Comparing dementia care options in Florida

The short version: match the setting to the problem you are solving

Most families don’t need a perfect long-term plan on day one.

They need to solve the problem in front of them: Mom is lonely and skipping lunch, Dad got lost driving home from Publix, or a spouse hasn’t slept through the night in a month. Each option on this page solves a different problem, and each one has a point where it stops being enough.

To compare dementia care options fairly, start with that problem, not with the price list. Below is a one-line summary of every comparison we have written, followed by a quick decision table you can use tonight. Each full comparison includes Florida costs, how the option is regulated here, who it fits, and the warning signs that it’s time to move on.

Florida costs at a glance (2025 medians)

Here is roughly what each kind of care costs in Florida, before any benefits or insurance.

These figures come from CareScout’s 2025 Cost of Care Survey for Florida, which reports annual medians; the hourly, daily and monthly numbers above are those annual figures divided out (for example, $73,216 a year for 44 hours of homemaker services a week works out to about $32 an hour).

Memory care units usually charge more than standard assisted living, and prices vary a lot between Miami, Naples and Jacksonville. For a fuller breakdown, see our cost of dementia care in Florida guide or run the numbers in the care cost calculator.

All six comparisons

How to compare dementia care options on the things that matter

Price gets most of the attention, but four other questions usually decide which option works. Ask them of every setting you are considering.

Medicare.gov is clear that Medicare does not pay for long-term custodial care, which is most of what dementia care involves. Florida Medicaid’s Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long-Term Care program can help pay for in-home services, adult day health care, assisted living and nursing facility care for people who meet its medical and financial rules, often after a wait. Our paying for dementia care guide covers every funding source.

The fourth question is about your loved one, not the setting: how do they react to change, groups and new faces? Someone who becomes frightened in a busy dining room may do far better at home, while someone who is lonely at home may brighten in a community.

Quick decision table

Find the row that sounds most like your week. The “start here” column is our honest first recommendation, not the only answer.

Questions that cut through the options

1. Is your loved one safe alone overnight? If not, the choice narrows to live-in help, a family member at home, or a residential setting.

2. Does anyone need a licensed nurse? Skilled tasks like injections or wound care point toward home health or a nursing home. Companions, including ours, don’t do clinical care.

3. How many hours of help per week, really? Count them. Under about 40 hours a week, home care is often the cheaper route; well past that, residential care usually costs less.

4. How is the main caregiver holding up? Burnout is a medical risk of its own. Try our caregiver burnout check.

5. Where is your loved one in the disease? The stage checker can help you describe it to a doctor.

How the right option changes over time

Dementia is progressive, so the best option this year may not be the best one in two years. Many Florida families move through several of these settings, and some use two at once. A common path looks like this, though every family’s timing is different:

• Early stage: a few hours of company and structure each week, plus legal and financial planning while your loved one can still take part in decisions.

• Middle stage: more hours at home, adult day care, or respite for the family caregiver. This is often when nights, wandering and caregiver exhaustion start to shape the choice.

• Later stage: round-the-clock supervision at home or in memory care, a nursing home if daily skilled nursing is needed, and a conversation with the doctor about hospice when comfort becomes the goal.

Revisit the decision whenever something changes: a fall, a hospital stay, a new behavior, or a caregiver who is running out of strength. Ask your loved one’s doctor what changes to expect so you can tour or plan before a crisis forces the choice.

What to ask any provider before you choose

Whichever dementia care options you shortlist, a few questions apply to all of them:

• Which license or registration do you hold with the Agency for Health Care Administration?
• Have your staff completed Florida’s required dementia training under s. 430.5025?
• Will my loved one see the same people most days, and how do you handle a missed shift?
• What is the full monthly or hourly price, and what costs extra?
• How will you tell us how our loved one is doing, and how often?
• What is your plan when a hurricane warning is issued?

Clear, specific answers are a good sign. Vague answers, pressure to sign quickly or a long-term contract before you have seen how the care works are reasons to keep looking.

Where Dementia Companions fits

We provide one consistent companion screened for dementia care experience who visits your loved one at home, at $35 an hour for 40+ hours a week; call us about shorter schedules. That is a good fit for the first two rows of the table above and a useful add-on for several others. We are not a nursing service.

We don’t provide hands-on personal care such as bathing or toileting; for that, families add a licensed home health agency or aide, and our companion can work alongside them.

We do offer live-in companion care at home from $375 a day, but it does not replace a nursing home when someone needs skilled nursing around the clock. Where a different option is the right call, the comparisons say so plainly. If you want to talk it through, our family guidance conversations are free and come with no obligation.