Memory Care in Georgia (2026): Cost, Rules, and Medicaid

If you're looking into memory care in Georgia, you're likely watching a parent slip in ways that scare you, and trying to find a safe place fast. Start with one thing that trips up almost every family: memory care in Georgia isn't a place with its own license. It's a certified memory care center that operates inside a licensed assisted living community or personal care home, with secured doors, dementia-trained staff, and rules the state tightened sharply after a 2020 reform law.1 Cost is the part most families brace for: published estimates for Georgia run from about $5,259 to $6,288 a month, and SeniorLiving.org's 2026 research puts the state below the U.S. median of $8,019.2

This guide explains what that certification actually requires, what you'll pay, whether Georgia Medicaid can help, how to tell whether a unit is the right level of care, and how to check its record before you sign anything.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What Memory Care in Georgia Actually Is
• The Rules a Georgia Memory Care Center Must Follow
• What Memory Care Costs in Georgia
• Does Medicaid Pay for Memory Care in Georgia?
• Memory Care vs. Assisted Living vs. a Nursing Home
• How to Evaluate and Vet a Memory Care Unit
• Frequently Asked Questions

What Memory Care in Georgia Actually Is

When a family starts looking for memory care in Georgia, the most useful thing to understand first is that the state doesn't license "memory care" as its own kind of building. What Georgia licenses are personal care homes and assisted living communities, both overseen by the Georgia Department of Community Health through its Healthcare Facility Regulation Division.5 Memory care is a certified memory care center that operates inside one of those licensed settings.1

That distinction is not a technicality. It means the question to ask isn't "is this a memory care facility?" but "does this community hold a memory care certificate, and what does that certificate require it to do?" A certified memory care center is the part of the building set up for people with Alzheimer's or another dementia: secured against unsafe wandering, staffed by people trained in dementia care, and required to provide the extra oversight systems, programs, activities and devices that Georgia's rules define as memory care services.1

A personal care home (PCH) provides housing, meals, and personal-care help for two or more unrelated adults. An assisted living community (ALC) is a personal care home of 25 or more residents licensed for a higher level of "assisted living care," which can include medication administration by certified medication aides and limited nursing services.5 Either one can hold a memory care certificate and run a memory care center; the license on the front door tells you the base level of care, and the certificate tells you the building is cleared for dementia care on top of it.

The Rules a Georgia Memory Care Center Must Follow

It's hard to judge a place you're trusting with your mother when you don't know what "good" is supposed to look like. Georgia gives you a floor to measure against, and it's a real one. The legislature passed House Bill 987 in 2020, and since July 1, 2021 no assisted living community or personal care home may run a memory care center without a DCH certificate.1 The law, now codified at O.C.G.A. 31-7-12.4 and carried out through DCH rules, set the floor a memory care center has to clear. Knowing that floor turns a sales tour into something you can actually measure a place against.

A memory care center in Georgia must:

• Hold a DCH certificate. Since July 1, 2021, no assisted living community or personal care home may operate a memory care center without first getting certified by the department. A community advertising "memory care" without that certificate is a red flag.1
• Meet minimum staffing ratios. At least one dementia-trained direct-care staff person for every 12 residents during waking hours, and one for every 15 during non-waking hours, measured as a monthly average. At least two direct-care staff must be on-site at all times, plus a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, or certified medication aide on-site or available in the building around the clock.1
• Train every staff member in dementia care. Everyone who works in the center, whatever their role, gets at least four hours of dementia-specific orientation within their first 30 days. Direct-care staff go further: at least 16 hours of specialized dementia-care training within the first 30 days of working independently with residents, and at least eight hours more every year after that.1

Those numbers are worth writing down before you tour. When a center tells you about its staffing or training, you can hold the answer against the legal minimum and see whether the place is meeting the floor, clearing it comfortably, or talking around it.

What Memory Care Costs in Georgia

Published estimates of what memory care costs in Georgia disagree. SeniorLiving.org's 2026 research put the Georgia median at $6,288 a month, against a U.S. median of $8,019.2 A Place for Mom, a senior-living referral network rather than a cost survey, reported $5,259 a month for Georgia from its own 2025 network data. CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey, the industry's standard cost survey, doesn't price memory care at all. So treat any single number as an estimate and confirm what a specific community's quote includes.2

Memory care costs more than standard assisted living, here as everywhere, because of the secured setting, the heavier staffing, and the dementia programming. SeniorLiving.org reports that memory care typically costs 15 to 25 percent more than assisted living, varying with the level of care and location, and CareScout puts Georgia's assisted living median at $5,300 a month in 2025.2,6

One thing to press on before you compare quotes: the advertised figure is almost always a base rate. As dementia progresses and someone needs more hands-on help, the monthly bill climbs, sometimes well past the headline number. Ask every center for a written breakdown of what's in the base rate, what's billed as an add-on, how care levels get assessed, and how often rates rise. Two communities with the same advertised price can land far apart once the care fees are in.

Does Medicaid Pay for Memory Care in Georgia?

Here's the honest version first, because it's the part that catches families off guard: Georgia Medicaid as a general rule does not pay the room and board in a memory care center. For a resident, the roof and the meals are yours to cover.3

What Georgia Medicaid can cover is the care side, through two home and community-based waivers. The Community Care Services Program (CCSP) and SOURCE both run under Georgia's Elderly and Disabled waiver authority, and both require that the person need a nursing-facility level of care, which a physician must approve along with a care plan.3 CCSP includes a benefit called Alternative Living Services, which pays for around-the-clock personal care supervision in a state-licensed personal care home; CCSP's covered services also include case management, personal support, adult day health, home-delivered meals, emergency response services, and respite for family caregivers.3

Two things matter for a dementia family in particular. First, the nursing-facility level of care isn't automatic with a diagnosis: a physician has to approve it, along with a care plan, so bring the doctor in early.3 Second, the waivers pay for services, not the room, so even when CCSP or SOURCE covers your mother's care, she still pays room and board directly to the facility. The one exception the federal rule allows that a Georgia family is likely to meet is out-of-home respite care, which CCSP offers in a personal care home; for a respite stay, ask the care coordinator whether room and board is covered.3 For the eligibility rules and how to apply, see our guides to CCSP, SOURCE, and Medicaid long-term care in Georgia.

Memory Care vs. Assisted Living vs. a Nursing Home

One of the hardest calls a family makes is when memory care is the right step, rather than staying in standard assisted living or moving to a nursing home. The honest framing: in Georgia the line is drawn by the state's licensing rules and what the person safely needs, not by the diagnosis on its own.1

• Standard assisted living (a Georgia personal care home or assisted living community) serves adults who need varying degrees of help with the activities of daily living but don't need continuous medical or nursing care.5
• A certified memory care center is built for residents whose cognitive deficits put them at risk of eloping, Georgia's term for unsafe wandering outside the home. It must have secured outdoor spaces and walkways that prevent undetected exit, and an automated system that alerts staff when someone enters or leaves without authorization.1
• A skilled nursing facility (nursing home) is where someone who needs 24-hour skilled nursing care is headed: Georgia admits a resident to a memory care center only if a physical examination report establishes that they don't need it.1 Our guide to the Medicaid nursing-facility level of care explains how that line gets drawn.

The Alzheimer's Association says there's no one-size-fits-all formula for Alzheimer's care and that needs change at different stages of the disease, which is the practical reason to match the setting to where someone is now and where they're likely to be soon.1 Its free 24/7 Helpline at 800-272-3900 connects callers with a live person who can provide information, local resources, crisis assistance and emotional support.7 If you're unsure which setting fits, the person's doctor and the prospective center's care team are the right people to talk it through with.

How to Evaluate and Vet a Memory Care Unit

This is the part that feels overwhelming, and it's the part where a little structure helps most. Records tell you the history; a visit tells you the present. Do both, and do the records first.4

Tour at least a couple of places, and go at least once around a mealtime or a structured activity, when staffing and the mood of a unit are hardest to stage. Bring the admission agreement home and read the refund and discharge terms without a salesperson in the room. The goal isn't a perfect place. It's a place whose limits you understand going in.

Learn More

Find personalized help comparing memory care options in Georgia with Brevy's care navigator at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.