What assisted living actually costs (Colorado / Western Slope)
Last reviewed: August 27, 2026
This page is for adult children trying to understand what an assisted living bill looks like in Colorado, especially on the Western Slope. It is educational only. It is not a quote, not a price list, and not a recommendation of any home.
This directory is a separate business from High Desert Assisted Living in Clifton, Colorado. Jason and Laura Cheney operate both; the directory is not an official state list and is not a CDPHE, HCPF, or Medicare rating tool. Nothing on this page is a recommendation of that home.
Before you tour, look the license up yourself on CDPHE Find and Compare Facilities. Then ask each home for a written fee sheet. Do not use Medicare Care Compare to shop for assisted living.
The short version
A monthly assisted living bill is not one number. It is usually a base rate, plus a care tier if the home prices help that way, plus add-ons (a community fee, incontinence supplies, a two-person assist, an extra bath, a hospital-hold fee, and whatever else is not in the base). Ask each home for a written fee sheet that lists what is included and what costs extra.
There is no official CDPHE or HCPF private-pay price for Mesa County, the Western Slope, or Colorado. The dollars on this page are from CareScout’s 2025 Cost of Care Survey (data collected July–November 2025). There is no 2026 survey yet. They are medians of provider-reported private-pay rates, not a quote from any Clifton, Grand Junction, Fruita, or Palisade home.
Medicare does not pay assisted-living rent, room, board, or everyday “custodial” help.
Health First Colorado (Medicaid) may pay services only if the home is also an Alternative Care Facility (ACF). The resident still pays room and board.
Survey medians (context only — not a quote)
CareScout is a commercial survey (a Genworth company). Surveyors asked licensed assisted living communities for the monthly private-pay rate for a private one-bedroom, from basic care to more substantial care. If a home gave a range, they used the average of the high and low. Room and board is inside that monthly number. A community or entrance fee, if one is charged, is not added into the median.
CareScout’s own page says the cost for any particular provider may differ significantly from the median.
| Geography | Monthly median | Annual | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $6,200 | $74,400 | National median, private one-bedroom |
| Colorado | $6,584 | $79,005 | Statewide median, same survey and same definition |
| Grand Junction region | $6,400 | $76,800 | Same survey. Clifton (81520), Grand Junction (81501 / 81504), Fruita (81521), and Palisade (81526) all map to this region. There is no separate Clifton, Fruita, or Palisade median. |
Data window: July–November 2025. Published as the 2025 Cost of Care Survey. As of August 27, 2026, this is the latest survey.
Do not read these as “what families here pay,” “the Mesa County average,” or “Clifton costs.” Do not treat $6,200, $6,584, or $6,400 as what any specific home will charge.
On CareScout’s live tool, the national assisted-living median was up 5% from 2024 ($5,900). The Colorado cell showed +12%, and the Grand Junction cell showed +17%. Those are CareScout’s own year-over-year comparisons, not a local inflation forecast and not evidence that any one home raised rates by that amount.
Colorado ranked 17th of 50 states on CareScout’s assisted-living table (highest to lowest). About $384 a month above the national median, same survey year.
The bill is several stacked pieces
Think of the monthly number as a stack, not a sticker.
1. Base rate. Room and board plus the personal help, protective oversight, and social care the home puts in the monthly rate. Colorado rules say an assisted living residence must make a safe setting, room and board, personal services, protective oversight, and social care available.
2. Care tier. Some homes charge more when a person needs more help. CareScout collected rates from basic to more substantial care for the same one-bedroom, then blended them into one median. So the survey number is not “base rent only” and not “the highest care tier only.” Colorado does not require a statewide “points” or level-of-care price list. If a home uses levels, that is their contract, not a state schedule.
3. Add-ons. Anything not on the “included” list. Ask. Get the price in writing.
Colorado Chapter 7 requires a written resident agreement at move-in. Both sides must sign and date it. The agreement must list:
- Charges, refunds, and deposit policies
- Services included in the rate
- Every optional service and the charge for each
- Any fee to hold a place while the resident is away, and when it is charged
- Who provides linens, hygiene supplies, furnishings, and phones
- Reasons the home could discharge someone, including nonpayment
Add-ons to ask about (categories only)
Official sources do not publish typical extra-dollar amounts for Mesa County or Colorado. This page does not invent them. Ask whether each item is included or optional, and get the optional price in writing.
| Ask about | Why it is a real category | Dollar amount |
|---|---|---|
| What is in the monthly rate vs optional | State rules require an included list and an optional list with a price for each. | The home’s fee sheet only |
| Deposit / community or entrance fee | State rules require deposit policies. CareScout asked homes whether they charge a non-refundable community or entrance fee. That fee is not inside the monthly median. | Not published as a typical dollar |
| Hold-the-bed / hospital-hold | State rules require the agreement to say whether there is a fee to hold a place while the resident is away. | The home’s agreement only |
| Care level / extra staff time | Homes may charge more for more help. That is a contract practice, not a Colorado points mandate. | Not published as dollars per level |
| Medication help | State rules say who may give medicine. They do not say it is free or extra. | Ask if it is on the included or optional list |
| Incontinence care and supplies | Hygiene supplies appear in the “who provides what” part of the agreement. Unmanageable incontinence can also be a discharge issue. | Ask. No official dollar |
| Two-person assist / extra bath | Personal services include help with daily activities. Extra hands or extra baths may be optional charges. | Ask. No official dollar |
| Linens, furnishings, beauty, guest meals, extra transportation | The agreement must say who provides linens and furnishings, and must list other extras as included or optional. | The home’s list only |
Do not assume a community fee is “usually one month’s rent.” Do not assume a points-to-dollars table. The only official prices are the ones on that home’s signed agreement.
How this compares (same survey, different setting)
These CareScout 2025 figures are here only so the assisted-living median has a scale. They are still survey medians, not bids.
- In-home non-medical care at CareScout’s default of 44 hours a week can land in the same monthly neighborhood as assisted living, or higher (national about $6,673 a month vs $6,200 for assisted living; Colorado about $7,913 vs $6,584; Grand Junction region about $7,245 vs $6,400). Forty-four hours is CareScout’s long-standing assumption, not a typical Mesa care plan. Twenty-four-hour care at home is a much larger number.
- Adult day is a daytime program, not housing (about $95–$105 a day in this survey).
- Nursing home medians are a different license and a higher level of care (Colorado semi-private about $10,159 a month vs $6,584 for assisted living). That bill is not an assisted living quote.
This page does not publish a memory-care median. CareScout’s 2025 tables do not have a memory-care column. In Colorado, memory care is a program or secure environment inside a licensed home, not a separate license. Ask for that home’s written memory-care / secure-environment fee sheet.
Medicare does not pay assisted living rent
Medicare’s long-term care page says “Medicare doesn’t pay for long-term care.” You pay all costs for non-covered services, including help in an assisted living facility.
A short skilled nursing stay is a different bill: a Medicare-certified nursing home, generally after a 3-day inpatient hospital stay, daily skilled care, up to 100 days. 2026 official coinsurance: after the Part A deductible ($1,736), days 1–20 are $0/day; days 21–100 are $217/day; day 101 and after, you pay all costs. That is not an assisted living rent check.
Medicaid may pay services, not rent
An Alternative Care Facility (ACF) is a Health First Colorado certification on a home that is already a licensed Assisted Living Residence. It is not a different CDPHE license. Not every licensed home is an ACF.
If the person is on the EBD waiver, the CMHS waiver, or Medicaid Buy-In, and the home is ACF-certified, Medicaid may pay services. The resident still pays room and board. Ask the administrator in writing: “Are you currently HCPF-certified as an Alternative Care Facility?” Then confirm with the Case Management Agency (in Mesa County: Rocky Mountain Health Plans).
Get the private-pay fee sheet anyway.
How to use these numbers
Survey medians are a planning compass, not a quote.
- Confirm the building is a CDPHE-licensed ALR on Find and Compare.
- Ask for the written resident agreement and a fee sheet that lists included services, optional services with a price for each, deposits, and any hold-a-place fee.
- Compare apples to apples: private vs shared room; what care is in the quoted rate; whether medication help, extra baths, two-person assist, incontinence supplies, and transportation are included; community or entrance fee; hospital-hold.
- Sign and date only after both sides have that document.
- If Medicaid may be needed now or later, get current ACF certification in writing. “We take Medicaid” is not the same thing.
- Do not use Medicare Care Compare to shop assisted living.
Official pages this guide is based on
- CareScout Cost of Care (2025 survey)
- CareScout 2025 median tables (PDF)
- CareScout 2025 methodology (PDF)
- CareScout / Genworth 2025 release
- 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 7 (resident-agreement rules, effective March 17, 2025)
- Medicare long-term care coverage
- Medicare skilled nursing facility care
- HCPF Alternative Care Facilities
- CDPHE Find and Compare Facilities
This page does not recommend, rank, price, or place anyone. Ask each home for a written fee sheet, and check the CDPHE license yourself.