Memory Care Costs: Why There's No Ohio Average — and How to Budget Anyway

CareScout, the most rigorous cost-of-care survey in the industry, does not publish a memory care median for Ohio or any state. Here's what that means for your budget.

If you've searched for "average memory care cost Ohio" or "Columbus memory care cost" and found a specific dollar figure, we'd encourage skepticism. We looked closely at the most credible source available — the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey, which publishes rigorous state-level medians for in-home care, assisted living, and nursing home care — and it does not include a memory care category at all. This isn't a Columbus-specific gap or an Ohio-specific gap: CareScout does not survey memory care as its own line item anywhere in the country, so no state has a published, methodologically rigorous memory care median. Any specific number you see quoted for "average memory care cost in Ohio" is not coming from this survey, and we can't vouch for wherever it did come from.

Why memory care doesn't get its own benchmark

Part of the reason is structural. Memory care is usually delivered as a specialized program or secured wing within an assisted living community — see our explanation of how Ohio regulates memory care — rather than as its own licensed, standalone facility type. It's typically priced as a step up from a community's base assisted living rate rather than surveyed as an entirely separate service category. And the price step-up itself varies enormously: it depends on staffing ratios (especially overnight), the physical security and design of the unit, the specific programming offered, and how a given operator structures its care-level tiers. That variability is likely a big part of why no organization has been able to publish a defensible single median the way CareScout does for assisted living or nursing home care.

What this means for your budget

Because there's no reliable benchmark, the only trustworthy number is a real, written quote from a specific Columbus-area community. A few things worth doing before you commit to a budget figure in your head:

• Ask for a full written rate sheet, not just a verbal number over the phone — memory care pricing often has more moving parts than standard assisted living.
• Ask what triggers a move to a higher care tier, and what that costs — cognitive decline can mean a resident's needs, and price, change faster than in standard assisted living.
• Ask about one-time community or move-in fees separately from the monthly rate.
• Ask about overnight staffing ratios. This is one of the biggest cost drivers in memory care, and it's also one of the most meaningful quality indicators — worth asking about even if cost weren't a factor.
• Get quotes from more than one community so you have a real comparison rather than anchoring to the first number you hear.

Columbus-area memory care providers

As a starting point for gathering real quotes, two Columbus-area providers in our directory list memory care services: Brookdale Muirfield and Otterbein New Albany. We have not published pricing for either — neither operator publishes memory care rates on their own website, and per our editorial standards we don't estimate or invent pricing for a specific facility. Contact them directly for current rates and ask the questions above; that direct conversation is the only reliable way to get a real number for your family.

If gathering and comparing quotes from multiple communities feels like a lot to manage on top of everything else, Darlene can help coordinate that outreach for you, at no cost.