A California retiree who moves to Texas could stretch $250,000 in long-term care savings more than a year further. At each state's median prices, that sum covers 2.47 years of care in California and 3.67 years in Texas.
The comparison comes from a new ranking of all 50 states by CareScout, the company behind the annual Cost of Care Survey, which measured how long $250,000 would pay for three common types of long-term care. California placed 37th. Texas placed fourth.
Working from the survey's 2025 edition, the company divided $250,000 by each state's median annual price for three services, home care, assisted living and a semi-private nursing home room, and averaged the three. Because families typically move through several settings as their needs change, the average serves as a composite measure of affordability rather than a forecast of any one person's costs.
California's prices sit above the national median in all three categories. In-home caregiving costs $91,520 a year, compared with $80,080 nationally. Assisted living costs $84,000, against $74,400. A semi-private nursing home room costs $146,000, against $114,975. Nationally, $250,000 covers 2.8 years of care.
The gap with neighboring states is narrower than the gap with Texas, but it is still meaningful. Arizona stretches $250,000 to 2.90 years and Nevada to 2.69 years. Oregon falls short of California at 2.34 years.
The report treats the question of where to retire as central to long-term care planning. Its advice is to price care in the place you intend to retire rather than where you live now, noting that relocating can swing the length of coverage by as much as two years on the same savings.
It also points out that the trade works both ways. Low-cost states stretch a nest egg further, but they are also the states where home sale proceeds are smallest. For a household whose wealth sits largely in a California home, that is part of the calculation.
That wealth is substantial. Using age-adjusted Census Bureau wealth data, CareScout estimated typical senior household net worth at $492,840 in California, a figure that includes home equity. That is nearly double the $250,000 benchmark and above the national figure of $343,980. Texas comes in at $269,100, and among the five states where care money lasts longest, it alone clears the $250,000 mark. Arizona comes in at $367,740 and Nevada at $312,660.
Texas owes much of its ranking to nursing home prices. At $67,525 a year for a semi-private room, it has the cheapest nursing home care in the country, less than half the California median. In Texas, $250,000 covers 3.7 years in a nursing home. In California, it covers 1.7 years.
The broader trend applies wherever a retiree lands. Nationally, $250,000 has lost a year of purchasing power since 2020, sliding from 3.8 years of care to 2.8, a decade low. The study attributes the pressure to rising care costs, and it notes that many Americans mistakenly believe Medicare will cover long-term care, a question worth settling before Medicare open enrollment begins Oct. 15.
The figures are statewide medians, and the report cautions that actual costs vary by community and provider. It also advises families to budget for a blend of care settings instead of the least expensive one.
For Californians running the numbers on a move, the lesson is that the same $250,000 buys a different amount of care depending on which state line it crosses.
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