An assisted living budget has two sides. Costs include the community's base rate, care-level charges and extras. They also include outside costs such as the Medicare Part B premium ($202.90 a month in 2026), other insurance, pharmacy, phone and personal items. Income comes from Social Security, pensions, VA and insurance benefits. Subtract income from costs to get the monthly gap. Then divide savings by the gap to get the runway.
Key facts
- The standard Medicare Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026, and the annual Part B deductible is $283. (CMS, 2025)
- In 2026, individual filers with modified adjusted gross income above $109,000 pay an extra income-related amount on top of the standard Part B premium. (CMS, 2025)
- The national median cost of assisted living was $6,200 a month in 2025, according to the CareScout Cost of Care Survey. (CareScout, 2026)
- Virginia's Assisted Living Facility Disclosure Statement lists the services included in the base fee and each service outside it, with its fee. (Virginia DSS, 2024)
The community's fee schedule is only part of what your parent will spend each month. Pharmacy copays, insurance premiums, a phone plan, haircuts and the old house's utilities keep coming too. If you build the budget from the community's quote alone, the savings run out sooner than anyone expected. This post gives you the full worksheet, line by line. Then it shows the runway math and a routine for keeping it current.
Every cost line to include
Group the costs so nothing slips through. Fill in real figures where you have them and mark estimates as estimates.
| Group | Line | Where the figure comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Community bill | Base monthly rate for the apartment | Fee schedule |
| Community bill | Care level or care points charge | Assessment result and fee schedule |
| Community bill | Medication management, if charged separately | Fee schedule |
| Community bill | Extras your parent will use (laundry, transport, meal delivery to the room, second-person fee) | Fee schedule, list of additional services |
| Health | Medicare Part B premium | $202.90 standard in 2026; individual filers with modified AGI above $109,000 pay more (CMS) |
| Health | Medigap, Medicare Advantage or drug plan premiums | Plan statements |
| Health | Copays, deductibles, pharmacy | Last 6 to 12 months of receipts; the Part B deductible is $283 in 2026 |
| Health | Dental, vision, hearing, equipment | Recent bills |
| Personal | Phone, internet, TV | Provider bills; check what the community includes |
| Personal | Toiletries, clothing, incontinence supplies | Estimate, then track actuals |
| Personal | Hair salon, outings, gifts, subscriptions | Estimate, then track actuals |
| Old house, until sold | Property tax, insurance, utilities, lawn and snow | Bills and tax statements |
| Old house, until sold | Storage unit, if any | Rental agreement |
| Other | Renter's insurance, if the community requires it | Residency agreement |
For the community lines, ask for the written list of what the base fee includes and what each extra service costs. Some states require a standard disclosure. Virginia's form, for example, lists the services in the base fee. It also lists each service outside it, with its fee. The costs families don't see coming post goes through the extras that most often surprise people.
Add a second column called "next level." Ask the community what your parent's bill would be one care level up. Write that in beside today's figure. Care needs can change, and seeing both columns side by side keeps the family from planning around the lowest number on the fee schedule.
Keep one-time costs out of the monthly budget. These include the community fee, movers and attorney fees. Track them on their own so they don't skew the monthly gap.
Free assisted living budget template
The template has every cost line from the table above, the income lines from the next section and a short block for savings. Each line has columns for your estimate, the actual amount and a note on where the figure comes from. Formulas add up costs and income, then work out the monthly gap and the runway in months.
- Download the budget template (.xlsx). It opens in Excel and Numbers. For Google Sheets, upload the file to Google Drive and open it there.
- Download the plain version (.csv), with the same rows, for other spreadsheet apps.
Both files download directly, with no sign-up and no email address.
Income you can count on each month
List only money that comes in every month, in the amount that lands in the account:
- Social Security, after any premiums taken out of it.
- Pensions and annuity payments.
- VA pension, including Aid and Attendance, once approved.
- Long-term care insurance benefits, once the waiting period (the elimination period) is over.
- Rental income from the house, after costs.
- Regular family contributions, if agreed in writing.
- Required or planned withdrawals from retirement accounts. Ask a tax professional about the tax on them.
Don't count a benefit until it's approved. If a VA claim or insurance claim is pending, run the budget both with and without it. Note the date you expect a decision next to that line.
The gap and the runway
Two calculations tell you most of what you need:
- Monthly gap = total monthly costs minus total monthly income.
- Runway in months = savings available for care divided by the monthly gap.
An example with made-up numbers: say the community bill is $6,200 a month. That's the same as the 2025 national median in the CareScout survey. Outside costs add $700, and income is $3,100. The gap is $3,800 a month. With $120,000 available, the runway is about 31 months. Filled in, that budget might look like this (all figures made up except the 2026 Part B premium):
| Line | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Community base rate | $5,200 |
| Care level charge | $1,000 |
| Medicare Part B premium (2026 standard) | $203 |
| Drug plan and supplemental premiums | $240 |
| Pharmacy and copays | $120 |
| Phone and personal spending | $137 |
| Total costs | $6,900 |
| Social Security (as deposited) | $2,400 |
| Pension | $700 |
| Total income | $3,100 |
| Monthly gap | $3,800 |
Notice how much of the gap sits outside the community bill: $700 a month here, or $8,400 a year. Leaving those lines out would make the runway look about seven months longer in this example (38 months instead of 31).
Now make it realistic. Rates rise, and care needs can grow. Rerun the numbers with a yearly increase and with the next care level up. The rent increases post has a simple table for this. If the realistic runway is under a few years, start planning now, while there's time. The post on what happens when the money runs out covers those talks.
Where to find the real numbers
Budgets built from memory tend to come out low. Gather these papers before you fill in the worksheet:
- Social Security benefit letter and the latest deposit amount.
- Pension and annuity statements.
- Insurance cards and premium notices for every health, drug and supplemental plan.
- Pharmacy history for the last 6 to 12 months.
- The community's fee schedule and your parent's care-level assessment.
- Three months of bank and credit card statements, to catch repeat charges and subscriptions.
- Property tax, homeowner's insurance and utility bills for the house.
A costs log the whole family can see
Parent Move Plan includes a shared costs log and a weekly check-in agenda. The budget stays current, and siblings see the same numbers. The day-by-day move plan counts every task back from move-in.
Get your first 3 days freeWho pays the bills, and from which account
Bills get missed or paid twice when they come out of three accounts and two people handle them. A simpler setup looks like this:
- One account in your parent's name gets income and pays the community, pharmacy and premiums.
- One person pays the bills. Ideally it's the person with legal authority to act, such as an agent under a power of attorney or a trustee.
- Autopay for fixed bills, with alerts sent to a second family member.
- A written record of every payment and every family contribution.
You may manage your parent's money as an agent, trustee or representative payee. If so, the CFPB's free "Managing Someone Else's Money" guides explain your duties in each role. For the practical side of paying bills from another city, see managing a parent's bills from far away.
When to update the budget
Review it monthly for the first three months, while real bills replace estimates. After that, review it at least quarterly. Update it right away after any of these:
- A rate increase notice or a care-level change.
- A hospital or rehab stay.
- A benefit decision (VA, Medicaid, insurance).
- The house selling or being rented.
- A family member changing what they contribute.
Each month, put the new community statement next to last month's and compare line by line. Look for new lines, changed amounts and one-off charges. Ask the business office about anything you can't match to a service your parent used.
At the quarterly family call, it might sound like this: "I've updated the budget for this quarter. Mom's costs went up $240 a month after her care level changed. That takes a couple of months off the runway. We don't need to decide anything today, but I'd like us to talk about the plan for month 20 onward at our next call."
Rules and prices differ by state. Assisted living rules and costs by state lists the medical exam, TB test, move-out notice, Medicaid and the median monthly cost for all 50 states, with sources.
Frequently asked questions
What should a monthly budget for assisted living include?
The community's bill (base rate, care-level charges and extras), health costs outside the bill (Medicare and other insurance premiums, copays, pharmacy), personal spending, and any costs for the old house until it's sold. On the other side, list every reliable monthly income source.
Is there a free assisted living budget template?
Yes, this article has a free assisted living budget template to download as an Excel file or a CSV file, with no email needed. It lists every cost line and income line from the article, and its formulas work out the monthly gap and the runway in months.
How much is the Medicare Part B premium in 2026?
The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026, and the annual Part B deductible is $283, according to CMS. People with higher incomes pay an additional income-related amount, starting above $109,000 of modified adjusted gross income for individual filers.
How do I figure out how long my parent's money will last in assisted living?
Subtract monthly income from the total monthly cost to get the monthly gap. Divide available savings by the gap for a rough number of months. Rerun it with a yearly rate increase, because a flat calculation overstates the runway.
How often should we update the budget?
Monthly for the first few months, while real bills replace estimates, then at least quarterly. Update it right away after a rate increase notice, a care-level change, a hospital stay or a benefit decision.
Sources
- CMS: 2026 Medicare Parts A and B Premiums and Deductibles (accessed Sept 2026)
- CareScout: Cost of Care Survey 2025 (accessed Sept 2026)
- Virginia Department of Social Services: Assisted Living Facility Disclosure Statement (accessed Sept 2026)
- CFPB: Managing Someone Else's Money (accessed Sept 2026)