Base Rate or All-In: What Does Austin Memory Care Cost?

By: Jessica Cannon

Base Rate or All-In: What Does Austin Memory Care Cost?
October 14, 2026

Memory care in Austin and Central Texas really costs the community’s base rate plus every charge its contract adds for your parent’s level of care, and the only comparison that shows what your family can sustain sets that all-in monthly figure, not the quoted rate, against your parent’s income and savings. The trouble is that the smaller number usually arrives first. A quote can open with a monthly rate that looks almost workable and then list medication management, incontinence care and enhanced supervision as separate lines, while a hospital discharge planner wants an answer by Friday and Medicare turns out not to cover the care you assumed it would. It is reasonable to doubt, at this point, that any number you have been given is the real one.

Paying for dementia care is split across systems that each show you only their own piece: Medicare for a short skilled stay, Texas Medicaid for some care services, and the community for everything its contract prices. Nobody in that chain is asked to add the pieces up, so the arithmetic lands on you in the same week as the hardest conversations of your life. The system is complicated on purpose, and the fastest way to stop it from costing you is to see all of it on one page.

Jessica Lizel Cannon of The Proactive Caregiver, a dementia caregiving strategist, came to this work through her own family: she cared for her mother through frontotemporal dementia and four misdiagnoses, which is why she reads a memory care contract and a dementia timeline together. Local price ranges sit in her guide to what memory care costs in Austin and Central Texas.

Estimated reading time: 11 min read

Key Insights

Two numbers sit inside every Austin memory care quote, and only the all-in monthly cost can be tested against a parent’s income and savings. CareScout’s 2025 survey puts the Texas assisted living median at $5,666 a month and publishes no separate memory care line, so each community’s written fee schedule has to do that work. Medicare does not pay for long-term care, and Texas STAR+PLUS can pay for care services in assisted living while the resident pays room and board. An option is sustainable when the family’s money can carry its monthly gap for the length of the illness, and the decision is best made while a parent can still sign documents.

Table of Contents

The Base Rate and the All-In Cost Are Two Different Numbers

A memory care base rate is the price of a room and the community’s standard care at its lowest level. The all-in monthly cost is what the invoice is likely to show once your parent’s assessed care level, the services billed separately and the move-in charges are counted. On her Austin cost guide, Jessica names the usual additions: a one-time community fee, tiered level-of-care charges, medication management, incontinence supplies and annual rate increases. Not every contract carries all of them, so the comparison has to be built line by line from each community’s own paperwork.

The structure puts the easiest number to quote first and the number a family will actually pay last, and a line inside one community’s rate can be a separate charge at the next. Each row below is a question that produces a real figure.

Two communities with the same base rate can send very different invoices for the same parent. Comparing headline prices across Round Rock, South Austin and the Domain therefore tells a family very little. Comparing the all-in figure at your parent’s current care level, and again at the next level up, tells them a great deal, because care needs in dementia tend to rise and the second figure is the one the budget has to survive.

Line on the contract Inside the base rate? What to get in writing
Room and standard care at the lowest care level Yes. This is what the base rate prices The care level your parent was assessed at, and what that level includes
Level-of-care tiers Often priced on top, and raised as needs change The full tier schedule, each tier’s monthly price, and what moves a resident up a tier
Medication management Often a separate monthly line Whether it is included, and the monthly charge if it is not
Incontinence care and supplies Often billed separately or folded into a higher tier How the supplies and the extra hands-on care are charged
Enhanced or one-to-one supervision Often added when behaviors call for it What triggers the charge and how often it is reassessed
One-time community fee No. Paid at move-in The amount and the written refund terms
Annual rate increase No. Applied to the rate after move-in The increase history and any cap written into the contract
Base rate compared with all-in cost on a memory care contract. Line items as named on The Proactive Caregiver’s Austin cost guide; each community’s own fee schedule governs what it charges.

Memory Care Compared With the Other Settings Texas Families Weigh

Memory care is rarely the only option on the table during a discharge, so the comparison has to run across settings as well as across communities. CareScout’s Cost of Care Survey, gathered from July through November 2025, gives Texas medians for most of them. It does not publish memory care as its own line, so the statewide figure that circulates is usually the assisted living number, and her Austin guide explains why memory care is priced above it.

One Texas rule sharpens the memory care row. Under 26 TAC §553.27, a Type B assisted living facility, or a distinct unit within one, that advertises specialized care for people with Alzheimer’s disease must hold Alzheimer’s certification from Texas HHS. When a community describes part of its building as memory care, seeing that certification is a simple check on what the higher monthly rate is paying for.

If the setting itself is still undecided, matching it to the stage of dementia is the subject of her side-by-side of nursing homes, memory care and in-home care.

Setting Texas monthly median, 2025 What it is built for Who pays the daily care
In-home care (homemaker services, 44 hours a week) $5,720 Help at home for part of each day. Round-the-clock coverage runs well past this figure The family or long-term care insurance, or a Texas Medicaid program for those who qualify
Assisted living (private, one bedroom) $5,666 Housing, meals and help with daily activities The family or insurance. STAR+PLUS can pay care services, with room and board paid by the resident
Memory care Not published as its own line Assisted living with a secured setting and dementia-trained staff. Texas requires Alzheimer’s certification for a Type B facility or unit that advertises that care The same sources as assisted living
Nursing home, semi-private room $5,627 Twenty-four-hour nursing care Medicare only for a short skilled stay after a qualifying hospital stay. Medicaid for those who qualify. Otherwise the family
Nursing home, private room $7,604 Twenty-four-hour nursing care with a private room The same sources as a semi-private room
Texas monthly medians from the CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025 (fieldwork July to November 2025; median cost tables dated March 2026). Medians, not quotes. Austin-area prices vary by community and care level.

What Medicare and Texas Medicaid Leave for the Family to Fund

Medicare does not pay for most long-term care, so families pay that cost themselves. What Medicare does cover is skilled nursing facility care after a medically necessary inpatient hospital stay of at least three days in a row, limited to 100 days in each benefit period. In 2026, days 21 through 100 carry a daily coinsurance of $217. That benefit is for skilled nursing and rehabilitation, which is a different thing from the supervision a memory care resident needs every day.

In Texas, the STAR+PLUS Home and Community Based Services program can include assisted living services for people who would otherwise need nursing home care, and HHSC assesses that need when a person applies for Medicaid. Then comes the part families rarely hear first: members are responsible for their own room and board, the charge is set from the Supplemental Security Income federal benefit rate minus a personal needs allowance of $85, and paying it is a condition of eligibility for assisted living. Those two bills are worked through in her guide to whether Medicaid pays for assisted living in Texas.

This is where the two-number comparison matters most. Set against a parent’s income, a base rate can make private pay look possible for years. The all-in figure, set against the same income, shows the real monthly gap, and the gap is what draws down savings that may matter later under Medicaid’s rules. How those rules treat a particular family’s assets is a legal question for an elder law attorney. The arithmetic of the gap is something a family can see for itself today.

How to Tell Whether a Memory Care Option Is Sustainable

A sustainable option is one whose monthly gap the family’s money can carry for as long as care is likely to be needed. Four steps turn each community’s paperwork into that answer, and they work the same way anywhere in the country.

  • Start from the all-in monthly cost at your parent’s assessed care level, then work it out again at the next level up.
  • Subtract your parent’s reliable monthly income, such as Social Security or a pension, to find the monthly gap at each level.
  • Divide the savings the family is prepared to use by that gap to see how many months the money covers.
  • Set those months against the contract’s annual increase and the likely length of care, and note which option still has a path forward if private funds run low.

Reading the Money Timeline Beside the Dementia Timeline

Jessica’s approach is to read that money timeline against the dementia timeline in the same sitting, because the two run out on different clocks. Her twelve-month window describes the second clock: after a cognitive diagnosis, families typically have about one year to get powers of attorney, advance directives and banking forms signed while legal capacity still exists. In her account, missing that window means guardianship, locked assets and full retail care. A memory care decision made in a discharge rush can quietly use up the days that were meant for those documents.

None of this has to be solved in a single night. It does have to be calculated before a signature, because the contract is the moment a care decision becomes a commitment that runs for years. The contract terms that feed this arithmetic are in her questions to ask when touring a memory care community.

Who Helps With Each Part of a Memory Care Cost Decision

A memory care cost decision has several owners, and a family moves faster when each part goes to the person who actually holds it.

  • The community’s admissions or business office supplies the fee schedule, the care assessment, the tier list and the contract. It speaks for one community.
  • A geriatric care manager, called an Aging Life Care Professional by their association, usually comes from nursing, social work or gerontology, assesses a parent’s needs and abilities, and directs families to community resources.
  • An Aging and Disability Resource Center (855-937-2372) gives Texas families one-stop information about long-term services and supports and helps them through the maze of funding sources and eligibility processes, in all 254 counties.
  • An elder law attorney reviews the admission agreement and handles powers of attorney, guardianship and Medicaid legal questions. The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys keeps a directory searchable by ZIP code. For nursing homes, the CFPB tells caregivers to watch for “responsible party” wording, because federal law bars requiring a family member to pay a resident’s bill as a condition of admission. A memory care contract in assisted living is a different document, and its legal read belongs with an attorney.
  • Jessica Lizel Cannon, a dementia caregiving strategist, is a CPA with 28 years of financial experience and a Certified Dementia Practitioner. She works on the part that sits between the others. She puts each community’s all-in figure next to the dementia timeline and the family’s income and savings, so the family can see the monthly gap at each stage and how many months the money covers.

Making the Memory Care Decision From a Plan

Jessica works with families nationwide through virtual coaching, with in-person roots in Austin and Central Texas. Her coaching is built for exactly this kind of decision: one plan that holds the care, the family and the money together, reviewed as needs change. The tiers are set out on her page about Proactive Caregiver Coaching, and a video discovery call is where she and the family work out whether her help fits what they are facing. You are not doing this badly, and you do not have to do the arithmetic alone.

Protect Your Family’s Financial Future

Jessica Cannon is a CPA with 28 years of financial experience and a Certified Dementia Practitioner. What she does is help families with the financial side of dementia care: reading a Medicare denial letter, a memory care contract and a dementia timeline together, so the money makes sense before decisions get made. If you would like help applying any of this to your own situation, you can book a discovery call.

15 minutes, to work out whether this is something she can help with.

Book a discovery call

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How much does memory care cost per month in Austin, Texas?

A: Statewide, CareScout’s 2025 Cost of Care Survey puts the Texas assisted living median at $5,666 a month, and her Austin guide explains why memory care is priced above it. The survey does not publish an Austin memory care median. The dependable Austin number is the all-in figure each community gives in writing for your parent’s assessed care level. That guide also sets out local ranges.

Q: Why is the first memory care bill often higher than the quoted rate?

A: The quoted base rate usually prices the lowest care level, while the bill reflects the level your parent is assessed at and any services charged separately, such as medication management, incontinence care or added supervision. A one-time community fee may be due at move-in. Getting the full fee schedule and tier list in writing before signing turns those surprises into numbers a family can compare across communities.

Q: Does Medicare or Texas Medicaid pay for memory care?

A: Medicare does not pay for long-term care, including the daily supervision and help that make up memory care. It covers a limited skilled nursing stay after a qualifying hospital stay. In Texas, the STAR+PLUS Home and Community Based Services program can pay for assisted living services for people who would otherwise need nursing home care, while the resident remains responsible for room and board. HHSC decides eligibility, and questions about how a family’s assets are treated belong with an elder law attorney.

Q: Who can help a family work out whether they can afford memory care?

A: A geriatric care manager assesses needs and knows community resources, a Texas Aging and Disability Resource Center explains public programs, and an elder law attorney reviews the contract and the legal documents. Jessica Lizel Cannon, a dementia caregiving strategist, reads each community’s all-in cost against the dementia timeline and the family’s money. She works with families by video across the United States.

Citations

About this article. Jessica Cannon is a CPA with 28 years of financial experience and a Certified Dementia Practitioner. She provides financial coaching, not legal or medical services. This article is general information about how these systems work, not advice about your situation, and it is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. It is not medical advice, and it is not individualized tax or financial advice.

For the legal instruments themselves, including wills, powers of attorney and guardianship, you will need a licensed attorney in your own state. Medicaid and long-term care rules also differ by state and change over time, so any Texas detail here is an example rather than a rule that will apply to you.


About the Author

A former corporate accountant turned caregiver advocate, Jessica Lizel Cannon is the founder of Proactive Caregiver. She combines her financial background with her experience as a Certified Dementia Practitioner to empower families navigating the "emotional storm" of caregiving. Through her book, podcast, and consulting, Jessica helps caregivers find balance, guilt-free living, and spiritual strength.

RELATED POSTS

Caregiving

What Does Proactive Planning for Aging Look Like in Texas?

Proactive planning for aging in Texas: what to settle while a parent can still sign, who owns each job, and the 60-month look-back to understand.

Continue reading...

Caregiving

Who Helps Siblings Get Organized About Who Pays for Care?

Siblings fighting over who pays for a parent’s care can get organized in 6 steps: one cost page, every contribution counted, a split and an owner.

Continue reading...

Caregiving

How Do I Protect My Own Finances as a Dementia Caregiver?

Caring for a parent with dementia can drain your own savings. See what it costs you, what 12 weeks of FMLA covers, and who helps protect your money.

Continue reading...