What is the difference between assisted living and memory care?
Direct answer
For owners, memory care is a specialized form of assisted living for residents with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. It uses secured units, dementia-trained staff and higher staffing levels, and it usually charges higher monthly rates. Most states license memory care under their assisted living rules, with added requirements.
What to know
Memory care can be a standalone building or a secured wing inside an assisted living community.
Higher rates come with higher labor costs, so profitability depends on staffing efficiency and occupancy.
Cap rates run about 7.5% to 8.5% for memory care attached to assisted living and about 9.6% for free-standing memory care, against about 7.0% for core assisted living.
How Haven helps
Haven brokers assisted living, memory care and combined communities. Read our assisted living vs. memory care profitability comparison.