and public payment methods to cover the costs of assisted living. For a high-level overview of payment options, consult our guide to paying for long-term care.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare licenses assisted living communities throughout the state. Idaho has different regulations and requirements for facilities based on the number of beds available and whether they care for residents with dementia or another form of cognitive decline.^[03] We’ll explain the similarities and differences below.

All assisted living facilities in Idaho must be licensed and inspected by the state, no matter the size or level of care they provide. Inspections take staffing, medication management guidelines, safety standards, and space requirements into account.

• Space requirements: Residents in single rooms must have at least 100 square feet of floor space. In multi-bed rooms, each resident must have at least 80 square feet. A maximum of six residents can share a single bathroom.
• Medication management requirements: A licensed professional nurse must supervise all medication distribution and planning. Unlicensed staff who have completed related trainings can help with self-administration of medication.
• Safety standards: Smoke detectors and fire alarms are required in all assisted living facilities. Communities with 16 or more beds must have commercial-grade systems regularly inspected by the fire department.
• Resident assessment requirements: Facilities must assess all residents either prior to or on the day of move in. An assessment tool developed by the Department of Health and Welfare provides uniform guidelines. Residents with dementia must live in assisted living facilities licensed to assist with cognitive decline.

Staffing requirements for Idaho assisted living facilities

All assisted living communities in Idaho must offer 24-hour supervision, but requirements vary by number of beds and dementia care licensing.

Communities with 15 or fewer beds:

• Must have at least one trained staff member awake and available at all times.
• Must have an official administrator available to be on-site within two hours of any call from a staff member.
• Must have a board-approved administrator with either a bachelor’s degree or over 800 hours of on-site experience.

Communities with 16 or more beds:

• Must have an administrator, nurse, or care coordinator available immediately during both sleeping and waking hours.
• Must have at least one direct care staff member with certification in First Aid and CPR in every building of the facility at all times
• Must have an administrator with a valid Idaho nursing home administrator license.

Communities licensed to care for residents with dementia:

• Must provide secure indoor and outdoor spaces for residents to safely maneuver.
• Must train all staff members on dementia care basics, in addition to symptom and behavior management, communication, and stress reduction tactics.

After a facility becomes licensed, they must renew their license yearly and undergo annual inspections from the Department of Health and Welfare.

Ranking Idaho’s system of regulation and records

We developed a system to rate each state based on the ease of information access. In other words, how easy — or difficult — it is to find important assisted living records and reports.

States with the most transparent records allow you to look up important information about each assisted living facility online, including inspections, complaints, survey results, violations, capacity, and Medicaid acceptance.

Access to Idaho assisted living records: Exceptional

Public access to assisted living records and reports for the state of Idaho is exceptional.

Idaho is very transparent and ranks highly due to the state website recently including enforcement information in the same place as licensed communities.

How to look up Idaho assisted living licenses and records

• Visit the Residential Care and Assisted Living Consumers’ Page.
• Select “Residential Assisted Living Facilities” for a list of licensed providers.
• Select “Facility Survey/Inspections Reports” for information about the backgrounds of communities.

How we arrived at our Idaho rating

We developed a standard methodology for state data collection and evaluation, and we based our rating primarily on the objective, state-specific accessibility criteria outlined in these questions:

1. Are licensed assisted living communities listed online in any form? Yes
2. If Yes to #1, is the information updated frequently? Yes
3. If Yes to #1, is the list of licensed communities searchable? Yes
4. Does the state post inspections, complaints, survey results, or violations online? Yes
5. If Yes to #4, is the information updated frequently (within 90 days)? Yes
6. If Yes to #2 and #4, is the enforcement information included in the same place as licensed communities? Yes
7. If Yes to #4 and No to #6, are violations and inspections searchable at all? Yes
8. Is information about special licensing for care shown? Yes
9. Is capacity shown? Yes
10. Are payment types shown (e.g., Medicaid, private pay)? Yes
11. Is the administrator/contact name shown? Yes
12. Can the state fine a facility? Yes
13. What is the frequency of inspections? Every 12 months
14. Does the website include pricing of facilities? No