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

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. Cost is the part most families brace for: Georgia runs below the national norm, with a median around $5,000 a month in 2025.

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. Memory care is a certified memory care center that operates inside one of those licensed settings.

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 to prevent wandering, staffed by people trained in dementia care, and built around structured routines and programming that a general assisted living wing isn't required to provide.

A personal care home (PCH) provides housing, meals, and personal-care help for two or more unrelated adults and is often a small home. 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. 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

This is where Georgia changed. After investigations into senior-care homes during the pandemic, the legislature passed House Bill 987 in 2020, signed by Governor Kemp in July of that year, with most requirements taking effect July 1, 2021. 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.
• 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.
• 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.

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

Georgia is one of the more affordable states for memory care. In A Place for Mom's 2025 analysis of families who moved a loved one into memory care, the median monthly cost in Georgia was about $5,000, against a national median of roughly $6,690. Other surveys land higher (SeniorLiving.org's 2026 research put Georgia closer to $6,288 a month), so treat any single number as an estimate and confirm what a specific community's quote includes.

Memory care costs more than standard assisted living, here as everywhere, because of the secured setting, the heavier staffing, and the dementia programming. In Georgia, where assisted living runs a median around $4,258 a month, memory care typically lands several hundred dollars above that in the same area.

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 does not pay the room and board in a memory care center. The roof and the meals are yours to cover.

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. CCSP includes a benefit called Alternative Living Services, which pays for around-the-clock supervision and personal care in a licensed personal care home; across the two waivers, covered services also include case management, personal support, adult day health, home-delivered meals, a personal emergency response system, and respite for family caregivers.

Two things matter for a dementia family in particular. First, a dementia diagnosis by itself doesn't establish the nursing-facility level of care; that's judged on what the person can and can't do day to day, not on the diagnosis alone. 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 to the facility out of her own income. 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: it's driven by what the person safely needs, not by the diagnosis on its own.

• Standard assisted living (a Georgia personal care home or assisted living community) can be a good fit in early-stage dementia, when someone needs help with daily tasks and reminders to take medications but isn't a safety risk to themselves.
• A certified memory care center becomes the better fit as dementia progresses to wandering or trying to leave, frequent disorientation, agitation or sundowning, or a need for 24-hour supervision that general assisted living staffing can't safely meet. The secured environment, dementia-trained staff, and structured routines exist for exactly that stage.
• A skilled nursing facility (nursing home) is the right setting when complex medical needs require continuous licensed nursing, which is beyond what a personal care home or assisted living community, including its memory care center, is licensed to provide. Our guide to the Medicaid nursing-facility level of care explains how that line gets drawn.

The Alzheimer's Association treats dementia as a progressive condition, which is the practical reason to match the setting to where someone is now and where they're likely to be soon. Its 24/7 Helpline at 1-800-272-3900 can help families think through care planning and find local resources. 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

Records tell you the history; a visit tells you the present. Do both, and do the records first.

1. Confirm the certificate, then check the record. Ask to see proof that the community holds a DCH memory care certificate, not just an assisted living license. Then check the HFRD licensing and inspection record through dch.georgia.gov, which licenses and inspects these settings and investigates complaints. Look for patterns of repeat deficiencies, not a single stray citation.
2. Test the security and the staffing. A memory care center exists to keep people who wander safe, so ask specifically how the unit prevents elopement, what the secured doors and outdoor areas look like, and what the staffing actually is during the day and overnight. Hold their answer against the legal minimums: one dementia-trained worker per 12 residents while awake, two direct-care staff on-site at all times.
3. Ask about training and programming, in specifics. Every staff member should have dementia orientation, and direct-care staff should have the deeper specialized training the law requires. Ask what the therapeutic programming is on an ordinary weekday, not just what the brochure shows.
4. Read the disclosure and discharge terms. Before admission, the center should tell you in writing what it's licensed and certified to do and the conditions under which a resident could be discharged or asked to move. That clause tells you when your parent might be asked to leave, which matters more in dementia care, where needs change.
5. Know who to call. The Georgia Long-Term Care Ombudsman, run through the state's Division of Aging Services, advocates for residents and investigates concerns independently of the licensing agency. If something feels wrong after a move, that office is your second set of eyes.

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

• How to Choose an Assisted Living Facility in Georgia
• Medicaid Long-Term Care in Georgia
• Georgia Medicaid CCSP Waiver
• Georgia Medicaid SOURCE Waiver
• Medicaid Nursing-Facility Level of Care in Georgia
• Georgia Medicare: Plans and Coverage

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.