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What In-Home Care Costs

Wisconsin's 2024 CareScout medians for non-medical home care and home health aide services, and the point at which a community becomes cheaper.

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In-home care cost math for Wisconsin

Short answer

Wisconsin's 2024 CareScout median was $82,368/yr ($6,864/mo) for non-medical homemaker services and $86,944/yr ($7,245/mo) for a home health aide, both among the 17 highest state medians nationally. As weekly hours climb, the monthly cost eventually crosses Wisconsin's $73,800/yr ($6,150/mo) assisted living median.

Hours per weekApprox. monthly cost at the homemaker-services median
10 hrs/week≈ $1,650/mo
20 hrs/week≈ $3,300/mo
40 hrs/week≈ $6,600/mo
60 hrs/week≈ $9,900/mo
168 hrs/week (round-the-clock)≈ $27,700/mo

Once care needs push past roughly 40-50 hours a week, the math frequently favors assisted living over round-the-clock in-home care in Wisconsin, since the $73,800/yr assisted living median works out to about $6,150/mo — run the actual numbers for your situation rather than assuming.

What senior care costs. Wisconsin's 2024 CareScout state medians were $73,800/yr for assisted living and $120,815-$135,050/yr for a nursing home room; no metro-specific or memory-care figure is published anywhere. Read the full explanation →

Questions families ask

Does Wisconsin have a separate memory-care license or certification?

No. Wisconsin requires neither a separate memory-care state certification nor a formal statutory disclosure-statement requirement specific to dementia care. What's marketed as 'memory care' is almost always a CBRF or RCAC that has documented dementia as an admissible client group in its DHS program statement.

How do I know if a Milwaukee memory-care unit's staff are actually trained in dementia care?

Wis. Admin. Code DHS 83.21(2) requires client-group-specific staff training -- covering the characteristics of the group served, safety risks, environmental considerations, disease process, and communication skills -- within 90 days of hire, for staff working with dementia residents specifically.

What questions should I ask when touring a Milwaukee-area memory-care community?

Ask to see the facility's DHS program statement identifying dementia as an admissible client group, ask about its most recent DQA survey results, ask how the secured unit is staffed overnight, and ask specifically how staff are trained under DHS 83.21(2) within 90 days of hire.

Is memory care more expensive than regular assisted living in Wisconsin?

There is no published memory-care cost median for Wisconsin or any other state -- CareScout, the primary national cost-of-care survey source, does not survey memory care as its own category. Any memory-care price figure you see online is an estimate or extrapolation, not a primary-sourced figure.

What are common early warning signs that a loved one may need memory care rather than aging in place?

Common signs include getting lost in familiar places, missed medications or medication errors, unpaid bills or financial confusion, unsafe stove or appliance use, significant weight loss, wandering, and increasing difficulty managing personal hygiene -- especially when these appear together rather than as a single isolated incident.

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