In-home care (non-medical caregiver) costs in Louisiana
Here is the middle of the price range in Louisiana, and then — because it is the question that actually follows — who pays for it. The short answer on that second one surprises most people: Medicare does not.
The Louisiana median
$26.00 an hour
- Works out to, monthly
- $4,957
- Works out to, yearly
- $59,488
Our arithmetic, not the survey's. The survey reports this one by the hour, so the monthly and yearly figures assume a schedule: $26.00 an hour × 44 hours a week × 52 weeks ÷ 12 months. Fewer hours, smaller bill — the schedule is the biggest lever you have.
That is about 26% lower than the national median of $35.00 an hour. Within Louisiana the spread is usually wider still: a city costs more than a rural county, often by a great deal.
A caregiver who comes to the house to help with bathing, dressing, transferring and toileting, and who may also do light housekeeping and meal preparation.
CareScout reported insufficient data in this state to publish a median for skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) in the 2025 survey, so no figure is shown for it here.
What this number is, and what it is not.
It comes from an industry cost-of-care survey — providers reporting their prices — not from a government rate table. There is no federal agency that publishes what assisted living costs, which is why the survey is the source of record here and why we label it plainly rather than dressing it up as official.
A median means half charged more and half charged less. It is not a quote for any particular home, agency or facility, and no provider is bound by it. Prices collected for the 2025 survey.
Where Louisiana sits
$26.00 an hour ranks Louisiana 48th of the 50 states priced for in-home care (non-medical caregiver): 47 charge more, 2 charge less.
Alabama is the next state up, at $27.00; Arkansas the next down, at $25.00.
The national median is $35.00, so Louisiana runs $9.00 below it — 26% less, or $20,592 a year ($9.00 × 44 hours a week × 52 weeks).
The column runs $24.00 (Mississippi) to $46.00 (Wyoming). Louisiana sits 9% up it, 1.08× the lowest, with 3 other within a tenth of it.
Of the 5 kinds of care Louisiana was priced for, this is its 5th dearest standing: at best 31st of 45 for adult day health care, at worst 48th of 50 for in-home care (non-medical caregiver).
What $4,957 a month becomes
Our multiplication, holding the Louisiana median flat — no real bill does — with the same span of the state's least costly priced care beside it:
Six months
$29,744
$11,440 of adult day health care
One year
$59,488
$22,880 of adult day health care
Two years
$118,976
$45,760 of adult day health care
Three years
$178,464
$68,640 of adult day health care
Five years
$297,440
$114,400 of adult day health care
Care is bought in years, not months, and $4,957 a month is $59,488 a year.
Five years at the national median would be $400,400: $102,960 more than five years in Louisiana.
Inside Louisiana, five years of adult day health care runs $114,400 and five of nursing home, private room $484,560; this page's $297,440 sits 49% between them. Most families pay for more than one of these in sequence.
Against other care in Louisiana
Converted to a month on our schedule, set beside this page's $4,957:
Nursing home, private room
$8,076 a month
$3,119 a month more, $37,424 a year, 1.63× this page. Louisiana places 45th of 49 for it, 3 above its 48th here.
Nursing home, semi-private room
$7,604 a month
$2,647 a month more, $31,760 a year, 1.53× this page. Louisiana places 46th of 50 for it, 2 above its 48th here.
Assisted living community
$5,163 a month
$206 a month more, $2,468 a year, 1.04× this page. Louisiana places 45th of 50 for it, 3 above its 48th here.
Adult day health care
$1,907 a month
$3,051 a month less, $36,608 a year, 0.38× this page. Louisiana places 31st of 45 for it, 17 above its 48th here.
On the same monthly footing, in-home care (non-medical caregiver) is the 4th costliest of the 5 kinds of care priced in Louisiana, at $4,957. The conversions are ours; the medians are the survey's.
44 hours a week of in-home care in Louisiana is $4,957 a month against $5,163 for assisted living — 4% more. The first buys 44 hours and nothing else; the second includes the room, the meals, and someone awake overnight.
What the survey could not price in Louisiana
The 2025 survey priced 5 of the 6 kinds of care in Louisiana — in-home care (non-medical caregiver) among them, at $26.00 an hour. Too few providers reported skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse), so no median was published and there is no Louisiana page for it.
Thin reporting also tends to mean fewer such providers locally — a supply problem before it is a price one, and a good question for the counselor below.
Who actually pays for this
This is the part most cost pages leave out, and it is the part that changes what a family does next.
Medicare does not pay for long-term care
Medicare pays for short stretches of skilled care — a limited stay in a skilled nursing facility after a qualifying hospital admission, or skilled home health under specific conditions. It does not pay for custodial care: help with bathing, dressing, meals, medication reminders and supervision. That is what most people need, and for years at a time.
Medicare's own page on long-term care ↗ says the same thing in its own words. It is worth reading once, because almost everyone assumes the opposite.
Medicaid may pay — after a spend-down
Medicaid is the largest payer of long-term care in the country, but it is needs-based: it begins once income and countable savings are inside the limits Louisiana sets. Getting there by spending savings on care is what people mean by a spend-down. There is also a look-back period, so gifts and transfers made in the years beforehand matter.
Veterans: Aid and Attendance may help
A wartime veteran, or a surviving spouse, who needs help with daily activities may qualify for an addition to the VA pension called Aid and Attendance. It is an income-and-net-worth benefit, it is paid monthly, and a great many families who qualify have never heard of it. Accredited veterans service organizations help with the claim for free.
Otherwise: savings, family, and long-term care insurance
Most families pay out of pocket first — from savings, a pension, the sale of a house, or several relatives contributing. A long-term care insurance policy bought years ago pays a daily or monthly amount if the policy's conditions are met; if there is a policy in the family, find it and read what triggers it before you need it.
Working out which of these applies to one particular family is exactly what a free Louisiana counselor does all day. They are paid by a federal grant, not by commission, and they have nothing to sell you. The Eldercare Locator (ACL): 1-800-677-1116 ↗ will connect you to the area agency on aging for your county.
Who to ask in Louisiana
Louisiana's free counseling program is Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP), on 1-800-259-5300. It is grant-funded and sells nothing.
the Louisiana Department of Health decides Medicaid long-term care here — not a facility, and not us. Louisiana runs it as Nursing facility (institutional) Medicaid, Home and community based services and adult residential care and Medically needy Medicaid for the aged, blind and disabled (urban), with a 60-month look-back on gifts and transfers.
Beside $4,957 a month — our comparison, its limits — that is what "spend-down" means: a single applicant's monthly income may not top $2,982, which this bill clears 1.7 times over and countable assets may not top $2,000, or about 12 days of in-home care (non-medical caregiver) at this rate.
Verified 2026-08-02 against CareScout (formerly Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025, fielded July-November 2025 (effective 2026-01-01)— an industry survey, not a government figure. Why we use it.
Verified 2026-08-02 against SHIP National Technical Assistance Center (effective 2026-01-01)— an industry survey, not a government figure. Why we use it.
Verified 2026-08-02 against Louisiana Department of Health, Medicaid Eligibility Manual chart Z-700 — Long Term Care/HCBS/Adult Residential Care Special Income Level, Resource Limits and Personal Care Needs Allowance (reissued January 7, 2026) (effective 2026-01-01)
Common questions
- Does Medicare pay for in-home care (non-medical caregiver) in Louisiana?
- No. Medicare pays for short stretches of skilled care after a qualifying hospital stay, and for skilled home health in limited circumstances. It does not pay for long-term custodial care — help with bathing, dressing, meals and supervision — which is what most families are actually paying for.
- Is in-home care (non-medical caregiver) dearer in Louisiana than in other states?
- $26.00 an hour places Louisiana 48th of the 50 states the survey priced for it: 47 charge more and 2 charge less. The national median is $35.00. That ranking is our arithmetic on the survey's published medians, not a ranking the survey itself publishes.
- Is this the price I will be quoted in Louisiana?
- No. It is the middle of a range from an industry cost-of-care survey: half of the providers surveyed charged more, half charged less. Prices vary a great deal between a city and a rural county in the same state, and no facility is bound by this figure.
- Who can help me work out how to pay for it?
- Louisiana runs its free counseling program as Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP), on 1-800-259-5300. It is paid for by a federal grant, sells nothing, and the Eldercare Locator (1-800-677-1116) will connect you to the area agency on aging that covers your county.