17 Assisted Living Facilities near Charleston, SC

According to Genworth’s 2019 Cost of Care Survey, assisted living in the state averages at $3,500 a month, about $500 less than the national average. In Charleston, the average is $3,590 a month.

The 2018 US Census discovered that in Charleston, there is an estimated 136,208 residents. Of these, 13.9% are over the age of 65. There were 8,892 veterans living in the city in 2018. Given the city’s size of 108.9 square miles, there are about 1,000 residents per square mile in Charleston.

Residents that qualify for Medicaid may be eligible for coverage of services provided while in assisted living. To qualify, a resident of South Carolina must be in need of nursing care services for more than thirty days, and a single person can make no more than $2,313 a month in 2019, or $3,160 for a married couple. The facility must be certified to accept payments from Medicaid, and this program will not help pay for room and board, or food and other costs associated with services not related to healthcare.

Many people pay for the cost of long-term care through retirement plans and pensions sponsored by their employers or using self-funded retirement plans. Another option to save money for retirement is by paying for long-term care (LTC) insurance, offered on the open market as well as insured through LongTermCare.gov, the US-bank insured option for LTC insurance. If you own a home, it may be possible to leverage equity against the value of your assets to help pay for long-term care.

According to the Genworth 2019 Cost of Care Study, the average monthly rate for nursing home care in Charleston is $7,361 a month. This is slightly higher than the state average of $7,123. Across the US, the monthly average for a semi-private room in a nursing home is $7,513.

The monthly rent for a retirement home is simply the cost of living in the apartment, and it depends on the type of community you choose. In South Carolina, the state average for rent for a studio apartment is $567. Many retirement homes start their rent for studio apartments in this range and charge for additional services like meals and housekeeping. 

The average monthly cost of assisted living will vary depending on the area in which you choose to live. Across the state, the average is $3,500 a month. In Charleston, the monthly average is $3,590. Nearby towns, as of 2019, cost on average:

• In Hilton Head Beach, slightly south of Charleston, the monthly average is $4,184
• To the north, Myrtle Beach averages at $4,050 a month
• Sumster, in the north-central area of the state, comes in at the lowest price of $1,775

Independent living facilities in South Carolina vary depending on the area, and can cost from an average of $1,987 in Easley, to $3,147 in Spartanburg.

State regulations require that at least three nutritious meals are provided each day for every resident. Many facilities offer additional dining services, and the option for residents to bring guests to meals with them. Because dining together is such a great way to connect with neighbors, many facilities offer a free meal in their dining areas during tours so that prospective residents can get a feel for the facilities’ mealtimes. 

The average length of a stay in assisted living is 22 months long, but this varies widely depending on an individual’s condition. 

Independent living communities are designed for seniors who can perform most daily tasks on their own, though the communities typically provide access to medical assistance and personal care services which residents are able to pick and choose a la carte. Residents only pay for only the services they require. This helps people needing only some assistance and chore help to save money on retirement costs. ALFs, on the other hand, typically include assistance with ALFs in their monthly fees and are designed for residents who need more daily assistance. 

The cost for personal care provided in an assisted living facility poses an extra cost. Independent living averages at $2,312 a month in South Carolina, which is much more affordable than the $3,500 average cost of assisted living across the state.

Assisted living services in South Carolina must include personal housekeeping and laundry services as well as meals. People living in these facilities are able to access help with any activities of daily living (ADLs) they are unable to complete on their own, which includes:

• Walking
• Grooming activities like bathing, shaving, and brushing teeth
• Eating
• Mobility, including getting in or getting out of bed
• Toileting
• Managing money
• Chore help and laundry service
• Shopping
• Medication management

Assisted living is called Community Residential Care Facility (CRCF) in South Carolina. These facilities are defined as providers of room and board as well as personal care services for people over the age of 18 who are unrelated to the director. There are a number of rules that these centers must follow to preserve the dignity and safety of residents, including serving three nutritious meals a day and maintaining clean facilities and apartments.

As people approach the end of their lives, the way their body experiences that final transition may not be similar to another person’s experience. The best way to care for someone as they approach the end of their life is to invest in the care of a trusted hospice professional, who can guide the ailing with comfort, as well as their family and friends during their grieving process. Many assisted living facilities provide hospice services, such as maintaining physical care as needed in addition to room and board. Residents are able to contract with hospice care providers that can come to an assisted living facility and provide services, or residents may choose to move to another place to live during this time, as it tends to pose unique issues to residents that assisted living facilities might be unable to care for safely. 

In South Carolina, regulations state that a facility may only care for people whose needs they can adequately meet. If a person is suffering from dementia or behavioral issues that endanger themselves or others, a facility must be licensed to handle that type of behavior and provide a special unit for residents with this issue. 

Social Security Income (SSI) can be used to pay for assisted living services. In South Carolina, residents that qualify for SSI (with the exception of the income restriction) may receive an Optional State Supplemental Program (OSSP) payment to help pay for assisted living services. In 2019, the maximum payment for an elderly person was $771, and $1,157 for a married couple.

In South Carolina, assisted living services costs an average of $42,000 a year. If you have paid for long-term care insurance, or have enough money in your retirement portfolio to fund this cost, then it might be a good idea to consider assisted living.

In some places, assisted living homes are classified by Type A and Type B, depending on whether or not they provide care for people in need of 24-7 security and monitoring. Memory care facilities offer Type B assisted living services, and many assisted living facilities offer a memory care unit in addition to their Type A non-memory care resident space.