Assisted Living in California

From the Golden Gate Bridge to the Hollywood sign, California is a state rich with culture and treasured by all who visit or live here. In California, assisted living communities are ensconced in the state’s diverse beauty, from sprawling greenery and redwood forests in the north to salty air and towering palm trees in the south.

Assisted living is best for seniors who are relatively independent, but would benefit from assistance with their activities of daily living (ADLs), like eating, dressing, grooming, and using the restroom. The cost of A Place for Mom’s partner assisted living communities in California comes in at a median monthly cost of roughly $5,100 or $61,200 annually.^[01]

According to A Place for Mom’s proprietary data, the cost of our partner assisted living communities in California ranges from about $3,000 to $8,600 per month. The median cost, where half the prices are higher and half are lower, is $5,100 per month. This is slightly higher than the national median cost, which is approximately $4,800 per month.^[01] These figures account for all fees, including amenities and care costs, and reflect actual costs experienced by seniors referred to their community by A Place for Mom.

There’s a reason for the wide cost range for California’s assisted living, and it’s based on a few different elements. Individual assisted living communities set their own price points based on the following factors:

• Location. The cost of assisted living typically increases in locations with a higher cost of living, and California’s cost of living is 1.34 times higher than the national average — the third most expensive state in the U.S.^[02] For example, in Los Angeles with a population of over three million, the median monthly cost is about $7,600, whereas Riverside with a population of around 317,000 has a median monthly cost of about $3,900, according to A Place for Mom’s proprietary data.^[01]
• Care level. Many assisted living communities only provide personal care while others offer additional care, such as specialized dementia care, at a higher cost. The monthly cost at an assisted living community will depend on the level of care you or your loved one requires and how much that community charges for each care level. A physician and community staff can help you determine this.
• Services and amenities. While some communities are all-inclusive, assisted living communities often offer their services and amenities based on a tiered or a-la-carte pricing model. Through these models, residents are able to pick and choose which services and amenities they’d like to pay for. For example, a community’s monthly price could include access to the on-site fitness center, but group classes and personal training services might incur an additional fee.
• Floor plan. Like with any apartment or rental home, assisted living prices vary based on the size and layout of the floor plan. Most assisted living communities offer a choice of one-, two-, or three-bedroom apartment-style homes. Some might even offer bungalow or cottage-style homes. Prices are typically higher the more bedrooms and bathrooms in the floor plan, but you can often save money by splitting rent and utility costs with a roommate.

No matter what your monthly payment ends up being, there are several options that can help you or your family pay for assisted living. Read about California’s options below.

At least 20% of today’s 65-year-olds will need long-term care for at least five years.^[03] This is why it’s so important to start planning ahead for assisted living costs. Many families are able to pay for long-term care using personal savings. However, most families use a combination of payment methods, including private funds, Medicare, Medicaid, and any applicable veterans benefits.

In California, assisted living communities are considered Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs). The state defines an RCFE as a voluntary housing arrangement that:^[09]

• Requires at least 75% of the residents to be 60 or older
• Provides varying levels of care and supervision

The California Department of Social Services’ Community Care Licensing Division is responsible for licensing RCFEs. Regulation responsibility is shared by the Continuing Care Contracts Section of the Community Care Licensing Division and the California Senior Care Licensing Program.

The Continuing Care Contracts Section assesses RCEFs’ financial standing to ensure they can fulfill their commitments to making care contracts to residents. In doing so, the Continuing Care Contracts Section’s responsibilities include the following:^[10]

• Evaluating new and ongoing providers’ financial health
• Reviewing contracts
• Confirming residents are provided certain disclosures

The Adult and Senior Care Program regulates elderly care facilities to ensure they’re properly licensed and are following proper health and safety measures. They perform regular RCFE inspections to ensure compliance to the Title 22 Regulations, which outline standards for the following:^[10]

• Residents’ health and safety
• Quality of care, supervision, and service
• Day-to-day operations

Specific examples of RCFE regulations in California include the following:^[09]

• Medication management regulations. Unless a staff member is an appropriately skilled medical professional, they cannot administer medications but may help residents with self-administration.
• Life safety requirements. All facilities are required to maintain proper fire clearance approved and established by the State Fire Marshall and local fire authority. RCFEs must also have emergency and disaster plans in place.
• Staffing requirements. To ensure quality and sufficient care, all facilities must follow specific staffing requirements. For example, facilities must have a qualified administrator on staff with current certifications. The administrator must be at least 21 years old and be on the premises 24 hours a day. While there are no staffing ratio requirements, facility personnel must be sufficient enough to meet residents’ needs.
• Staff and administrator education and training requirements. The administrator must have completed 80 hours of an initial certification training program and pass a written test. They must also complete 40 hours of continuing education every two years, including Alzheimer’s and dementia training. Additionally, direct care staff are required to complete 40 hours of initial training and 20 hours of annual continuing education training.

To find the licensing status and regulatory information, including inspection reports, of a specific assisted living facility in California, you can search the facility using the California Department of Social Services’ elderly assisted living search tool.

A Place for Mom ratings on ease of access to assisted living facility information in California

We developed a system to rate each state on how easy – or difficult – it is to find important assisted living records and reports, and compiled tips to help you in your search.

States with the most transparent records allow you to look up important information about each assisted living facility online, including inspections, complaints, survey results, violations, capacity, and whether the facility accepts Medicaid.

Access to California assisted living records

Public access to assisted living records and reports for the state of California is exceptional. Key findings that informed this rating include:

• California has conveniently integrated information about licensed communities and information about violations and inspections results.
• California has generally transparent assisted living records, and increased significantly in our rankings because required inspections occur every two years.

How to look up California assisted living licenses and records

• To locate licensed communities, use the California Department of Social Services’ website.
• From the results, click the name of a community to be taken to its details, including links to inspection reports.

How we arrived at our California rating

We developed a comprehensive guide to state regulations for assisted living for state data collection and evaluation, and based our rating primarily on the objective, state-specific accessibility criteria outlined in these questions:

1. Are licensed assisted living communities listed online in any form? Yes
2. If Yes to #1, is the information updated frequently? Yes
3. If Yes to #1, is the list of licensed communities searchable? Yes
4. Does the state post inspections, complaints, survey results, or violations online? Yes
5. If Yes to #4, is the information updated frequently? [within 90 days] Yes
6. If Yes to #2 and #4, is the enforcement information included in the same place as licensed communities? Yes
7. If Yes to #4 and No to #6, are violations / inspections searchable at all? Yes
8. Is information about special licensing for care shown? Yes
9. Capacity shown? Yes
10. Payment types shown, [e.g. Medicaid, private pay]? No
11. Administrator / Contact name shown? Yes
12. State may fine facility? Yes
13. Frequency of inspections? Every 24 months
14. Website includes pricing of facility? No