Assisted Living in South Dakota

South Dakota’s assisted living communities provide seniors with a warm and caring place to call home. For an average cost of about $4,300 per month, the state’s assisted living communities offer homelike environments with on-site amenities. With its breathtaking northern Great Plains landscape, South Dakota boasts two national parks and countless outdoor recreation opportunities — plus a relatively low cost of living.

The average cost of assisted living in South Dakota is about $4,300 per month. This is quite a bit lower than the national average cost, which is about $5,100 per month. However, assisted living costs can vary from community to community. In South Dakota, monthly assisted living costs range between about $3,400 at the lower end and about $5,300 at the highest end.^[01]

The following factors can affect assisted living costs:

• Location. Assisted living costs are typically higher in areas with a higher cost of living. South Dakota’s cost of living is lower than the national average, which helps explain why its average assisted living costs are also lower.^[02]
• Care level. Communities offering more advanced care levels will likely be more expensive than communities only offering baseline care levels. For example, you can expect to pay more for a specialized memory care community than a community that only offers personal care. Consider what your loved one’s needs are, and factor that into your plan for payment.
• Services and amenities. Some communities are pricier because they offer luxury-level amenities, such as an on-site spa or resort-style pool.
• Floor plan size. Typically, communities offer a choice of floor plan sized for residents’ apartment-style living accommodations. As with any apartment unit, prices increase as square footage and number of bedrooms increase.

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 South Dakota. Families can use a combination of private and public payment methods to cover these costs, which you can read about in the following section.

It’s important to 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 South Dakota. Read about the state’s payment options below. For a higher level overview, you can read our guide to paying for long-term care.

For licensing purposes, assisted living communities in South Dakota are referred to as Assisted Living Centers. Assisted Living Centers are required by law to obtain a license from the South Dakota Department of Health, who are also responsible for performing inspections.^[05]

Assisted Living Centers are required to provide the following:^[05]

• A homelike, noninstitutionalized setting
• 24-hour staffing
• Assistance with activities of daily living, such as eating, bathing, and dressing
• At least three meals per day
• Supervision of medication self-administration, meaning residents administer their own medications while qualified staff supervise
• Laundry service
• Housekeeping

Assisted Living Centers range in size, from smaller family-style homes to large apartment-style complexes. These centers must comply with standards in the following areas, as determined by the South Dakota Legislative Research Council:^[06]

• Physical environment, including proper sanitation, cleaning methods, ventilation, pest control, and lighting
• Fire protection, including meeting applicable fire safety standards and having proper installation of alarm systems and fire extinguishing equipment
• Nursing care services, including sufficient resident care, follow-through of resident care plans, and adherence to nursing policies and procedures
• Medication control, including proper medication administration policies, proper storage and labeling of medications, and proper drug disposal
• Residents’ rights and supportive services, including having residents’ rights policies in place and respecting residents’ privacy, spiritual needs, finances, and decision-making abilities

Ease of access to assisted living records in South Dakota

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 South Dakota assisted living records: Basic

Public access to assisted living records and reports for the state of South Dakota is basic. These key findings helped inform this rating:

• South Dakota provides an online PDF that lists licensed assisted living communities.
• Information about inspections, violations, or complaints may be obtained by filling out a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and mailing your request to the state. Survey reports for nursing homes are available online in South Dakota.

How to look up South Dakota assisted living licenses and records

• South Dakotans should contact the Department of Health for basic information.
• Contact the office of your local long-term care ombudsman to see if they can provide information about a community you are exploring.
• Visit the US Administration on Aging’s Eldercare Locator to locate the appropriate long-term-care ombudsman.
• If you need to make a FOIA request to get records, consider browsing these state by state resources from the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

How we arrived at our South Dakota 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? No
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 or N/A
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? 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