Assisted Living in North Carolina

In North Carolina, assisted living communities offer older adults a comfortable, hassle-free environment. As a Southern state famous for its diverse geography and culture, North Carolina offers plenty of charm and individuality. Its moderate cost of living and reasonable weather, in combination with stunning mountainous landscapes, historic coastal towns, and numerous state parks, make the state a remarkable place to call home.

The average cost of assisted living in North Carolina is about $5,000 per month, according to A Place for Mom’s internal data on our partner communities throughout the state. That’s about $100 less expensive than the national average.^[01]

However, assisted living costs vary across communities in North Carolina. Monthly costs range between about $3,000 at the low end and $7,100 at the highest end for North Carolina assisted living communities. This is because facilities base their costs on factors such as the following:

• How large or small apartment floor plans are
• How luxurious amenities are
• How high or low the cost of living is in the geographic location (e.g., assisted living communities tend to have higher monthly costs in areas with a higher cost of living, and vice versa)
• How advanced on-site care levels are (e.g., a community offering only personal care is typically less expensive than a community offering specialized memory care)

The figures above are reflective of actual prices paid by families who were referred to an A Place for Mom partner assisted living community in North Carolina. They account for all fees paid, including amenities, services, and care. Seniors and their families often use a combination of public and private payment methods to cover these costs. Read more about various payment options below.

Whether you or your family can cover assisted living using personal savings, or you opt to utilize public pay options, there are a variety of methods to pay for assisted living in North Carolina. This section outlines the various payment options families often use to cover their assisted living or long-term care costs. You can also view our guide to paying for long-term care for a high-level overview.

The licensure term for assisted living in North Carolina is Assisted Living Residence. However, there are a couple of different types of Assisted Living Residences, each providing a slightly different scope of care:^[05]

• A standard Assisted Living Residence (ALR). An ALR is defined by group housing with at least one meal per day, housekeeping services, and personal care services. Personal care services are provided directly through a formal agreement with a licensed home care or hospice agency.
• An Adult Care Home. An Adult Care Home is defined as a type of ALR that provides 24-hour scheduled and unscheduled personal care services to at least two residents. These services are also provided directly through a formal agreement with a licensed home care or hospice agency. Additionally, some licensed Adult Care Homes provide supervision to people with cognitive impairment who are unable to make their own decisions safely.
• A Multi-Unit Assisted Housing with Services facility. A Multi-Unit Assisted Housing with Services facility is another type of ALR that provides hands-on personal care and nursing services. These services are arranged by housing management and provided by a licensed home care or hospice agency.

Adult Care Homes must be licensed through the North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services Division of Health Service Regulation, Adult Care Licensure Section. Multi-Unit Assisted Housing with Services facilities aren’t licensed, but they still must register with the Division of Health Service Regulation.

Although Adult Care Homes and Multi-Unit Assisted Housing with Services facilities are considered types of ALRs, each assisted living type is bound to slightly different rules and regulations. To read a full list of rules that North Carolina’s assisted living facilities are required to follow, view the North Carolina section in the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL)’s Assisted Living State Regulatory Review.

Ease of access to assisted living records in North Carolina

We developed a system to rate each state on how easy — or difficult — it is to find important assisted living records and reports, and we 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 North Carolina assisted living records: Exceptional

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

• North Carolina is in the top quartile for assisted living transparency.
• North Carolina has a robust database and a star rating system for providers based on inspection scores from year to year.

How to look up North Carolina assisted living licenses and records

• To find licensed assisted living communities in North Carolina visit the North Carolina Adult Care Licensure page.
• To find communities that have had documented issues in the past, visit North Carolina’s Listing of Facilities with Penalties page.
• To find inspections and star ratings for specific providers, use the Facility Inspections, Ratings and Penalties page.

How we arrived at our North Carolina 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)? No
11. Is the administrator/contact name shown? No
12. Can the state fine a facility? Yes
13. What is the frequency of inspections? Every 24 months
14. Does the website include pricing of facilities? No