What help at home costs, next to the alternatives
Last updated September 14, 2026
Most families never see this laid out. Six hours a week of help at home — the groceries, the ride to the clinic, a couple of hours of company — runs about $910 a month. A shared nursing-home room runs $9,581. That is the shape of the decision, and it is usually made in a hospital hallway without the numbers.
Help at home
$910/mo
6 h/week at $35/h
Assisted living
$6,200/mo
national median
Shared nursing-home room
$9,581/mo
national median
At 6 hours a week, help at home runs about $910 a month — $5,290 less than assisted living and $8,671 less than a shared nursing-home room.
National medians from the CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025. Your area's rates, and what a particular person needs, will differ — this is the shape of the decision, not a quote. It leaves out what home care does not cover: rent or a mortgage, food, utilities, and the hours family members give themselves.
Where the numbers come from
The three medians on this page are from the CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025: a non-medical caregiver at $35 an hour, assisted living at $6,200 a month, and a nursing home at $9,581 a month for a shared room ($10,798 private). Monthly facility figures are the daily rate × 365 ÷ 12. They are national medians — Chicagoland runs above them for care and for housing both — so treat the calculator as the shape of the choice, not a quote.
The comparison is also not the whole picture. Help at home sits on top of the home itself: rent or a mortgage, food, utilities, the hours family members give without an invoice. Assisted living and nursing homes bundle most of that in. What the arithmetic does show is how far a modest amount of paid help stretches before a facility becomes the cheaper option.
What KoraCommand does with this
Inside a family's circle, the Hours panel keeps the funded and used hours, the helpers the family already trusts, and the running total in one place — next to the medications, the appointments and who is driving. The same three medians appear there, so the savings line a family sees in the product is the one on this page.
KoraCommand is a coordination tool, not a home-care agency: it does not place caregivers, and it never gives medical advice. Whether a parent should stay home is a question for the family and the care team; this page exists so that conversation starts with the numbers on the table.
Questions families ask
How much does in-home care cost per month?
At the national median of $35 an hour for a non-medical caregiver (CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025), six hours a week comes to about $910 a month. Twenty hours a week is roughly $3,033. Rates vary by area and by what the person needs.
How much is a nursing home compared with staying at home?
A shared nursing-home room is about $9,581 a month at the national median, and a private room about $10,798. Against six hours a week of help at home, the difference is roughly $8,671 a month — before rent, food and utilities, which home care does not cover.
How much does assisted living cost?
About $6,200 a month at the national median (CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025). That figure usually includes housing and meals, which is why comparing it with hourly help at home needs the household's other costs added back in.
Does KoraCommand provide caregivers?
No. KoraCommand is a family's coordination tool: the plan, the schedule, the hours and the money in one place the whole family can see. It is not a home-care agency and does not place caregivers, and it never gives medical advice.