If you're pricing assisted living for a parent in Maryland, the figure to plan around is roughly $7,083 a month. That's the state's approximate median, and it sits well above the national number. Most families pay for it privately, but two state programs can help eligible residents with the cost.
This guide explains what assisted living means in Maryland, the care levels a place is licensed for, what you'll actually pay, where Medicaid and the state's assisted living subsidy (now part of SOAR) fit, and how to check out a place before anyone signs.
In This Guide
- Key Takeaways
- What Assisted Living in Maryland Is
- What It Costs
- Help Paying: Medicaid's Community Options Waiver and SOAR
- How to Vet an Assisted Living Program
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Assisted Living in Maryland Is
When families here say "assisted living," they're describing a specific license: an Assisted Living Program, regulated and inspected through the Maryland Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ), the unit inside the Maryland Department of Health that oversees these settings. An Assisted Living Program provides housing, meals, supervision, and help with daily activities like bathing, dressing, and medications, in one place. It's housing plus supervision plus assistance, under a single license.
One feature of Maryland's system is worth understanding before you tour anywhere, because it shapes which places can actually take your parent. OHCQ licenses each program for a level of care, based on how much help its residents need:
| Level | Care need | What it generally means |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Low | Occasional help; a resident who is largely independent but needs some support and supervision. |
| Level 2 | Moderate | Substantial help with several daily activities. |
| Level 3 | High | Extensive, frequent help; a resident with significant care or health needs. |
The level matters in a practical way. A program licensed for Level 1 or 2 may not be able to keep a resident whose needs rise to Level 3, which can force a move later. So when you tour, ask what level the program is licensed for, and be honest about where your parent's needs are headed, not just where they are today. The point isn't to find the highest level; it's to match the license to the care your family actually needs over time.
The level you'll need also drives who can help pay, which is the question every family eventually reaches. We'll come to that next.
What It Costs
Maryland is one of the more expensive states in the country for senior care, and assisted living is no exception. In the CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey, the most recent 2024 data put the median cost of assisted living in Maryland at about $84,990 a year, roughly $7,083 a month, well above the national median of about $70,800. These are industry-survey medians, not government rates, so treat them as a budgeting starting point rather than a quote.
Where you look inside Maryland moves the number. The Washington-D.C. and Baltimore suburbs generally run above the state median; rural parts of the state generally run below it. For context, here's how the settings compare in the same survey:
| Setting | Approximate monthly median |
|---|---|
| Assisted living | ~$7,083 |
| Home health aide (44 hrs/week) | ~$6,673 |
| Nursing home, semi-private room | ~$12,501 |
| Nursing home, private room | ~$14,448 |
Maryland's nursing-home costs in particular run far above the national medians, so the gap between assisted living and a nursing home here is wide. That's one reason families work hard to keep a parent in assisted living, or at home, as long as the care level allows.
One caution when you compare quotes. The price a program advertises is usually a base rate that covers the room, meals, and a basic level of help. Care often gets billed in tiers on top of that, so a resident who needs more hands-on help, or memory care, pays more, sometimes a lot more. Ask every place for a written breakdown: what's in the base rate, what's an add-on, how care needs get assessed, and how often the rate rises. Two programs with the same headline price can land far apart once the care fees are added.
Help Paying: Medicaid's Community Options Waiver and SOAR
Here's the honest version first, because this is where families most often get caught short. A standard assisted living stay in Maryland is largely private-pay, and there's no program that simply pays a resident's full private rent. What does exist are two public programs that help eligible residents with part of the cost, each with its own rules and its own door to knock on. In both, the resident still contributes toward room and board out of their own income.
Maryland Medicaid's Community Options Waiver
Maryland Medicaid Long Term Services and Supports runs the Community Options Waiver (also called the Home and Community-Based Options Waiver), which can cover assisted-living services, the personal care and supervision, for people who meet a nursing-facility level of care and qualify financially. The key word is services. The waiver pays for the care a resident receives, not the room and board, so a resident on the waiver still pays for their housing, generally from their own income up to a set amount.
To qualify, a person has to clear two bars. First is medical: they must be certified as needing a nursing-facility level of care, the same clinical bar Maryland uses for institutional care. Second is financial: Maryland's long-term-care income standard is 300% of the SSI federal benefit rate (about $2,982 a month for an individual in 2026), alongside a low countable-asset limit, with spousal-impoverishment protections for a husband or wife who stays in the community. Maryland also applies a 60-month look-back to assets transferred for less than full value, which can trigger a penalty period, and it pursues estate recovery after death for long-term-care costs for those 55 and older, with exemptions for a surviving spouse or a minor, blind, or disabled child.
Two more things to know. The waiver is not an entitlement the way nursing-facility Medicaid is, so it can carry a waitlist, and not every assisted living program participates. So if this is your path, ask a program directly whether it accepts the Community Options Waiver before you fall in love with the building.
Supporting Older Adults with Resources (SOAR)
The second program is Supporting Older Adults with Resources (SOAR), administered through the Maryland Department of Aging. In 2026 Maryland consolidated three older state-funded programs, including the longstanding Senior Assisted Living Subsidy (SALS), into this single SOAR program, so a family who searched for "SALS" is now looking for SOAR. SOAR provides partial financial assistance to help low- and moderate-income older adults pay for an assisted living program. It's aimed at people who can't manage the full private cost but don't necessarily meet the nursing-facility bar the waiver requires. Like the waiver, it helps with part of the cost and the resident contributes from their own income; it doesn't cover the full rent. You apply through your local Area Agency on Aging, and because the program is administered locally, availability and any waitlist can vary by county.
So the rough sorting is this. If your parent meets a nursing-facility level of care and qualifies financially, the Community Options Waiver is the route to look at first. If they have limited income but don't meet that clinical bar, SOAR is the program to ask about. Either way, apply early, ask each program you're considering which subsidy it accepts, and don't assume one program's eligibility carries over to the other.
If your parent's income or assets are near the line, it helps to understand how Medicaid asset rules and spend-down work before anyone applies, because how money is handled in the years beforehand can change whether and when someone qualifies. Our guides to Medicaid planning strategies and the Medicaid personal needs allowance cover the questions that come up most.
How to Vet an Assisted Living Program
Records tell you the history; a visit tells you the present. Do both, and do the records first.
- Confirm the OHCQ license and the level it covers. The Office of Health Care Quality licenses, inspects, and investigates complaints against assisted living programs. Confirm a place holds a current license, ask which care level it's licensed for, and ask about its inspection history and any past violations.
- Match the level to your parent's needs, now and next. Because a program can only keep residents up to its licensed level, be honest about where your parent is headed so you don't pick a place they'll outgrow in a year and have to leave.
- Sort out who pays before you fall in love with a building. If your parent may rely on the Community Options Waiver or SOAR, ask up front whether the program accepts that subsidy and how room and board is handled, since neither one covers the full private rent.
- Read the admission agreement and discharge terms, and tour around a mealtime. A program should put in writing what it provides and the conditions under which a resident could be asked to move. Visit at least a couple of places, and go around a mealtime, when staffing and the real feel of a building are hardest to stage.
Bring the agreement home and read it without a salesperson in the room. If the refund, care, or discharge terms are unclear, have a family member or an elder law attorney look it over before anyone signs. The goal isn't a perfect place. It's one whose limits you understand going in.
Frequently Asked Questions
The statewide median is about $7,083 a month, roughly $84,990 a year, in the 2024 CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey, well above the national median of about $70,800. The D.C. and Baltimore suburbs generally run higher and rural areas lower. These are approximate industry-survey medians, not government rates, and the advertised price is usually a base rate before care add-ons.
Maryland Medicaid can help, but not by paying a resident's full private rent. The Community Options Waiver can cover assisted-living services for people who meet a nursing-facility level of care and qualify financially, while the resident still pays for room and board from their own income. The waiver isn't an entitlement and not every program accepts it, so ask each place directly.
In 2026 Maryland folded the Senior Assisted Living Subsidy (SALS) and two other state programs into a single program called Supporting Older Adults with Resources (SOAR), run by the Maryland Department of Aging. SOAR provides the same kind of partial financial help toward an assisted living program for low- and moderate-income older adults. It covers part of the cost, not the full rent, and the resident contributes from their own income. It's a separate program from the Medicaid waiver, with its own eligibility, and you apply through your local Area Agency on Aging.
OHCQ licenses each Assisted Living Program for a care level: Level 1 (low, occasional help), Level 2 (moderate, substantial help), or Level 3 (high, extensive and frequent help). A program can only accept residents up to the level it's licensed for, so confirm a place's level matches your parent's needs and where those needs are likely to go.
The Maryland Office of Health Care Quality, a unit inside the Department of Health, licenses, inspects, and investigates complaints against assisted living programs. Confirm a program holds a current OHCQ license and ask about its inspection history before you sign anything.
Learn More
- Nursing Homes in Maryland
- Memory Care in Maryland
- Home Care vs. Home Health in Maryland
- Medicaid Planning Strategies
- Medicaid Personal Needs Allowance, Explained
Find personalized help comparing assisted living in Maryland 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.