Wyoming doesn't issue a separate memory care license. Dementia care is built into the state's assisted living facility licensure, and a facility running a secure dementia unit must hold the higher Level 2 license. This guide explains what that means, what to verify, what it costs, and who pays.
In This Guide
- Key Takeaways
- How Wyoming Regulates Memory Care
- What the Level 2 Secure-Unit License Requires
- What It Costs and Who Pays
- How to Vet a Memory-Care Setting
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Wyoming Regulates Memory Care
When you start calling facilities, "memory care" gets thrown around as if it were one licensed thing you could shop for and line up side by side. In Wyoming it isn't. The state never created a separate memory-care license. Instead, it folds dementia care into the assisted living system, and the protection that matters lives in which version of the assisted living license a facility holds. Knowing that before your first tour changes what you look for.
Here's the structure. Assisted living in Wyoming is licensed by the Wyoming Department of Health Healthcare Licensing and Surveys office, under the department's Assisted Living Facility rules. Wyoming uses a single assisted-living facility license, and the license definition expressly includes facilities with secured units and facilities dedicated to the special care of people with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia. So memory care isn't a separate building type you license; it's a kind of assisted living the state's own rules name.
What distinguishes a true memory-care setting is the license level. A facility that operates a secure dementia unit must be licensed at the higher Level 2, which carries added requirements for staff and resident care. That Level 2 secure-unit license is, in practice, Wyoming's memory-care standard. The effect is that "memory care" here isn't a marketing label you have to take on faith. It's tied to a license a facility either holds or doesn't, and a family can ask one direct question: is this facility licensed at Level 2 for a secure dementia unit?
So a Wyoming memory-care setting carries something you can check with the state, not just with the facility. The license still matters if your loved one's dementia comes with heavy medical needs, because an assisted living facility may not be set up to provide the level of skilled nursing a person eventually requires. A Level 2 secure unit is a dementia standard inside assisted living, not a substitute for a nursing home.
What the Level 2 Secure-Unit License Requires
Once you know to ask for Level 2, the next question is what that license actually buys your family. Wyoming attaches added requirements to a facility that operates a secure dementia unit, above what's required of standard assisted living. Two of those requirements are worth understanding before a tour: how staff are prepared for dementia, and what the facility has to do before your loved one ever moves in.
On staffing, Level 2 raises the bar with dementia-related staff training. That's the difference Wyoming is trying to guarantee: the people working a secure unit have specific preparation for dementia, not just general assisted living experience. The rule sets the requirement; when you ask, ask the facility to describe its training in concrete terms, who receives it, and whether new staff complete it before working alone on the unit, rather than expecting one statewide number you can quote back.
On admission, Level 2 requires a preadmission assessment before a resident enters the secure unit. That assessment is meant to confirm the unit can actually meet the person's needs, and it's also your opening to make sure the placement is right. Ask what the assessment covers, who performs it, and what it tells the facility about how it will care for your specific family member. A serious secure unit will be able to walk you through that process; a facility that glosses over it is telling you something.
| License feature | What it means for a memory-care family |
|---|---|
| Single assisted-living license | Memory care is not separately licensed; it lives inside the assisted living system |
| Definition covers secured/Alzheimer's units | The state's own license definition names secured and dementia-dedicated facilities, so the category is real, not just marketing |
| Level 2 secure-unit license | The license a facility must hold to run a secure dementia unit; confirm it directly with the state |
| Dementia-related staff training | Ask what the training covers, who receives it, and whether new staff finish it before working alone |
| Preadmission assessment | Ask what it covers and how it confirms the unit can meet your loved one's needs |
The training and the assessment deserve the closest read, because they're where dementia care most often succeeds or fails. A real secure unit is built so a resident can move and stay safe at once, and it has staff who can de-escalate distress without reaching for a locked door or a sedative as the first answer. Ask the facility to walk you through how it would handle your loved one's specific wandering or behavior. If it can do that concretely, that's a far better sign than a glossy brochure.
What It Costs and Who Pays
Cost is usually what families brace for, and there's no clean single number for memory care in Wyoming. The state doesn't publish one, and because memory care here is delivered within assisted living rather than as a separately surveyed setting, the industry surveys that track senior-care prices don't break it out the way they break out assisted living overall.
What you do have is a solid anchor for the base. Per the Genworth/CareScout 2024 Cost of Care Survey, the most recent state-level data, assisted living in Wyoming runs a median of about $4,700 a month (roughly $56,400 a year), which sits below the national median of about $70,800 a year. Memory care costs more than that base, here as everywhere, because a secure dementia unit means more staff time, dementia-specific training, and a setting built for safety. How much more depends on the facility, its size, and how much care your loved one needs. Treat memory care as a premium on top of that assisted-living figure, and be wary of any source quoting one precise statewide memory-care number.
For context on the rest of the care continuum, the same survey put a semi-private nursing-home room in Wyoming at about $118,990 a year (roughly $9,916 a month), above the national median, and a private room at about $123,918 a year (roughly $10,327 a month), close to the national line. In-home care runs about $74,360 a year for a home health aide and about $62,920 a year for homemaker services. These are industry-survey medians, not government figures. Because Wyoming is a small, rural state, its survey figures can swing sharply from year to year, so treat them as rough planning benchmarks that vary within the state and rise as care needs grow. Use them to set expectations, then get a specific written quote from any place you're serious about.
Paying for it is where families often get caught off guard. Assisted living in Wyoming is largely private-pay for room and board. Medicaid does not pay the room-and-board portion of assisted living. What it can do is help with the care: Wyoming Medicaid can cover assisted-living services for residents who qualify through its home- and community-based Community Choices Waiver. The waiver is not an entitlement, so it can carry a waitlist, and dementia care runs for years with a steep bill, so it's worth checking eligibility and planning early rather than assuming the whole cost is yours alone to carry.
How to Vet a Memory-Care Setting
You don't have to become an expert in dementia regulation to make a sound decision. You have to confirm the license level, understand the dementia training and the preadmission assessment, and ask the questions the rules hand you.
- Confirm the Level 2 secure-unit license with the state. Any Wyoming facility running a secure dementia unit must be licensed at Level 2, so verify that directly with the Wyoming Department of Health Healthcare Licensing and Surveys office, not just with the facility's own marketing. A place that markets "memory care" but isn't licensed at Level 2 for a secure unit is telling you something.
- Ask how staff are trained for dementia. Level 2 requires dementia-related staff training, so ask what the training covers, who receives it, and whether new staff complete it before working alone on the unit. Specific answers are a good sign; vague reassurance isn't.
- Understand the preadmission assessment. A Level 2 secure unit must complete a preadmission assessment before a resident enters, so ask what it covers, who performs it, and how it confirms the unit can meet your loved one's needs.
- Walk the secure unit for wandering and behavior. Watch how exits are managed and how staff actually speak to residents in distress, and ask the facility to walk you through how it would handle your loved one's specific risks.
- Get the costs in writing. Ask for a written breakdown of the base rate, what memory care adds, how care levels get reassessed as dementia progresses, and what triggers an increase. Bring the contract home and read the refund and discharge terms without a salesperson in the room.
Tour at least a couple of places. The goal isn't a flawless one. It's a facility whose Level 2 secure-unit license you've verified with the state, whose dementia training you've pinned down, and whose plan for wandering and behavior you've checked against what's actually happening inside the building.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Wyoming doesn't issue a separate memory care license. Dementia care is built into the assisted living system, overseen by the Wyoming Department of Health Healthcare Licensing and Surveys office. The state's assisted living facility license definition expressly covers secured units and facilities dedicated to Alzheimer's or other dementia care, and a facility running a secure dementia unit must be licensed at the higher Level 2.
Level 2 is the license a Wyoming assisted living facility must hold to operate a secure dementia unit, and it carries added requirements for staff and resident care beyond standard assisted living. Those added requirements include dementia-related staff training and a preadmission assessment before a resident enters the secure unit.
Verify that the facility is licensed at Level 2 for a secure dementia unit with the Wyoming Department of Health Healthcare Licensing and Surveys office rather than relying on how the place markets itself. Then ask how its staff are trained for dementia and what its preadmission assessment covers, and check those answers against what you see on a visit.
There's no reliable single statewide figure for memory care alone. Use the assisted-living base as your anchor, about $4,700 a month per the Genworth/CareScout 2024 survey, and expect memory care to run higher because of the added staff time, dementia training, and secured setting it requires. Because Wyoming is a small, rural state, survey figures can swing year to year, so treat them as rough benchmarks and get a written breakdown from any place you're considering.
Wyoming Medicaid does not pay the room-and-board portion of assisted living, so that part is largely private-pay. The state's Community Choices Waiver can cover assisted-living services for residents who qualify, which helps with the care costs even though it doesn't cover room and board. The waiver is not an entitlement and may carry a waitlist, and because an assisted living facility may not provide skilled nursing care, a resident with heavier medical needs may eventually move to a nursing home, where Medicaid's nursing-facility coverage can apply for those who qualify. It's worth checking eligibility early rather than assuming the entire bill is private-pay.
Learn More
Find personalized help confirming a Wyoming facility's Level 2 secure-unit licensure and dementia staffing 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.