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What In-Home Care Costs

A verified current Minnesota hourly rate for non-medical home care was not available at publication -- here is how to get a real number and think through the math.

HomeCosts & PayingWhat In-Home Care Costs
Short answer

We were not able to independently confirm a current, primary-sourced hourly rate for non-medical home care in the Twin Cities at the time this page was published. Rather than repeat an unverified figure, we say so directly -- get written hourly quotes from two or three licensed home care providers serving your area instead.

How to think about the crossover point

The general math still applies even without a published rate: multiply a provider's quoted hourly rate by your actual weekly hours (10, 20, 40, 60, or around-the-clock at 168) and compare the monthly total against assisted living's roughly $6,573/month Minnesota median (itself third-party sourced and unverified against CareScout's own tables -- see our cost guide). Most families find that somewhere between 40 and 60 hours a week of paid in-home care, the math starts to favor a licensed community, though this varies by household and by the specific rate you are quoted.

Medicare does not cover this

Non-medical home care -- help with bathing, dressing, meals, companionship -- is generally private pay. Medicare-covered home health is a completely different, narrower benefit: skilled, intermittent, and physician-ordered.

Questions families ask

How much can a healthy spouse keep if their partner needs Medicaid-covered nursing home care in Minnesota?

Under Minnesota's Community Spouse Asset Allowance (Minn. Stat. 256B.059), a non-applicant spouse can generally protect between $32,532 and $162,660 in assets (2026 federal figures), plus a Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance of income ranging from about $2,705 to $4,066.50 per month, depending on their own income and housing costs.

What is Minnesota's Medical Assistance Estate Recovery Program, and can the state take my parent's house?

Minnesota's Estate Recovery Program (MERP), under Minn. Stat. 256B.15, lets the state file a claim after a Medical Assistance recipient's death (and, if married, generally after the surviving spouse's death too) to recover what MA paid for long-term services and supports. Minnesota's program can reach beyond the probate estate to jointly held property, life estates, transfer-on-death deeds, and revocable trusts, so common probate-avoidance planning doesn't automatically shield a home.

What is Minnesota Senior Health Options (MSHO) and who qualifies?

MSHO is Minnesota's voluntary integrated managed-care program for people 65+ who are enrolled in both Medical Assistance and Medicare Parts A & B — it combines Medicaid, Medicare, and Part D benefits into one coordinated plan with a single care coordinator. Plan availability varies by county and by year, so families should confirm which MSHO health plans currently serve their specific Twin Cities county.

What does assisted living cost in the Twin Cities?

Minnesota's statewide median for a private one-bedroom assisted living apartment is cited at roughly $6,573/month in third-party sources referencing the CareScout Cost of Care Survey — figures that could not be independently verified against CareScout's own published tables during this research and should be confirmed before relying on them. CareScout publishes state-level figures only, not a Twin-Cities-specific median, and metro-area facilities likely run above the state figure given regional cost of living.

Is there a published cost for memory care in Minnesota?

No. CareScout, the primary industry cost-of-care survey referenced for Minnesota figures, does not survey memory care as a separate category, so there is no verified statewide or metro median memory-care rate to cite. Any specific memory-care dollar figure circulating online should be treated as unverified.

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