Nursing home, semi-private room costs in Arkansas
Here is the middle of the price range in Arkansas, 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 Arkansas median
$7,452 a month
- Works out to, monthly
- $7,452
- Works out to, yearly
- $89,424
That is about 22% lower than the national median of $9,581 a month. Within Arkansas 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) 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 Arkansas sits
$7,452 a month ranks Arkansas 47th of the 50 states priced for nursing home, semi-private room: 46 charge more, 3 charge less.
Louisiana is the next state up, at $7,604; Oklahoma the next down, at $7,026.
The national median is $9,581, so Arkansas runs $2,129 below it — 22% less, or $25,548 a year ($2,129 × 12 months).
The column runs $5,627 (Texas) to $27,831 (Alaska). Arkansas sits 8% up it, 1.32× the lowest, with 3 other within a tenth of it.
Of the 5 kinds of care Arkansas was priced for, this is its 3rd dearest standing: at best 38th of 45 for adult day health care, at worst 49th of 50 for in-home care (non-medical caregiver).
What $7,452 a month becomes
Our multiplication, holding the Arkansas median flat — no real bill does — with the same span of the state's least costly priced care beside it:
Six months
$44,712
$9,880 of adult day health care
One year
$89,424
$19,760 of adult day health care
Two years
$178,848
$39,520 of adult day health care
Three years
$268,272
$59,280 of adult day health care
Five years
$447,120
$98,800 of adult day health care
Care is bought in years, not months, and $7,452 a month is $89,424 a year.
Five years at the national median would be $574,860: $127,740 more than five years in Arkansas.
Inside Arkansas, five years of adult day health care runs $98,800 and five of nursing home, private room $483,600; this page's $447,120 sits 91% between them. Most families pay for more than one of these in sequence.
Against other care in Arkansas
Converted to a month on our schedule, set beside this page's $7,452:
Nursing home, private room
$8,060 a month
$608 a month more, $7,296 a year, 1.08× this page. Arkansas places 46th of 49 for it, 1 above its 47th here.
In-home care (non-medical caregiver)
$4,767 a month
$2,685 a month less, $32,224 a year, 0.64× this page. Arkansas places 49th of 50 for it, 2 below its 47th here.
Assisted living community
$4,637 a month
$2,815 a month less, $33,780 a year, 0.62× this page. Arkansas places 48th of 50 for it, 1 below its 47th here.
Adult day health care
$1,647 a month
$5,805 a month less, $69,664 a year, 0.22× this page. Arkansas places 38th of 45 for it, 9 above its 47th here.
On the same monthly footing, nursing home, semi-private room is the 2nd costliest of the 5 kinds of care priced in Arkansas, at $7,452. The conversions are ours; the medians are the survey's.
44 hours a week of in-home care in Arkansas is $4,767 a month against $4,637 for assisted living — 3% less. 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 Arkansas
The 2025 survey priced 5 of the 6 kinds of care in Arkansas — nursing home, semi-private room among them, at $7,452 a month. Too few providers reported skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse), so no median was published and there is no Arkansas 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 Arkansas 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 Arkansas 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 Arkansas
Arkansas's free counseling program is Senior Health Insurance Program (SHIP), on 1-800-224-6330. It is grant-funded and sells nothing.
No Arkansas Medicaid limits sit beside this $7,452-a-month figure yet: the Arkansas 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 Arkansas?
- 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 Arkansas than in other states?
- $7,452 a month places Arkansas 47th of the 50 states the survey priced for it: 46 charge more and 3 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 Arkansas?
- 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?
- Arkansas runs its free counseling program as Senior Health Insurance Program (SHIP), on 1-800-224-6330. 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.