Independent senior living costs by state

Very interesting and informative link. Thanks, Deb.

I will look at it more, at a different time, but at first glance, could anyone clarify for me,
if the costs listed are solely rent, or if they include utilities or any other usual expenses?
 

I think those numbers are old, at least for NM. About 10 years ago, a person I knew was in an independent living place before she moved to an assisted living apartment. The one she was in was not a top one, nor was it a bottom one. I paid her bills for her and managed her money and the monthly charges for the independent living apartment were over $4,000 per month. And of course the cost for the assisted living one was well above that.

No way could I ever afford one of those places.
 
The senior communities around here tout that they are less expensive that living in your own home. I did the math and for me, it would cost many times more than it does now for me to live in a senior community. I barely spend $5000 a year on expenses (I'm a low-maintenance person), mainly taxes, heating oil, food, insurances and minimal home and car maintenance. That's what it would cost me a month to live on a luxury senior apartment. There are less expensive ones for sure, but they are just a room in a ticky-tacky building with enough space for a bed, dresser and no amenities. I am so used to being alone in a 2500 sq ft house, I'd get claustrophobia in a place like that.
 
debodun said:
The senior communities around here tout that they are less expensive that living in your own home. I did the math and for me, it would cost many times more than it does now for me to live in a senior community. I barely spend $5000 a year on expenses (I'm a low-maintenance person), mainly taxes, heating oil, food, insurances and minimal home and car maintenance. That's what it would cost me a month to live on a luxury senior apartment. There are less expensive ones for sure, but they are just a room in a ticky-tacky building with enough space for a bed, dresser and no amenities. I am so used to being alone in a 2500 sq ft house, I'd get claustrophobia in a place like that.
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When you say no amenities...what exactly does that entail?
 
In this area, it costs 3 - 5 thousand a month to live in a cruise ship style independent living facility.

The main difference in price from one location to another appears to be the snob appeal/prestige/location of the facility.

I think that they are a great idea and would definitely consider moving into one at some point.

For now, I will stay in my little apartment and add services as I need them. Even if I choose to pay a cleaning service, laundry service, grocery/meal delivery service, and UBER/Lyft style car services I would still be way ahead financially.

For me, it really depends on how big a struggle it would eventually become to manage all of these things on my own.
 
Kaila said:
Very interesting and informative link. Thanks, Deb.

I will look at it more, at a different time, but at first glance, could anyone clarify for me,
if the costs listed are solely rent, or if they include utilities or any other usual expenses?
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The one I am looking at in Washington State covers everything including three meals a day. When I add up what we are spending now, including food, it comes to about $3360 per month and that does not include home maintenance or the costs associated with needing additional help if we age in place.

It is a "crap shoot" either way. I have seen numerous older couples who chose to stay in their homes as their health faded, and those who moved earlier. It seems to me that the ones who stayed until the bitter end encountered a lot more loneliness and misery. But my observations are not numerous enough, and they do not account for family support.

As the man says: "pay your money and take your chances."
 
Pecos said:
The one I am looking at in Washington State covers everything including three meals a day. When I add up what we are spending now, including food, it comes to about $3360 per month and that does not include home maintenance or the costs associated with needing additional help if we age in place.

It is a "crap shoot" either way. I have seen numerous older couples who chose to stay in their homes as their health faded, and those who moved earlier. It seems to me that the ones who stayed until the bitter end encountered a lot more loneliness and misery. But my observations are not numerous enough, and they do not account for family support.

As the man says: "pay your money and take your chances."
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You get enough retirement money to afford a $3000 a mo. apt? That adds up fast 12 mo out of the yr. I would think that would dwindle a person down to nothing pretty fast.
 
MarciKS said:
You get enough retirement money to afford a $3000 a mo. apt? That adds up fast 12 mo out of the yr. I would think that would dwindle a person down to nothing pretty fast.
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Well, my figure of $3360 for our current home/situation included a small remaining mortgage, taxes, power, heat, cable, internet, water/sewer, yard service, pest control, termite control, and food for two. Those tally up pretty fast. Getting all that wrapped into a single monthly fee has its attractions, especially when things like home maintenance or roof replacement get added into the mix.

I am blessed with having a 45 year career as an engineer and my wife had a long career as well. We have always lived well within our means, saved like crazy, and have been able to be quite generous to food banks and charities. We are getting old and the days of being feeble are fast approaching. My eyesight is getting worse, and my ability to drive will be gone in a few short years.

One of the big drivers for me is the knowledge that my wife really does need to be around other people and I need to ensure that she is if I have to depart the planet before she does. Loneliness would be extremely difficult for her. That is probably my major goal in life right now, especially after waking up to my own vulnerability with prostrate cancer.
 
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Aunt Bea said:
In this area, it costs 3 - 5 thousand a month to live in a cruise ship style independent living facility.

The main difference in price from one location to another appears to be the snob appeal/prestige/location of the facility.

I think that they are a great idea and would definitely consider moving into one at some point.

For now, I will stay in my little apartment and add services as I need them. Even if I choose to pay a cleaning service, laundry service, grocery/meal delivery service, and UBER/Lyft style car services I would still be way ahead financially.

For me, it really depends on how big a struggle it would eventually become to manage all of these things on my own.
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The pricey independent living place my friend was in really was no different at all that living in your own apartment. If you wanted "amenities" like meals, transportation, housekeeping, etc., you had to pay for those separately.

Now if you moved to the assisted living side, there were amenities, but the price went WAY up, too.

I think many, if not most, of the "independent living" places are way overpriced and border on a scam. I can live independently way cheaper elsewhere, even if I have to hire help like you suggested above.
 
My wife and I live in the same condo we have lived in since 1988. In preparation for retirement, we paid off our mortgage early so our money would go that much further. All we pay is our association fee of $420 per month and property taxes for essentially a 1200 square foot home with a two car heated garage, for approximately $1300 per year. Our association fee covers grounds care all year around, building repairs, heat (a big deal in Minnesota), all the expenses of a homeowner such as water, garbage collection, sewer, and a handyman. All we pay beyond that is our cell phones ($40 for the two of them) and electricity. We don't have all those subscription services that many folks seem to need these days.

We live just a few blocks outside the city, so we have all the amenities of good bus service (which costs me no out of pocket as a veteran with service-connected disabilities), good shopping, and lots of TV stations directly off the air (about 50 of them), so we don't have cable or other such expenses.

We have a financially sound association and have never had to pay an assessment for large, expensive repairs such as roof replacement and rebuilding the elevator. Having been on the board most of the time we have lived here, and having been president much of that time, I have always pushed to make sure we have plenty in our reserve funds to avoid those sudden large expenses on individual homeowners. Just as with saving for retirement, if you start early with a solid plan, such finances pretty much take care of themselves. I just have to push against those who want to lower the association fees or, even worse, borrow money to get things done sooner than we can afford them. We keep the building in good repair, so it isn't as if we are penny pinching to make ends meet. We just run the association in a financially conservative, but solid manner by planning ahead and being prepared for needs as they arise.

So we live rather inexpensively. Many people live here until they can no longer take care of themselves, in which case they move on to assisted care and then the "Great Beyond". When living in a situation like this, people tend to look out for each other, so until a person can no longer take care of him or herself, staying here is doable.

With the prices folks here are talking about for some of the alternatives, I can't imagine how one would afford that unless being independently wealthy. We saved well for retirement, but those $3,000+ per month costs would eat up healthy savings in not much time. I waited until age 66 to start collecting SS, and had been paying maximum into it for many years, so I get a good chunk each month. But even with that plus our retirement savings, I can't imagine paying out that kind of money for living expenses and having anything much left over. We still need to save money and plan ahead for expenses, just as we did when working. That part never changes.

Tony
 
My maternal grandmother went into assisted care the last year of her life. She was poor and couldn't afford a nice place, so they stuck her an abominable hellhole. It was "assisted care" in name only. It was cold, dank and the clients were given canned spaghetti to eat for every meal. I visited grandma on one occasion and she was in the dining hall. The woman sitting across from her was crying while looking at her plate of spaghetti - she was probably getting tired of eating the same thing day in and day out. No supervision available in the dining room to help people that needed it; if they didn't eat it on their own they were just out of luck. My mom once brought in food, but it was immediately confiscated and she was told that wasn't allowed.

Sometimes when I walked down the hall, people sitting in wheelchairs would reach out to me. They just wanted to to feel a warm hand in theirs becaue it was so cold in that building. Once my mom left $10 with grandma. As soon as grandma put it in her bed table, a "maid" came in and said we all had to leave the room because she was going to clean it and we could come back in 15 minutes. When we got back the floor was still dry, but the $10 had gone missing. I guess the room got cleaned out all right.

My mom and I used to call that place "a holding tank for people waiting to die." It got shut down eventually. It is now an apartment complex.
 
Pecos said:
Well, my figure of $3360 for our current home/situation included a small remaining mortgage, taxes, power, heat, cable, internet, water/sewer, yard service, pest control, termite control, and food for two. Those tally up pretty fast. Getting all that wrapped into a single monthly fee has its attractions, especially when things like home maintenance or roof replacement get added into the mix.

I am blessed with having a 45 year career as an engineer and my wife had a long career as well. We have always lived well within our means, saved like crazy, and have been able to be quite generous to food banks and charities. We are getting old and the days of being feeble are fast approaching. My eyesight is getting worse, and my ability to drive will be gone in a few short years.

One of the big drivers for me is the knowledge that my wife really does need to be around other people and I need to ensure that she is if I have to depart the planet before she does. Loneliness would be extremely difficult for her. That is probably my major goal in life right now, especially after waking up to my own vulnerability with prostrate cancer.
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That's very sweet Pecos. You are a good husband!
 

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