Assisted Living in Minnesota

Minnesota’s assisted living communities allow older adults to live a comfortable, active, and worry-free lifestyle. Sharing a Lake Superior water border with Michigan and Wisconsin, Minnesota is lovingly nicknamed the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” However, if lake life isn’t your forte, Minnesota also comprises vast plains and rolling hills scattered across the state. Boasting a moderate cost of living, Minnesota’s charming towns and lavish cities blend together to form a state rich with art, culture, sports fandom, and deep history.

The cost of assisted living in Minnesota averages approximately $4,800 per month, according to A Place for Mom’s internal data on our partner communities in the state. That’s about $300 less expensive than the national average. However, Minnesota’s assisted living monthly costs can range from about $2,400 on the lowest end to $7,700 on the higher end.^[01]

Assisted living costs are different from community to community. They depend on factors like the specific location of the community, the size of their apartment floor plans, the quality of amenities they offer, and whether they provide advanced or specialized care levels. You can expect higher costs in communities offering larger apartment options, more luxurious amenities, and higher care levels.

The assisted living costs above account for all fees paid, including any extra services, amenities, and care. Our figures are reflective of the actual prices paid by families referred to one of A Place for Mom’s partner assisted living communities in Minnesota. Families can use a combination of private and public payment methods to cover these costs, which you can read about in the following section.

Families should start planning for how to pay for long-term care as early as possible. Whether you’re able to cover assisted living using personal savings or opt to utilize public pay options, there are a variety of methods to pay for assisted living in Minnesota. Read about the payment options below, or view our guide to paying for long-term care for a high-level overview.

The licensure term for assisted living in Minnesota is “Assisted Living Facility.” Assisted Living Facilities are regulated by the Department of Health’s Health Regulation Division. Minnesota recognizes two levels of Assisted Living Facilities. The first offers standard services found in most assisted living communities across the U.S., such as room and board, medication management, and assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs). The second offers the same services with the addition of specialized dementia care.^[05]

An Assisted Living Facility (including one with dementia care) is defined as a facility that provides sleeping arrangements and assisted living services to at least one adult. Minnesota’s assisted living services can include one or more of the following:^[05]

• Assistance with activities of daily living
• Standby assistance
• Medication reminders and/or medication management
• Reminders to complete scheduled treatments or exercises
• Meal accommodations for specialized diets (provided by a licensed health professional)
• Services from a registered nurse, or licensed practical nurse
• Physical, speech, or occupational therapy
• Transfer and mobility assistance
• Complex or specialty health care services

You can find a complete list of specific regulations that Minnesota’s Assisted Living Facilities must follow in the Minnesota section of the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL)’s Assisted Living State Regulatory Review.

Ease of access to assisted living records in Minnesota

We developed a system to rate each state on how easy – or difficult – it is to find important assisted living records and reports and compiled tips to help you in your search.

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 whether the facility accepts Medicaid.

Access to Minnesota assisted living records: Exceptional

Public access to assisted living records and reports for the state of Minnesota is exceptional. Key findings that informed this rating include:

• Minnesota’s records are generally transparent, but the state slipped somewhat in our rankings because some information about communities is limited. (For example, community capacity is not available.)
• Information about providers on the Department of Health website is refreshed daily, although a comprehensive list of licensed providers is only published annually.

How to look up Minnesota assisted living licenses and records

Follow the instructions below to look up assisted living licenses and records in Minnesota.

• Use Minnesota’s Health Care Facility and Provider Database to find an up-to-date list of licensed providers.
• To find substantiated complaints against communities, use the Complaint Information Database and make sure to choose “supervised living facilities” as the provider type.

How we arrived at our Minnesota rating

We developed a standard methodology for state data collection and evaluation, and 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? No
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? No
10. Are payment types shown (e.g., Medicaid, private pay)? No
11. Is the administrator/contact name shown? Yes
12. Can the state fine a facility? No
13. What is the frequency of inspections? Every 12 months
14. Does the website include pricing of facilities? No