If you're pricing assisted living in Utah for a parent, the good news is that Utah runs below the national median of about $6,200 a month for assisted living. Before that number drives a decision, know that Utah licenses two different kinds of assisted living, and which one a place holds tells you whether it can serve your parent.

This guide walks through Utah's Type I and Type II licenses, what assisted living really costs here, and where Utah Medicaid does and doesn't fit.

In This Guide

What Assisted Living in Utah Is

If you've toured places in another state, you're probably expecting one category called "assisted living." Utah splits it in two, and the split is worth slowing down on before you compare buildings, because picking the wrong type can mean a forced move later when your parent's needs change.

Both kinds are licensed and inspected by the Office of Licensing within the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, the state agency that oversees health facilities, under Utah Administrative Code R432-270 and the definitions in Utah Code 26B-2-201. The line the state draws between them comes down to how much help a resident needs, and whether that resident could get out of the building on their own if something went wrong.

A Type I facility provides help with activities of daily living and social care to residents who need a protected living arrangement and can get out of the building without another person's help. Think of it as the lighter-touch setting: help with daily tasks and a supportive community, for someone who is still fairly mobile and independent.

A Type II facility provides coordinated personal and health-care services available 24 hours a day, for residents assessed as needing those services. A facility must hold a Type II license if its residents can get out of the building only with limited help from one person. This is the type built for someone who can't evacuate without that help, or who needs more hands-on health support around the clock.

Here's why this distinction is the thing to get right first: a Type I facility isn't licensed to keep a resident whose needs have grown into Type II territory. If your parent enters a Type I community and later needs round-the-clock coordinated care, that can force a move at exactly the moment a move is hardest. Matching the license type to your parent's current and likely-near-future needs spares you that.

Type I Type II
Who it serves Residents who can get out of the building without another person's help Residents who can get out only with limited help from one person
Services Personal care and social services Coordinated personal and health-care services, available 24 hours a day
Best fit A more independent, mobile resident A resident who can't reliably evacuate alone or needs more health support
Oversight DHHS Office of Licensing, R432-270 DHHS Office of Licensing, R432-270

When a place tells you it's "assisted living," the question that actually tells you something is which type it's licensed for, not the word on the brochure. Ask, and confirm it against the Office of Licensing records.

What Assisted Living in Utah Costs

Utah runs below the national line for assisted living, which is genuinely good news if you're budgeting. The most current figures come from the CareScout (Genworth) 2025 Cost of Care Survey, released in March 2026, which sets the national median for assisted living at about $6,200 a month, or $74,400 a year (up 5% from the year before). In Utah, the 2025 median for an assisted living community is about $62,790 to $65,700 a year, depending on which CareScout publication you read (its data tables report the higher figure as $5,475 a month), and Utah's medians run below the national figure in all three residential settings: assisted living, a semi-private nursing-home room ($8,669 a month) and a private nursing-home room ($10,646 a month). These are industry-survey medians, not government rates, so treat them as a budgeting starting point, not a quote. Costs vary within the state and rise as care needs grow.

One caution that applies even more in Utah: costs here have grown unevenly. CareScout ranks Utah No. 7 among the states where senior care costs grew fastest between 2022 and 2025, with the country's largest single-category spike (254.4% for adult day health care), while private nursing-home room costs rose only 5.3%, the second-slowest rate in the U.S. One category's trend doesn't predict another's, so price recent quotes rather than older figures. Here's how the survey's national medians compare across the settings families weigh against each other:

Setting Approximate monthly median Approximate annual median
Assisted living $6,200 $74,400
Non-medical caregiver, in-home (national median, 44 hrs/week) $35/hour $80,080
Nursing home, semi-private room $9,581 $114,975
Nursing home, private room $10,798 $129,575

Beginning with the 2025 survey, CareScout combined its former "homemaker" and "home health aide" categories into a single "non-medical caregiver" rate, so in-home help is no longer broken out separately. Nursing-home care runs far above assisted living either way, which matters when you weigh settings against each other.

One more caution when you compare quotes. The price a place advertises is usually a base rate covering 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 pays more, sometimes a lot more. This matters even more in Utah, because a Type II resident with higher needs sits at the upper end of that range. 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.

Help Paying: Utah Medicaid

This is where families most often get caught short, so let's be plain about it. Utah Medicaid does not pay a resident's room and board in assisted living, so budget for that part without counting on Medicaid. If you've been picturing Medicaid covering the rent the way people imagine it covering a nursing home, that's the assumption to set down now, before it shapes a budget.

There's a real exception worth understanding, though. Utah's home and community-based long-term care options for older adults include two Medicaid long-term-care waivers: the New Choices Waiver and the Aging Waiver. Of these, the New Choices Waiver counts a licensed assisted living facility among the settings a participant may live in. What it can't cover is the room and board, because federal rules bar Medicaid from paying that part, and Utah says participants are responsible for their own room and board. So the picture is split: the waiver may help with care services, while your parent still pays the rent and meals from their own income. Getting in is the hard part. An applicant must be at least 18, meet nursing-facility level of care and Utah Medicaid's financial rules, and meet a few other conditions, then qualify through one of four routes: 90 days or more of Medicaid-paid care in a nursing facility; at least 30 days of Medicare-paid care in a licensed Utah medical institution with a planned move to a Medicaid nursing facility for at least 60 more days; 365 days or more receiving nursing-facility level of care in licensed assisted living or a small health care (Type N) facility; or a transfer from another Utah home and community-based services waiver, for someone with an immediate or impending need for nursing-facility care. If you're paying privately for assisted living now, that 365-day route is the number to plan around. Even then, the waiver serves a limited number of people and most slots are reserved for people living in nursing facilities, hospitals or other medical facilities, so meeting the criteria doesn't guarantee a spot.

To qualify for Utah's long-term-care Medicaid, the financial rules are strict. For nursing-home Medicaid, a person's monthly income generally must be less than the private cost of nursing-home care, and spenddown is allowed. For the New Choices Waiver, one eligibility group (the Special Income Group) uses an income test of 300% of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) rate, $2,982 a month in 2026. For a single applicant the countable-asset limit is $2,000, and a spouse who stays at home may keep, subject to certain limits, half the couple's countable assets, bounded by the 2026 federal spousal resource standards of $32,532 at the low end and $162,660 at the high end. A nursing-home resident on Utah Medicaid pays most of their monthly income toward the cost of care and keeps a personal needs allowance of $45 a month (or $90 for a resident receiving a VA Aid and Attendance (A&A) payment).

Two more things to plan for, because they can change whether and when someone qualifies. Utah applies a 60-month look-back: at application the eligibility worker asks for asset and income information from the prior 60 months, and assets or income given away in that window can make your parent ineligible. And Utah's Office of Recovery Services recovers Medicaid funds spent on a recipient from the estate of anyone who received medical assistance after age 55. Under federal law, recovery can happen only after a surviving spouse has died, and only while there is no surviving child who is under 21, or blind or permanently and totally disabled. If your parent's income or assets are near the line, it's worth understanding the rules before anyone applies, because how money is handled in the years beforehand matters. Our guides to Medicaid Planning Strategies and the Medicaid Personal Needs Allowance, Explained cover the questions that come up most.

How to Vet a Facility

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

1
Step 1

Confirm the license type, not just the word

Ask whether the place is licensed Type I or Type II, and match that to your parent's current and likely-near-future needs. Check it against the DHHS Office of Licensing facility records. A Type I place can't keep a resident who has grown into Type II needs, so getting this right up front spares a forced move later.

2
Step 2

Get the base rate and the care tiers in writing

Ask what the headline price covers, what counts as an add-on, how care needs are assessed, and how often rates rise.

3
Step 3

Sort out who pays before you fall in love with a building

Since Utah Medicaid won't cover room and board, be clear about how a private-pay stay would be funded and for how long, and whether the New Choices Waiver might help with the service costs (entry runs through specific routes, such as a year or more at nursing-facility level of care in licensed assisted living, and slots are limited).

4
Step 4

Read the contract and termination terms, and tour around a mealtime

A place should put in writing what it provides and the conditions under which a resident could be asked to leave. Go around a mealtime, when staffing and the real feel of a building are hardest to stage.

Bring the contract home and read it without a salesperson in the room. If the refund, care, or termination 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

How much does assisted living cost in Utah?

The most current data is the CareScout (Genworth) 2025 Cost of Care Survey, released in March 2026, which sets the national median for assisted living at about $6,200 a month (roughly $74,400 a year). In Utah the 2025 median is about $62,790 to $65,700 a year, depending on which CareScout publication you read, below the national figure. These are approximate industry-survey medians, not government rates, and the advertised price is usually a base rate before care add-ons, which rise with a resident's needs.

What is the difference between Type I and Type II assisted living in Utah?

A Type I facility provides help with activities of daily living and social care to residents who can get out of the building without another person's help, while a Type II facility provides coordinated personal and health-care services 24 hours a day to residents assessed as needing them, and must be used when residents can get out only with limited help from one person. A Type I place isn't licensed to keep a resident whose needs grow into Type II care, so match the type to your parent's needs to avoid a forced move later.

Who regulates assisted living in Utah?

Both types are licensed and inspected by the Office of Licensing within the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, under Utah Administrative Code R432-270 and the definitions in Utah Code Title 26B, Chapter 2. The Office of Licensing also keeps the facility records you can check before choosing a place.

Does Utah Medicaid pay for assisted living?

Not for room and board. Utah Medicaid does not pay a resident's rent and meals in assisted living. The New Choices Waiver counts a licensed assisted living facility among the settings a participant may live in, while the resident still pays room and board from their own income. To apply, a person must meet nursing-facility level of care and qualify through one of four routes, such as 365 days or more receiving nursing-facility level of care in licensed assisted living, 90 days or more of Medicaid-paid nursing-facility care, or a transfer from another Utah waiver. Slots are limited, so meeting the criteria doesn't guarantee a spot.

What are Utah Medicaid's financial limits for long-term care?

For nursing-home Medicaid, monthly income generally must be less than the private cost of nursing-home care, with spenddown allowed; the New Choices Waiver's Special Income Group uses 300% of the SSI rate, $2,982 a month in 2026. For a single applicant the countable-asset limit is $2,000, with part of the couple's assets protected for a spouse who stays at home. Utah also applies a 60-month look-back to assets or income given away, and recovers Medicaid funds from the estates of people who received medical assistance after age 55, with recovery waiting until after a surviving spouse dies and while no surviving child is under 21, or blind or permanently and totally disabled.

Learn More

Care TypesAssisted Living by State: Costs, Rules and Medicaid CoverageWhat assisted living costs, how licensing and Medicaid coverage differ from state to state, plus a guide to all 50 states so you can jump straight to yours. Care TypesNursing Homes in UtahNursing homes in Utah in 2026: what a semi-private and private room cost, how to check a facility's record, and how Medicaid pays for long-term care. Care TypesMemory Care in UtahUtah has no standalone memory care license. Secure dementia care is a secure unit in a Type II assisted living facility. See the rules, cost, and how to vet. Care TypesAssisted Living vs. Memory Care in UtahAssisted living vs. memory care in Utah comes down to cognition and safety. Assisted living runs below the national median; memory care costs more. FinancialHow to Pay for Assisted LivingHow to pay for assisted living in 2026: what it costs and how private pay, Medicaid waivers, VA Aid and Attendance, and long-term care insurance each fit. Care TypesHome Care vs. Home Health in UtahHome care vs. home health in Utah: home health is skilled care Medicare covers at $0, home care is non-medical help it won't, and the state licenses each apart. Care TypesHow to Pay for Assisted Living in UtahUtah assisted living ran about $62,790 to $65,700 a year in 2025. How Utah families pay: savings, insurance, VA Aid and Attendance, and New Choices limits. MedicaidMedicaid Planning StrategiesSee which assets you keep, how the 5-year look-back works, and the legal moves that qualify you for Medicaid long-term care without losing the house. MedicaidMedicaid Personal Needs Allowance, ExplainedHow the Medicaid Personal Needs Allowance works in 2026: the $30 federal floor, what the states set, and how patient liability is calculated.

Find personalized help comparing Type I and Type II assisted living options in Utah 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.

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