The 5 Best Memory Care Facilities in New Bern, NC for 2024

The Alzheimer’s Association highlights Alzheimer’s impact on North Carolina seniors, showing a 161% increase in the total number of deaths linked to this disease in the state between 2000 and 2019. While this disease has taken a toll on residents statewide, communities such as New Bern have seen increasingly lower rates of Alzheimer's-related deaths. Despite the city’s large senior community, which accounts for 23% of the population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the number of deaths linked to Alzheimer’s dropped by 10% between 2016 and 2020. This drop occurred despite the 25% increase in deaths across all causes.

Despite the decline in local Alzheimer's-related deaths, many seniors in New Bern require effective dementia care solutions. Fortunately, several memory care facilities serve the region. These facilities feature trained caregivers who provide companionship and administer individualized services, along with secured indoor and outdoor common areas that support independence. They also incorporate dementia-specific programming to support social and cognitive health. 

This guide provides more details on memory care in New Bern, including an overview of care costs. 

The North Carolina Division of Health Service Regulation monitors memory care facilities in the New Bern region and officially recognizes them as adult care homes or multi unit housing with services. Depending on the memory care facility’s size and the scope of services it provides, the state may not require it to obtain licensing, only registration.

• North Carolina provides a large standard deduction of $12,750, reducing what taxpayers owe to the state. It has a flat income tax rate of 4.99%, but it fully exempts Social Security income from taxation, which may benefit seniors in local memory care facilities.
• New Bern offers medical support for those with dementia through CarolinaEast Medical Center. This hospital has a large neurology department that has specialists who treat conditions such as Alzheimer’s and related dementias, serving as a key component in holistic dementia care.
• New Bern offers an affordable setting for memory care, with an overall cost of living that’s 16% below the national norm and about seven points below the state average. Housing costs come in particularly low here, which may reduce expenses in local long-term care facilities.
• The American Lung Association ranks the New Bern metropolitan region among the cleanest in the nation for ozone pollution, indicating that smog levels are very low throughout the year. In New Bern, many memory care facilities plan therapeutic outdoor activities, such as picnics and gardening, giving residents the opportunity to enjoy the fresh air.
• Property crime occurs more in New Bern than in a typical U.S. city, but violent crime rates are comparable to the national norm. On a 100-point index that gives higher scores to cities with more criminal activity, New Bern’s violent crime rating falls in line with the national average at 22.9, but the property crime rating comes in 20 points above the national norm at 55.9. However, both types of crime have decreased in frequency over the last decade, giving peace of mind to families with loved ones in long-term care.

 

Note: Residential memory care is usually offered in assisted living facilities, and in general, memory care rates tend to be 20-30% higher than assisted living rates. No national database currently tracks memory care costs in the United States, so we've estimated the monthly memory care costs listed below by adding 25% to the rates listed in Genworth's 2021 Cost of Care Survey.

In New Bern, memory care facilities charge monthly median rates of $4,556 for housing and services.

Memory care residents in New Bern pay $4,556 per month for specialized services, making this city among the most cost-effective options for care in the region, state and nation. In North Carolina, monthly care costs exceed New Bern’s average by 10%, and in the nation as a whole, rates exceed the local norm by 23%. While seniors in Goldsboro pay competitive average monthly rates of $3,375, care costs in Rocky Mount surpass New Bern’s norm by 23%. Similarly, seniors in Greenville pay a higher average monthly rate of $5,766 for care, and in Wilmington, monthly fees exceed those in New Bern by 44%.

Memory care communities in New Bern charge $4,556 per month for care. This comes in about 19% higher than what agencies charge for full-time private in-home care and home health care, and it exceeds the cost of assisted living by 25%. Even so, memory care costs come in about 40% below the cost of nursing home care, which is for seniors who need 24-hour medical support and monitoring.

While many families use their own funds or personal assets to pay for memory care, there are plenty of additional options to cover these costs. Some additional ways to finance memory care costs include:

• Veterans Benefits
• Life Insurance Policy
• Long-Term Care Insurance
• Reverse Mortgage

For more information about different ways to finance memory care, visit our Memory Care in North Carolina page.