In-home care (non-medical caregiver) costs in Vermont
Here is the middle of the price range in Vermont, 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 Vermont median
$45.00 an hour
- Works out to, monthly
- $8,580
- Works out to, yearly
- $102,960
Our arithmetic, not the survey's. The survey reports this one by the hour, so the monthly and yearly figures assume a schedule: $45.00 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 29% higher than the national median of $35.00 an hour. Within Vermont 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 adult day health care 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 Vermont sits
$45.00 an hour ranks Vermont 2nd of the 50 states priced for in-home care (non-medical caregiver): 1 charge more, 46 charge less. Maine and Washington report the same figure.
Wyoming is the next state up, at $46.00; Minnesota the next down, at $44.00.
The national median is $35.00, so Vermont runs $10.00 above it — 29% more, or $22,880 a year ($10.00 × 44 hours a week × 52 weeks).
The column runs $24.00 (Mississippi) to $46.00 (Wyoming). Vermont sits 95% up it, 1.88× the lowest, with 8 other within a tenth of it.
Of the 5 kinds of care Vermont was priced for, this is its 1st dearest standing: at best 2nd of 50 for in-home care (non-medical caregiver), at worst 8th of 50 for nursing home, semi-private room.
What $8,580 a month becomes
Our multiplication, holding the Vermont median flat — no real bill does — with the same span of the state's least costly priced care beside it:
Six months
$51,480
$51,582 of assisted living community
One year
$102,960
$103,164 of assisted living community
Two years
$205,920
$206,328 of assisted living community
Three years
$308,880
$309,492 of assisted living community
Five years
$514,800
$515,820 of assisted living community
Care is bought in years, not months, and $8,580 a month is $102,960 a year.
Five years at the national median would be $400,400: $114,400 less than five years in Vermont.
Inside Vermont, five years of assisted living community runs $515,820 and five of skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) $1,750,320; this page's $514,800 sits 0% between them. Most families pay for more than one of these in sequence.
Against other care in Vermont
Converted to a month on our schedule, set beside this page's $8,580:
Skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse)
$29,172 a month
$20,592 a month more, $247,104 a year, 3.40× this page. Vermont places 5th of 46 for it, 3 below its 2nd here.
Nursing home, private room
$15,528 a month
$6,948 a month more, $83,376 a year, 1.81× this page. Vermont places 7th of 49 for it, 5 below its 2nd here.
Nursing home, semi-private room
$14,113 a month
$5,533 a month more, $66,396 a year, 1.64× this page. Vermont places 8th of 50 for it, 6 below its 2nd here.
Assisted living community
$8,597 a month
$17 a month more, $204 a year, 1.00× this page. Vermont places 6th of 50 for it, 4 below its 2nd here.
On the same monthly footing, in-home care (non-medical caregiver) is the 5th costliest of the 5 kinds of care priced in Vermont, at $8,580. The conversions are ours; the medians are the survey's.
44 hours a week of in-home care in Vermont is $8,580 a month against $8,597 for assisted living — the same. 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 Vermont
The 2025 survey priced 5 of the 6 kinds of care in Vermont — in-home care (non-medical caregiver) among them, at $45.00 an hour. Too few providers reported adult day health care, so no median was published and there is no Vermont 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 Vermont 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 Vermont 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 Vermont
Vermont's free counseling program is State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), on 1-800-642-5119. It is grant-funded and sells nothing.
No Vermont Medicaid limits sit beside this $8,580-a-month figure yet: the Vermont pack is pending because this year's limits could not be read in the state's own document, and an unverified limit is worse than none.
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.
Common questions
- Does Medicare pay for in-home care (non-medical caregiver) in Vermont?
- 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 Vermont than in other states?
- $45.00 an hour places Vermont 2nd of the 50 states the survey priced for it: 1 charge more and 46 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 Vermont?
- 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?
- Vermont runs its free counseling program as State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), on 1-800-642-5119. 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.