What senior care costs around Des Moines

What does assisted living cost in Des Moines, Iowa?

CareScout's 2025 survey puts Iowa's median for a private one-bedroom in assisted living at $61,200 a year, about $5,100 a month, two percent lower than the year before and well under the $74,400 national median; no Des Moines-only median is published.

CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey, Iowa results (released March 2, 2026). Monthly figures are the annual medians divided by 12. Home care is priced at 44 hours a week for 52 weeks (about $41 an hour); adult day at five days a week for 52 weeks.

CareScout collects rates by metropolitan area but publishes Iowa results only at the state level. Newer buildings in West Des Moines, Waukee and Ankeny usually quote above the state median; older nonprofit campuses and small-town programs in Jasper, Madison and Guthrie counties often quote below it. Treat the median as a yardstick for the first phone call, not a budget.

Why is home care so expensive in Iowa compared with assisted living?

Because Iowa's 2025 median for non-medical home care, about $94,037 a year at 44 hours a week or roughly $41 an hour, ranks eighth-highest among states, while Iowa assisted living ranks 43rd; past about 28 hours a week of paid help, a move usually costs less.

The table multiplies the hourly median by hours a week across a year. A few hours a day of help is often affordable and keeps a parent at home; round-the-clock coverage at home costs several times the assisted living median. Families often use home care for a period after a hospital stay, then reassess.

What does a nursing home cost in the Des Moines area?

Iowa's 2025 medians are $111,325 a year for a semi-private room, about $305 a day, and $120,450 for a private room, about $330 a day; both rose four percent in a year and sit slightly below national medians.

Medicare pays for short skilled stays after a qualifying hospital admission, and Iowa Medicaid pays for long stays once a resident qualifies, so few families pay the full private rate for years. Rates vary by building and room type; ask each home for its private daily rate in writing and what it includes.

What does memory care cost in Des Moines?

No one publishes a memory care median for Des Moines or for Iowa; CareScout does not survey it separately, so the only reliable figure is a written quote from each dementia-specific program.

Dementia-specific programs usually price above the general assisted living median because of awake overnight staffing and extra training. When you compare quotes, line up base rent, the care or service level, medication management, incontinence supplies and any one-time community fee, and ask how often care levels are reassessed.

What does adult day care cost in Iowa?

CareScout's 2025 Iowa median for adult day health care is $19,370 a year at five days a week, about $1,614 a month or roughly $74.50 a day, below the $24,700 national median.

DIAL certifies 4 adult day services programs in the six counties: Dahl Adult Day Services (Des Moines), Grace Estates LLC (West Des Moines), New Horizons Center (Ankeny), Willowbrook Adult Day Service (Newton). The Elderly Waiver covers adult day care for eligible Medicaid members 65 and older, and PACE participants attend PACE's own center. For a family caregiver who works, adult day services is often the least expensive way to keep a parent safe at home during the day.