The 10 Best Memory Care Facilities in Simpsonville, SC for 2024

Simpsonville is home to 23,354 residents, 14.4% of whom are seniors aged 65 and older. Alzheimer’s and other dementias are impacting more seniors per year across the entire country—Simpsonville included. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alzheimer’s-related fatalities recorded in Simpsonville increased from 230 in 2014 to 395 in 2018, an increase of 71.7%. Considering that the town’s overall death rate rose 14.4% from 2014 to 2018, it’s clear that Alzheimer’s and other dementias are becoming increasingly dire to the health, well-being and longevity of Simpsonville’s older adult population.

Although Simpsonville itself has few assisted living communities, Greenville County is home to many memory care providers. Memory care communities utilize specialized senior care techniques, therapeutic activities and facilities to care for seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. This introductory guide to memory care in Simpsonville, South Carolina, provides information about the average cost of memory care services in nearby cities, local resources for seniors with dementia, benefits and downsides of retiring in Simpsonville and more. 

In Simpsonville, the Bureau of Health Facility Licensing, a subagency of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, oversees, regulates and licenses assisted living facilities that provide memory care. The BHFL’s website is filled with a wealth of resources about community residential care facilities—what South Carolina calls assisted living facilities—including a comprehensive statewide CRCF directory.

• With just 23,354 residents, Simpsonville is an average rural town in many ways. In terms of cost of living, its health care, housing, utility and discretionary costs are all within 3% of the U.S. average. Expressed on a scale of 1 to 100, where low rankings mean less crime, Simpsonville’s violent crime rate (22.3) is equivalent to the national average (22.7). 
• Simpsonville, like the rest of the Southeastern United States, is home to warm, humid summers. The town’s average July high is 89.8 degrees Fahrenheit, 4 degrees higher than the U.S. average of 85.8 degrees. On the contrary, Simpsonville has some of the mildest winters in the Southeast, featuring an average January low of 31 degrees, 9.3 degrees higher than the national average (21.7 degrees). 
• Along with two other small towns in southeastern Greenville County, Mauldin and Fountain Inn, Simpsonville is part of the Golden Strip. Even though the small-town trio is home to just 58,494 residents, the Golden Strip is relatively dense with entertainment opportunities, public parks and art galleries. 
• Although small, rural towns typically don’t offer much in the way of health care, Simpsonville has 253 physicians per 100,00 residents, 20.5% more than the U.S. average. According to U.S. News & World Report, the town also offers easy access to the second-best hospital in the Palmetto State, St. Francis Downtown, which is part of the Bon Secours health system. St. Francis Downtown is based in Greenville some 12 miles northwest of Simpsonville.
• The nearby city of Greenville has historically finished high on rankings of the worst U.S. cities for allergies. In 2006, Greenville came in first place in the Asthma and Allergy Foundation’s annual Allergy Capitals report. In 2021, Greenville ranked 29th on the Allergy Capitals report. Although seniors with respiratory difficulties might suffer flare-ups by moving to Simpsonville, residents of memory care facilities have practically everything they need indoors, limiting seniors’ exposure.

Memory care is an additional, optional service offered by many assisted living facilities; it generally costs 20-30% more than standard assisted living care. Due to a lack of authoritative sources on U.S. memory care costs, we estimated them by inflating the average assisted living costs from Genworth’s 2021 Cost of Care Survey by 25%.

Simpsonville’s memory care providers charge an average of $4,679 per month, $164 more than South Carolina’s state average ($4,515) and $946 less than the U.S. average ($5,625). Home to the most expensive memory care in the state, Hilton Head Island averages $5,625 per month, $2,296 more than in Sumter ($3,329), the most affordable city for memory care. In Charleston, South Carolina’s most-populated city, providers charge $4,931 per month; in the capital, Columbia, memory care costs average $4,089.

Adult day care ($1,408) is the least expensive senior care option in Simpsonville. Assisted living costs $3,743 per month. Home care and home health care both cost $4,671. Nursing homes charge between $7,543 for semiprivate rooms and $8,941 for private rooms.

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 South Carolina page.