How Much Does Assisted Living Cost in Texas in 2026?

If you're trying to pin down the real assisted living cost in Texas, you're probably somewhere in the middle of a hard decision: comparing communities, running numbers, and wondering how it's all going to fit into your budget. You're not alone, and you don't need a finance degree to figure this out.

This guide walks through the actual numbers, what drives them up or down, what's included in your monthly bill, and the real ways families cover the cost: Medicaid, Medicare, veterans benefits, and more.

Monthly Average Cost of Assisted Living in Texas

Let's start with the number you actually came here for. According to the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey (data collected July through November 2025), the median assisted living cost in Texas is $5,666 per month, or about $67,992 per year. That works out to roughly $184 a day.

For comparison, the national median assisted living cost sits at $6,200 a month ($74,400 a year) — meaning Texas runs about $534 a month cheaper than the country as a whole. That's welcome news if you're budgeting on a Texas income, though it's still a significant monthly expense for most families.

Cost by City (CareScout Data)

Where a community sits matters as much as what it offers; real estate values, local wages, and property taxes all shape the monthly rate, and Texas has enough regional variation to make city-level research worthwhile.

Highest-Cost and More Affordable Texas Markets

Austin consistently has the highest prices, driven by rapid population growth and a competitive labor market for caregivers. Houston sits near the statewide median despite being the largest city in Texas, because of its comparatively moderate real estate costs. San Antonio runs noticeably lower, helped in part by a large military retiree population and a well-established senior care market. West Texas cities like El Paso, Lubbock, and Amarillo tend to offer the most affordable options in the state.

These are estimates. Actual pricing depends on the specific community, room type, and care level, so treat this table as a starting point for budgeting rather than a quote.

It's also worth noting that pricing data can vary by source and survey year, so different guides sometimes report slightly different numbers for the same city. If you're deep in the budgeting process, it's worth pulling current quotes directly from a handful of communities in your target city rather than relying on any single published average.

Smaller Texas cities outside these major metros, places like Waco, Abilene, Corpus Christi, and Tyler, often land somewhere between the West Texas and Dallas-Fort Worth numbers. If your family has flexibility on location, looking just outside a major metro can sometimes mean meaningful savings without sacrificing access to quality care or proximity to family.

Cost of Assisted Living vs. Other Care Options in Texas

Assisted living isn't the only care setting on the table, and it helps to see how it stacks up. A semi-private room in a Texas nursing home runs a median of $5,627 a month, actually slightly below the assisted living median, which is unusual; in most states, nursing home care costs considerably more. A private nursing home room in Texas runs closer to $7,604 a month, reflecting the higher level of skilled medical care provided.

In-home care is priced differently, by the hour rather than a flat monthly rate. Texas's median rate for a non-medical caregiver is $30 an hour; at roughly 44 hours a week, that adds up to about $5,720 a month, putting it in a similar range to assisted living itself. The right choice usually comes down to how much daily support your loved one needs and whether they want to remain in their own home.

Because Texas's nursing home semi-private pricing sits so close to assisted living costs, it's worth having an honest conversation with a placement specialist or discharge planner about which setting actually fits your loved one's care needs. Cost alone shouldn't be the deciding factor between a facility built for medical care and one built around daily living support.

What Drives the Price

The $5,666 median is a helpful starting point, but real quotes will move up or down based on several factors:

• Level of care needed. Typically, communities will charge a base rate for housing and then add care levels based on how much help a person needs with their activities of daily living. Memory care is often 20% to 30% more expensive than standard assisted living.

• Location within Texas. As covered above, metro area matters, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth communities generally price well above the state median.

• Room type. A private one-bedroom apartment costs more than a shared room or studio.

• Services & Amenities Level. Resort-style dining, extensive activity programming, or upscale finishes in communities come with a cost.

• Staffing ratios and licensing level. More staff per resident or higher clinical licensing generally means more expensive communities.

• Annual rate increases. Assisted living costs in Texas, like everywhere, tend to rise 3% to 7% a year. If you're budgeting for the next three to five years, build that increase into your calculations rather than assuming today's quote will hold steady.

What Is Included in the Cost of Assisted Living

Most Texas assisted living communities bundle a base set of services into the monthly fee:

• Housing/rent

• Meals and dining service

• Housekeeping and laundry

• Personal care assistance (bathing, dressing, medication management)

• Activities and social programming

• Scheduled transportation

• 24/7 staff availability

Does Medicaid/Medicare Pay for Assisted Living in Texas?

This is where most families get tripped up, so let's be direct about it.

Medicare does not cover the cost of long-term assisted living. This is the single biggest misconception families run into. Medicare will pay for short-term skilled nursing care under specific conditions, typically following a qualifying hospital stay, and only for a limited number of days, but it was never designed to cover the ongoing custodial care that makes up most of assisted living. If you're counting on Medicare to cover this bill, it's important to know now, not after move-in.

Medicaid can help through Texas's STAR+PLUS program. STAR+PLUS is a Texas Medicaid managed care program for adults 65+ or with disabilities, and its Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver specifically lists assisted living as a covered setting. The waiver pays for care services: personal care assistance, nursing services, medication management, and similar support, but it does not cover room and board. Residents are still responsible for that portion, generally tied to the SSI payment rate.

To qualify, applicants generally need to meet 2026 Texas Medicaid income and asset limits (around $2,982/month income and $2,000 in countable assets for a single applicant, with different limits for married applicants) and demonstrate a medical need equivalent to a Nursing Facility Level of Care. Because the STAR+PLUS waiver is not an entitlement, it has a capped number of enrollment slots, there can be a waitlist, so it's worth applying as early as possible rather than waiting until care is urgently needed. Eligibility rules and waitlist status change, so confirm current details directly through Texas Health and Human Services before you plan around this option.

Other Ways to Pay

Beyond Medicaid, families cover assisted living costs in Texas through a mix of these options:

• Long-term care insurance. If your loved one purchased a policy years ago, it may cover part or all of the monthly cost — review the policy terms and elimination period.

• VA Aid & Attendance benefits. Wartime-era veterans and surviving spouses may qualify for an additional monthly VA pension benefit that can go directly toward care costs.

• Life insurance conversion. Some life insurance policies can be converted into a long-term care benefit or sold through a life settlement to fund care.

• Reverse mortgage. For couples where one spouse remains in the home, a reverse mortgage can free up cash without requiring the home to be sold immediately.

• Selling the family home. Often the single largest source of funds families use to cover several years of assisted living costs.

• Private pay/personal savings. Retirement accounts, pensions, and Social Security income are commonly combined to cover monthly fees.

• Bridge loans or family cost-sharing. Short-term loans or a cost-sharing agreement among adult children can cover the gap while other funding (such as a home sale) is finalized.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is assisted living cheaper than a nursing home in Texas? On paper, sometimes. Texas is one of the few states where a semi-private nursing home room ($5,627/month) prices close to or even slightly below the assisted living median. But the two settings aren't interchangeable: nursing homes provide licensed skilled medical care, while assisted living is built around support with activities of daily living. The right choice should be based on care needs first, cost second.

How much does memory care cost in Texas compared to standard assisted living? Memory care communities in Texas generally cost 20% to 30% more than traditional assisted living because of the specialized staffing, secure environments, and higher level of supervision required for residents with dementia or Alzheimer’s.

Is there a free way to estimate assisted living costs before touring communities? Most senior living directories, including Seniors Living Communities, let you filter and compare community pricing online at no cost before you ever schedule a tour, a useful way to narrow down options before committing time to in-person visits.

Does Texas offer any state-funded assistance for assisted living besides Medicaid? Texas does not have a stand-alone state-funded assisted living subsidy program, aside from Medicaid’s STAR+PLUS waiver. While some Area Agencies on Aging provide local support services and veterans may have access to other VA-specific benefits, the primary public funding source for assisted living in the state is Medicaid.

Finding Affordable Options for Assisted Living

The real assisted living cost in Texas you'll pay depends on your loved one's care needs, the city you're searching in, and how you choose to fund it, there's no single number that applies to every family. Texas remains one of the more affordable large states for this kind of care, and there are real ways to make the numbers work, from Medicaid's STAR+PLUS waiver to VA benefits to simply widening your search radius to a nearby city.

Understanding the numbers is only half the picture — the right fit matters just as much as the right price. Seniors Living Communities lets you search and compare communities near you by city, budget, and care type. Take a quiz using our free Matching Tool to find communities that match your budget, and bring our Tour Companion along when you tour to help you compare value, not just cost.

The quiz is 100% free, takes about two minutes, and you decide which communities are allowed to contact you.