In CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey, a semi-private nursing home room in New Hampshire has a median cost of $146,913 a year, or $12,243 a month. If you are working out how to pay for senior care in New Hampshire and a discharge planner just said that figure out loud, you do not have to cover it from one source. The main ways to pay for care in New Hampshire are your family's own income and savings, Medicare for a short skilled stay, New Hampshire Medicaid once the money runs low, and veterans' benefits or an old insurance policy where they exist, and you can list which of these your parent has before the next meeting. New Hampshire Medicaid's rules are also less closed than they first look, because an applicant over its income cap is not simply denied.

In This Guide

What Senior Care Costs in New Hampshire

Every option below gets measured against one number: what a year of care in your parent's setting will cost. New Hampshire care costs run well above the national medians in every setting CareScout's 2025 survey reports for the state except adult day health care.

Setting in New Hampshire Yearly median Monthly or hourly median
Non-medical caregiver at home $91,520 $40 an hour
Assisted living community $96,300 $8,025 a month
Nursing home, semi-private room $146,913 $12,243 a month
Nursing home, private room $161,330 $13,444 a month
Adult day health care $24,180 $2,015 a month

CareScout's 2025 New Hampshire medians are industry-survey figures rather than government ones, and costs vary widely within the state and rise as care needs grow. For the national comparison, CareScout puts the 2025 national median for an assisted living community at about $6,200 a month, roughly $74,400 a year. Our guide to the cost of senior care in New Hampshire breaks the figures down by setting. If a nursing home is already on the table, our guide to New Hampshire nursing homes covers choosing one.

Paying From Your Own Money in New Hampshire

Your parent's own money is the first thing to map: Social Security, a pension, savings and sometimes the house. Before you draw down savings, check two New Hampshire bills that can shrink. How New Hampshire's state taxes treat a retiree's income is covered in our guide to how New Hampshire taxes retirement income. The other bill is the property tax on your parent's New Hampshire home.

Property Tax Relief Your Town Controls

New Hampshire's Elderly Exemption is a local-option program under RSA 72:39-a and 72:39-b, and each New Hampshire city or town sets its own exemption amounts by age bracket (65 to 74, 75 to 79, and 80 and older), its own income limits and its own asset limits. State law sets only the floors: a New Hampshire town's Elderly Exemption income limit can't be less than $13,400 for a single person or $20,400 for a married couple, and its net asset limit can't be less than $35,000, not counting the home and the land it sits on up to the greater of 2 acres or the local minimum lot size. Concord, for example, uses 2026 Elderly Exemption income limits of $45,500 single and $65,000 married, a $150,000 asset limit, and reductions in assessed value of $155,000 at ages 65 to 74, $250,000 at 75 to 79, and $375,000 at 80 or older.

To qualify for a New Hampshire Elderly Exemption, the owner must be 65 on or before April 1 of the application year and must have lived in New Hampshire for at least three consecutive years before that April 1, and the application goes to the local assessor on Form PA-29. Call your parent's town office and ask for its current amounts; the town's figures, not the state floors, are the ones that decide the bill.

A second New Hampshire program works at the state level. The Low and Moderate Income Homeowners Property Tax Relief program under RSA 198:56-57 rebates all or part of the state education property tax for a homeowner who lived in the home on April 1 of the claim year and has total household income of $37,000 or less single, or $47,000 or less married or head of a New Hampshire household. Claims go to the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration between May 1 and June 30 following the due date of the final tax bill, online through Granite Tax Connect or on Form DP-8. Filing detail: New Hampshire senior property tax relief.

If Your Parent Is a Veteran Homeowner

New Hampshire's Standard Veterans' Tax Credit under RSA 72:28 takes $50 a year off the property tax on a qualifying veteran's home, and a New Hampshire city or town may adopt an optional veterans' credit of $51 up to $750 instead. A spouse or surviving spouse of a qualifying veteran can also claim New Hampshire's veterans' credit.

For a veteran with a total and permanent service-connected disability, or a surviving spouse, New Hampshire's Tax Credit for Service-Connected Total Disability under RSA 72:35 is $700 a year, and a New Hampshire town may adopt an optional credit of any amount from $701 up to $5,000, so the credit depends on the town. The optional New Hampshire disability credit replaces the other veterans' credits rather than adding to them. New Hampshire veterans apply to the local selectmen or assessors by April 15 on a permanent application, which local assessors identify as Form PA-29. More: New Hampshire's disabled veteran property tax credit and exemption.

Borrowing Against the House

Every route to borrowing against the house is secured by the home and reduces the equity the owner or the heirs would otherwise keep, and a home equity loan or line of credit usually carries monthly payments. The federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) is open to homeowners 62 and older through an FHA-approved lender, needs no monthly mortgage payments, and adds interest and fees to the loan balance each month, so the balance grows and the equity shrinks. The HECM rule that matters most for care: if the borrower is away for more than 12 consecutive months in a healthcare facility such as a nursing home or assisted living facility and no co-borrower lives in the home, anyone else living there must move out unless they can repay the loan or qualify as an Eligible Non-Borrowing Spouse. The 12-month rule is why a HECM fits care at home, or a couple where one spouse stays in the house, far better than one person's permanent move into a facility. More: home equity options for senior care.

Not sure which of these your family qualifies for? Chat with Brevy's care navigator at brevy.com.

Where Medicare Stops Paying

Medicare, in New Hampshire as everywhere, does not cover custodial care, the non-medical help with bathing, dressing and using the bathroom, when that is the only care a person needs, which is why Medicare does not pay for a long-term stay in a nursing home or an assisted living facility.

Medicare Part A pays for skilled nursing facility care on a short-term, post-acute basis, up to 100 days per benefit period, and it generally requires a qualifying inpatient hospital stay of at least three consecutive days first. Time under observation or in the emergency room before admission does not count toward Medicare's three-day stay, even overnight. A patient whose doctor participates in an Accountable Care Organization approved for a Skilled Nursing Facility 3-Day Rule Waiver may not need the three-day stay, and a Medicare Advantage plan may also waive it.

In 2026 a Medicare Part A skilled nursing facility stay costs $0 a day for days 1 through 20 after the $1,736 deductible, which is not owed again if you already paid it for hospital care in the same benefit period; $217 a day for days 21 through 100; and after day 100, Medicare pays nothing. If your parent will still need care on day 101, ask DHHS about New Hampshire Medicaid while the Medicare days are still running. See also Medicare plans and coverage in New Hampshire.

Paying for Senior Care in New Hampshire With Medicaid

When private money runs low, New Hampshire Medicaid is the program to apply to for long-term care. New Hampshire Medicaid, run by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), pays for nursing facility care when a person has been found eligible for categorically or medically needy medical assistance and placed at the proper level of care, and it pays only for care in licensed, certified nursing facilities.

Income. Under New Hampshire rule He-W 858.05, the nursing facility cap is 300 percent of the maximum Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit, and for 2026 New Hampshire DHHS sets that cap at $2,982 a month for nursing facility, home and community-based services, and Choices for Independence (CFI) waiver categorically needy services. A New Hampshire applicant whose gross income is at or below $2,982 a month in 2026 is income eligible for Medicaid nursing facility care as categorically needy. An applicant whose gross income is higher is not simply denied: New Hampshire Medicaid treats them as income eligible as medically needy when their net income is at or below the monthly Medicaid nursing facility rate. If a relative has told you your mother's pension puts her out of reach, that second rule is the one to ask DHHS about.

Resources. New Hampshire rule He-W 856.06 sets the resource limit for medically needy Medicaid at $2,500 for a single person and $4,000 for two, adding $100 for each additional person, and sets the limit for New Hampshire Medicaid long-term care applicants at $2,500 plus the value of coverage in a conforming long-term care insurance policy. New Hampshire rule He-W 856.07, effective September 20, 2025, adds a disregard for adults 18 or older applying for or receiving nursing facility or CFI waiver services: resources equal to the gap between the group's base resource standard and $7,500 are not counted. In plain terms, a New Hampshire Medicaid nursing home or CFI waiver applicant may be able to keep more than the $2,500 base resource limit in 2026, which is why the exact number matters. Ask DHHS to tell you your parent's countable limit in writing before anyone spends down or moves money. Full detail: New Hampshire Medicaid eligibility and income limits and New Hampshire Medicaid long-term care.

Home equity. Under federal Medicaid law, an applicant whose home equity exceeds the 2026 minimum of $752,000 is not eligible for long-term care assistance, and a state may substitute a higher figure up to $1,130,000. The federal equity limit does not apply at all while a spouse, a child under 21, or a child who is blind or permanently and totally disabled lawfully lives in the home.

What a resident keeps. When New Hampshire DHHS computes a Medicaid nursing facility resident's cost of care, its Medical Assistance Manual 619.01 directs the caseworker to subtract either a $93 personal needs allowance or the VA $90 Nursing Facility Pension if the resident is entitled to it. More: the New Hampshire personal needs allowance.

Our guide on how to apply for New Hampshire Medicaid walks through the forms. If a decision goes against you, read New Hampshire Medicaid appeals and fair hearings the day the notice arrives.

Money Given Away in the Last Five Years

Under the federal transfer rules New Hampshire applies, an asset given away for less than fair market value is measured against a look-back date 60 months before the first date the person both is institutionalized and has applied for Medicaid, and a transfer inside that window can make the person ineligible for New Hampshire Medicaid nursing facility services for a period of months. A New Hampshire Medicaid transfer penalty is calculated by dividing the total uncompensated value by the state's average monthly private-pay cost of nursing facility care. A Medicaid transfer penalty blocks nursing facility services and home and community-based waiver services for the penalty months, not all Medicaid coverage.

Not every transfer is penalized. Under federal Medicaid law, a home can pass without penalty to a spouse; to a child under 21 or a child who is blind or permanently and totally disabled; or to a son or daughter who lived there at least two years before the institutionalization and provided care that let the parent stay home rather than in a facility. With your parent's care and your family's savings both on the line, an hour with an elder law attorney before anyone moves money is cheap.

What Happens to the House

Federal law sets when Medicaid estate recovery can happen: only after the death of a surviving spouse, and only when there is no surviving child who is under 21 or blind or permanently and totally disabled, and every state Medicaid agency must have procedures to waive recovery where it would work an undue hardship. New Hampshire reaches further than the probate estate: under RSA 167:14-a, the estate New Hampshire Medicaid can recover from includes property the recipient held in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, or as a life estate, for interests set up on or after July 1, 2005, limited to the value of the recipient's ownership interest. If your name is on your parent's deed as a joint tenant, read our guide to New Hampshire Medicaid estate recovery before you assume the house passes to you untouched.

Staying Home or Moving to Assisted Living

If your parent would rather stay put, look at New Hampshire Medicaid's CFI waiver before anyone signs a facility contract. The CFI waiver has its own income-eligibility rule, New Hampshire rule He-W 858.06, and New Hampshire DHHS applies the same 2026 cap of $2,982 a month to CFI categorically needy services as to nursing facility care., The services, the clinical test and how to enroll are in our guide to New Hampshire Medicaid HCBS waivers.

Before touring assisted living, know what New Hampshire Medicaid will not cover there. New Hampshire licenses assisted living as an Assisted Living Residence-Residential Care under rule He-P 804, and it is largely private-pay: federal Medicaid rules make no federal financial participation available for room and board outside narrow exceptions, so a New Hampshire Medicaid waiver pays for services rather than a resident's rent and meals. New Hampshire law RSA 151:2, IV does require the rules for residential care and supported residential care facilities to let them admit residents found eligible for nursing facility services under the CFI waiver and referred as an alternative to a nursing home, provided the care the person needs can be provided or obtained there. Ask each residence whether it takes CFI residents and what it charges for room and board alone. Our guide on how to pay for assisted living in New Hampshire goes deeper.

If a family member is doing the caregiving, see how to get paid as a family caregiver in New Hampshire and caregiver programs in New Hampshire.

If One Spouse Stays Home

When one spouse needs nursing home care, the other isn't expected to hand over everything. New Hampshire Medicaid's 2026 community spouse resource allowance has a floor of $32,532 and a ceiling of $162,660. How the protected amount is set, and how to ask for more at a hearing, is in our guide to New Hampshire Medicaid spousal impoverishment rules.

If Your Parent Served in the Military

If your husband, wife or parent served, VA benefits may belong in the plan too, and the rules and current rates are in our guide to VA Aid and Attendance in New Hampshire.

Is your parent a veteran, or a veteran's surviving spouse? Chat with Brevy's care navigator at brevy.com to see which benefits might apply.

Long-Term Care Insurance

If your parent bought a long-term care insurance policy, find it and read the benefit triggers, the daily maximum and the waiting period. Per-diem benefits from a tax-qualified long-term care insurance policy are excluded from federal income only up to the greater of an indexed amount, $430 a day for 2026, or the costs actually incurred for care, so the cap binds only when a policy pays more per day than the care costs. On the Medicaid side, a long-term care insurance partnership can shelter assets, but a partnership is a state option rather than a national entitlement, existing only where the state has an approved Medicaid state plan amendment providing for the disregard. In New Hampshire, the resource limit for a Medicaid long-term care applicant is $2,500 plus the value of coverage provided in a conforming long-term care insurance policy, so ask the insurer and DHHS in writing whether your parent's policy is a conforming one. More: long-term care insurance.

When paying for elder care in New Hampshire, write down each source your parent has and what it covers. If your parent is on Medicare with a modest income, check New Hampshire Medicare Savings Programs as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the income limit for New Hampshire Medicaid long-term care in 2026?

If your parent's gross income is $2,982 a month or less in 2026, New Hampshire Medicaid counts them as income eligible for nursing facility or CFI waiver care as categorically needy. A New Hampshire applicant above the $2,982 monthly cap can still be income eligible for Medicaid as medically needy when their net income is at or below the monthly Medicaid nursing facility rate, so higher income is a reason to ask, not a reason to skip applying.

Does Medicare pay for a nursing home in New Hampshire?

Medicare does not pay for a long-term stay in a New Hampshire nursing home, because Medicare does not cover custodial care when it is the only care a person needs. Medicare Part A's short-term skilled nursing coverage, and what it costs in 2026, are in Where Medicare Stops Paying.

Will New Hampshire Medicaid pay for assisted living?

Not for rent and meals. A New Hampshire Medicaid waiver pays for services in an assisted living residence, not the resident's room and board. New Hampshire law lets residential care facilities admit residents found eligible for nursing facility services under the Choices for Independence waiver, so ask each residence whether it takes CFI residents.

How much can my mother keep if my father goes into a nursing home in New Hampshire?

In 2026 your mother, as the spouse staying home, keeps at least $32,532 and at most $162,660 of the couple's resources under New Hampshire Medicaid's community spouse resource allowance. Our New Hampshire spousal impoverishment guide walks through how the share is worked out.

Can my parent get a property tax break in New Hampshire?

Yes, if the owner qualifies. New Hampshire's Elderly Exemption is set by each city or town for owners 65 and older, and the state's Low and Moderate Income Homeowners Property Tax Relief program rebates all or part of the state education property tax for homeowners with household income of $37,000 or less single, or $47,000 or less married.,

Learn More

Care TypesCost of Senior Care in New HampshireWhat senior care costs in New Hampshire in 2026, from assisted living to nursing homes and in-home care, why the state runs high, and how families pay. MedicaidNew Hampshire Medicaid Long-Term CareNew Hampshire Medicaid pays for long-term care in a nursing home or at home through the Choices for Independence waiver. See the 2026 income and asset limits. MedicaidNew Hampshire Medicaid HCBS WaiversNew Hampshire Medicaid HCBS waivers pay for home care through the Choices for Independence (CFI) waiver. See who qualifies, what CFI covers, and how to apply. Care TypesHow to Pay for Assisted Living in New HampshireAssisted living in New Hampshire has a $96,300 median yearly cost. How families pay: savings, LTC insurance, VA Aid and Attendance, and the CFI waiver. VA BenefitsVA Aid and Attendance in New HampshireVA Aid and Attendance in New Hampshire for 2026: who qualifies, rates up to $2,874 a month, how to apply, and free help filing your claim in NH. FinancialNew Hampshire Senior Property Tax ReliefNew Hampshire's Elderly Exemption is set by each town, not the state. Learn state-law income floors, how amounts vary and how to file Form PA-29.

Find personalized help paying for senior care in New Hampshire 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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Expert eldercare guidance from Brevy's team of healthcare professionals and researchers.