The 10 Best Memory Care Facilities in San Francisco County, CA for 2024

San Francisco County is home to 884,000 people, with 15.4 percent of them seniors age 65 and older. It has nine memory care facilities where seniors with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia can receive live-in care. These facilities provide a safe, supportive environment for seniors whose dementia requires full-time supervision. Memory care facilities in California are regulated by the California Department of Social Services Adult Care Licensing Program, which inspects properties statewide.

• San Francisco is surrounded on three sides by open water, which stabilizes the climate year round. Summer highs average 70 degrees in September, while winter lows rarely drop beneath 46 degrees overnight. January is the rainy month in San Francisco, but only 23.5 inches of rain fall here annually. The city is famously prone to heavy fog, which sometimes aggravates the COPD or other respiratory ailments seniors may have, but this usually burns off by midday.
  
• San Francisco's cost of living is very high, more than three times the national average, and this is a cost that extends through most categories of personal expenses. The median home price is over $1.3 million, while groceries tend to run 10 percent higher than the national average. One bright spot, especially for seniors in memory care, is healthcare, which costs 7 percent less in San Francisco than elsewhere in the country.
  
• Crime is high in San Francisco, relative to the national average in almost all categories. Overall rates of crime are two-thirds higher in San Francisco than the national average, though much of the theft and violent crime happens in a few neighborhoods in the southeast, near the Mission District, leaving the rest of the city relatively safe for seniors.
  
• The San Francisco area is home to world-class medical facilities, including those specializing in brain health and dementia care, such as Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center, in the event of medical emergencies or illness.

Memory Care costs in San Francisco County start around $7,964 per month on average, while the nationwide average cost of memory care is $5,694 per month.

It’s important to note that memory care rates in San Francisco County and the surrounding suburbs can vary widely based on factors such as location, the level of care needed, apartment size and the types of amenities offered at each community.

Learn more about these programs, plus who’s eligible, on our Memory Care in California page.

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 California page.

San Francisco County-area memory care communities must adhere to the comprehensive set of state laws and regulations that all memory care communities in California are required to follow. Visit our Memory Care in California page for more information about these laws.