Nursing home, semi-private room costs in Alaska
Here is the middle of the price range in Alaska, 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 Alaska median
$27,831 a month
- Works out to, monthly
- $27,831
- Works out to, yearly
- $333,972
That is about 190% higher than the national median of $9,581 a month. Within Alaska the spread is usually wider still: a city costs more than a rural county, often by a great deal.
A room shared with one other resident in a licensed nursing facility, with round-the-clock nursing supervision, meals, laundry and basic supplies included in the room charge.
CareScout reported insufficient data in this state to publish a median for skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) and nursing home, private room 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 Alaska sits
$27,831 a month ranks Alaska 1st of the 50 states priced for nursing home, semi-private room: 0 charge more, 49 charge less.
Nothing priced costs more. Oregon is next, at $16,760.
The national median is $9,581, so Alaska runs $18,250 above it — 190% more, or $219,000 a year ($18,250 × 12 months).
The column runs $5,627 (Texas) to $27,831 (Alaska). Alaska sits 100% up it, 4.95× the lowest, with no other state within a tenth of it.
Of the 4 kinds of care Alaska was priced for, this is its 1st dearest standing: at best 1st of 50 for nursing home, semi-private room, at worst 17th of 50 for in-home care (non-medical caregiver).
What $27,831 a month becomes
Our multiplication, holding the Alaska median flat — no real bill does — with the same span of the state's least costly priced care beside it:
Six months
$166,986
$22,750 of adult day health care
One year
$333,972
$45,500 of adult day health care
Two years
$667,944
$91,000 of adult day health care
Three years
$1,001,916
$136,500 of adult day health care
Five years
$1,669,860
$227,500 of adult day health care
Care is bought in years, not months, and $27,831 a month is $333,972 a year.
Five years at the national median would be $574,860: $1,095,000 less than five years in Alaska.
Inside Alaska, five years of adult day health care runs $227,500 and five of assisted living community $592,920; this page's $1,669,860 sits 100% between them. Most families pay for more than one of these in sequence.
Against other care in Alaska
Converted to a month on our schedule, set beside this page's $27,831:
Assisted living community
$9,882 a month
$17,949 a month less, $215,388 a year, 0.36× this page. Alaska places 2nd of 50 for it, 1 below its 1st here.
In-home care (non-medical caregiver)
$7,245 a month
$20,586 a month less, $247,028 a year, 0.26× this page. Alaska places 17th of 50 for it, 16 below its 1st here.
Adult day health care
$3,792 a month
$24,039 a month less, $288,472 a year, 0.14× this page. Alaska places 7th of 45 for it, 6 below its 1st here.
On the same monthly footing, nursing home, semi-private room is the 1st costliest of the 4 kinds of care priced in Alaska, at $27,831. The conversions are ours; the medians are the survey's.
44 hours a week of in-home care in Alaska is $7,245 a month against $9,882 for assisted living — 36% 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 Alaska
The 2025 survey priced 4 of the 6 kinds of care in Alaska — nursing home, semi-private room among them, at $27,831 a month. Too few providers reported skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) and nursing home, private room, so no median was published and there is no Alaska page for them.
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 Alaska 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 Alaska 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 Alaska
Alaska's free counseling program is Senior Health Insurance Program (SHIP), on 1-800-478-6065. It is grant-funded and sells nothing.
No Alaska Medicaid limits sit beside this $27,831-a-month figure yet: the Alaska 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 nursing home, semi-private room in Alaska?
- 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 nursing home, semi-private room dearer in Alaska than in other states?
- $27,831 a month places Alaska 1st of the 50 states the survey priced for it: 0 charge more and 49 charge less. The national median is $9,581. 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 Alaska?
- 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?
- Alaska runs its free counseling program as Senior Health Insurance Program (SHIP), on 1-800-478-6065. 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.