AARP: Long-term care unaffordable for Pennsylvania seniors
AARP finds 2025 long-term care costs in Pennsylvania far exceed average senior incomes, risking financial security.
Home care and assisted living costs have surged nearly 50 percent nationwide since 2019, erasing a decade of progress in making long-term care affordable for middle-income older adults, according to a new AARP report.
In 2025, the average annual income for Pennsylvanians age 65 and older was $55,938, yet the cost of long-term care far exceeded what most older adults can afford:
- $155,490 – Nursing Home Private Room
- $141,985 – Nursing Home Semi-Private Room
- $73,206 – Assisted Living
- $53,040 – Home Health Aide
These numbers make clear that paying for long-term care services can quickly drain savings and threaten financial security, AARP said in a release.
The association said that as costs continue to rise faster than incomes, long-term care affordability is no longer a future concern – it is a crisis today, and Pennsylvania must act now to close the affordability gap by advancing policies that keep care within reach, protect older adults from financial ruin, and allow them to remain at home.
“Home care and other long-term care services have quickly become increasingly unaffordable in recent years,” said AARP Pennsylvania State Director Bill Johnston-Walsh. “As costs rise faster than older adults’ household incomes, many families must deplete savings, rely on unpaid family caregivers, or go without needed care.”