Skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) costs in Delaware
Here is the middle of the price range in Delaware, 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 Delaware median
$65.00 an hour
- Works out to, monthly
- $12,393
- Works out to, yearly
- $148,720
Our arithmetic, not the survey's. The survey reports this one by the hour, so the monthly and yearly figures assume a schedule: $65.00 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 28% lower than the national median of $90.00 an hour. Within Delaware the spread is usually wider still: a city costs more than a rural county, often by a great deal.
A licensed practical nurse or registered nurse who comes to the house for medical care such as wound care, injections, IV therapy, catheters, feeding tubes and medication management.
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 Delaware sits
$65.00 an hour ranks Delaware 42nd of the 46 states priced for skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse): 41 charge more, 3 charge less. Hawaii report the same figure.
Kansas is the next state up, at $67.00; Michigan the next down, at $64.00.
The national median is $90.00, so Delaware runs $25.00 below it — 28% less, or $57,200 a year ($25.00 × 44 hours a week × 52 weeks).
The column runs $43.00 (Mississippi) to $207.00 (Wyoming). Delaware sits 13% up it, 1.51× the lowest, with 7 other within a tenth of it.
Of the 5 kinds of care Delaware was priced for, this is its 5th dearest standing: at best 6th of 50 for nursing home, semi-private room, at worst 42nd of 46 for skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse).
What $12,393 a month becomes
Our multiplication, holding the Delaware median flat — no real bill does — with the same span of the state's least costly priced care beside it:
Six months
$74,360
$40,040 of in-home care (non-medical caregiver)
One year
$148,720
$80,080 of in-home care (non-medical caregiver)
Two years
$297,440
$160,160 of in-home care (non-medical caregiver)
Three years
$446,160
$240,240 of in-home care (non-medical caregiver)
Five years
$743,600
$400,400 of in-home care (non-medical caregiver)
Care is bought in years, not months, and $12,393 a month is $148,720 a year.
Five years at the national median would be $1,029,600: $286,000 more than five years in Delaware.
Inside Delaware, five years of in-home care (non-medical caregiver) runs $400,400 and five of nursing home, private room $907,920; this page's $743,600 sits 68% between them. Most families pay for more than one of these in sequence.
Against other care in Delaware
Converted to a month on our schedule, set beside this page's $12,393:
Nursing home, private room
$15,132 a month
$2,739 a month more, $32,864 a year, 1.22× this page. Delaware places 9th of 49 for it, 33 above its 42nd here.
Nursing home, semi-private room
$14,494 a month
$2,101 a month more, $25,208 a year, 1.17× this page. Delaware places 6th of 50 for it, 36 above its 42nd here.
Assisted living community
$7,600 a month
$4,793 a month less, $57,520 a year, 0.61× this page. Delaware places 10th of 50 for it, 32 above its 42nd here.
In-home care (non-medical caregiver)
$6,673 a month
$5,720 a month less, $68,640 a year, 0.54× this page. Delaware places 26th of 50 for it, 16 above its 42nd here.
On the same monthly footing, skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) is the 3rd costliest of the 5 kinds of care priced in Delaware, at $12,393. The conversions are ours; the medians are the survey's.
44 hours a week of in-home care in Delaware is $6,673 a month against $7,600 for assisted living — 14% 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 Delaware
The 2025 survey priced 5 of the 6 kinds of care in Delaware — skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) among them, at $65.00 an hour. Too few providers reported adult day health care, so no median was published and there is no Delaware 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 Delaware 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 Delaware 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 Delaware
Delaware's free counseling program is Delaware Medicare Assistance Bureau, on 1-800-336-9500. It is grant-funded and sells nothing.
the Delaware Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance decides Medicaid long-term care here — not a facility, and not us. Delaware runs it as Nursing facility (institutional) Medicaid, Home and community based services waiver and Regular Medicaid for the aged, blind and disabled, with a 60-month look-back on gifts and transfers.
Beside $12,393 a month — our comparison, its limits — that is what "spend-down" means: countable assets may not top $2,000, or about 5 days of skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) 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 Delaware Register of Regulations, January 2026 — Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Social Services Manual 20000 Medicaid Long Term Care (effective 1/11/2026) (effective 2026-01-01)
Common questions
- Does Medicare pay for skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) in Delaware?
- 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 skilled nursing at home (private duty nurse) dearer in Delaware than in other states?
- $65.00 an hour places Delaware 42nd of the 46 states the survey priced for it: 41 charge more and 3 charge less. The national median is $90.00. 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 Delaware?
- 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?
- Delaware runs its free counseling program as Delaware Medicare Assistance Bureau, on 1-800-336-9500. 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.