In-home care vs. memory care in Florida

What you are really choosing between

In-home care brings help to your loved one: a companion, aide or nurse who visits for set hours while your loved one stays in familiar rooms, with familiar routines.

Memory care moves your loved one into a residential setting, usually a secured wing or building inside an assisted living facility, where trained staff are on site around the clock.

In Florida, “memory care” is a marketing term rather than its own license. The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) licenses assisted living facilities with a standard license plus three possible specialty licenses: extended congregate care, limited nursing services and limited mental health. An ALF that advertises special care for people with Alzheimer’s or related dementias must meet extra rules under section 429.178 of Florida law: an awake staff member on duty at all hours in facilities with 17 or more residents, dementia training for staff, activities designed for people with cognitive impairment, and a physical setting that supports safety.

Side-by-side: in-home care vs. memory care in Florida

Figures from CareScout’s 2025 Florida survey; monthly in-home figures assume 52 weeks a year at $35 an hour.

Who each option is for

In-home care vs memory care: our pick by scenario

• Lives with a spouse who is still healthy, sleeps at night: stay home. Add 10-20 hours a week of companion care so the spouse keeps their own doctor visits, friends and rest.

• Lives alone, early stage, starting to miss meals and pills: stay home for now with daily visits, and tour memory care communities in parallel so you aren’t choosing in a crisis. See our guide for people living alone with dementia.

• Wandering at night or trying to leave the house: move toward memory care. Paying for overnight one-on-one care at home usually costs far more than a memory care unit, and an exhausted family member is not a safety plan. Our wandering guide covers what to do in the meantime.

• Needs help with nearly every daily task, family caregiver’s health is failing: memory care, or a nursing home if skilled nursing is needed. See memory care vs. nursing home.

Warning signs it’s time to move from home to memory care

• Leaving the house at night, or trying the doors repeatedly after dark.

• Falls when no one is there, or being found on the floor.

• Getting lost on a familiar route, even once. About six in ten people with dementia wander at least once, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

• Stove left on, doors left open, strangers let in.

• Toileting or bathing that now takes two people, or a caregiver who is getting hurt.

• Rising agitation that your paid hours no longer cover; see our page on sundowning.

• The main caregiver can’t sleep, is skipping their own medical care, or says “I can’t do this.”

How families combine the two

In-home care vs memory care is rarely all-or-nothing. Families often use in-home companion care for a year or more, then keep the same companion visiting a few times a week after a move to memory care. A familiar face helps with the first weeks, which tend to be the hardest. Others start with adult day care on weekdays plus companion visits on evenings and Saturdays, then move once nights become the problem. Our article on easing the move to memory care walks through the transition itself.

If you want a shorter overview of the same question, our earlier blog post on in-home dementia care vs. memory care facilities is a good companion read.

Questions to ask a Florida memory care community

1. Which AHCA license does the facility hold, and does it advertise dementia care under s. 429.178?

2. What is the overnight staffing on the memory care unit, and is someone awake at all times?

3. What is the full monthly price, including care-level charges and medication management?

4. At what point would my loved one have to leave? (Ask about wandering, two-person transfers and hospice.)

5. How does the community handle hurricane evacuation for residents with dementia?

Where Dementia Companions fits, and where it doesn’t

We provide in-home dementia companion care: one consistent companion screened for dementia care experience, at $35 an hour for 40+ hours a week; call us about shorter schedules. That suits the in-home care side of this decision, and it can continue after a move. We don’t provide skilled nursing or medication administration. For round-the-clock needs we offer live-in companion care from $375 a day, and we will tell you when your loved one’s needs have grown past what visits can safely cover. For full costs on both sides, see our Florida dementia care cost guide.

Our companions don’t provide hands-on personal care such as bathing or toileting. If your loved one needs it, a licensed home health agency or aide can provide it at home, and our companion can work alongside them.