Lakeland Senior AdvisorWhat does senior care cost in Polk County?
No Polk County price survey exists; CareScout's 2025 Florida medians are about $5,500 a month for assisted living, $10,342 for a semi-private nursing home room, $6,101 for 44 hours a week of home care and $1,625 for five days a week of adult day care, and memory care is not surveyed.
Last verified: November 2026| Florida care type (2025) | Median per year | Roughly per month | Change vs. 2024 | U.S. median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assisted living community | $66,000 | $5,500 | +3% | $74,400 |
| Nursing home, semi-private room | $124,100 | $10,342 | 0% | $114,975 |
| Nursing home, private room | $146,000 | $12,167 | +5% | $129,575 |
| Home care, non-medical (44 hrs/week) | $73,216 | $6,101 | +7% | $80,080 |
| Adult day health care (5 days/week) | $19,500 | $1,625 | n/a | $24,700 |
CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey, Florida results (Business Wire, March 2, 2026). Monthly, hourly and daily figures are our arithmetic on CareScout's annual medians (annual / 12; home care annual / 2,288 hours; nursing home annual / 365; adult day annual / 260 days).
Who pays for long-term care in Florida?
Most families start with private funds; Medicare covers short skilled nursing stays, home health and hospice; Florida Medicaid's long-term care program covers nursing homes and home and community-based services including assisted living services; OSS helps low-income ALF residents with room and board; and VA pension with Aid and Attendance helps eligible veterans and survivors.
PACE is not yet operating in Polk County. The gap families hit most often is rent and meals in assisted living, which Medicaid does not pay.
Where do Polk County families get free benefits help?
Senior Connection Center, the Area Agency on Aging for Polk County, handles Medicaid long-term care screening and local services at 1-800-336-2226, and SHINE offers free Medicare counseling at 1-800-963-5337.
Florida Medicaid choice counseling, for choosing a long-term care plan, is at 1-877-711-3662.
All costs & paying guides
What senior care costs in Polk County
CareScout's 2025 Florida medians for assisted living, nursing homes, home care and adult day care converted to monthly figures for Polk County planning, plus the figures no one publishes.
Open the guide →Medicaid long-term care for Polk County residents
How the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Long-Term Care program works for Polk County residents, the 2026 income and asset limits, screening through Senior Connection Center, and what it pays.
Open the guide →Optional State Supplementation in Polk County
How Florida's OSS payment helps low-income residents cover assisted living or adult family care room and board, how DCF calculates it, and which Polk County ALFs report OSS beds.
Open the guide →Medicare: covered, and not covered
Medicare's skilled nursing, home health and hospice coverage for Polk County residents, why it does not pay for assisted living or custodial care, and free SHINE counseling.
Open the guide →VA Aid and Attendance in Polk County
How VA pension with Aid and Attendance works for Polk County veterans and surviving spouses, the rates effective December 2025, the $163,699 net worth limit, and how care costs lower countable income.
Open the guide →PACE and Polk County
AHCA's August 2026 PACE report shows no operating PACE program in Polk County yet: Kinship PACE of Central Florida awaits federal approval and Chapters Health PACE Central Florida is pended. What PACE is and what Polk families can use meanwhile.
Open the guide →Medicaid when one spouse needs long-term care
What a Polk County spouse at home may keep under Florida's 2026 spousal impoverishment standards, how a qualified income trust handles income over $2,982, and the transfer penalty divisor.
Open the guide →Paying for care privately in Polk County
How Lakeland and Winter Haven families pay for care privately: a 24-36 month budget test, long-term care insurance, selling or renting the home, and life plan community contracts.
Open the guide →Side by side
| This section covers | This section does not cover | |
|---|---|---|
| Prices | Florida's published 2025 medians | A Polk County or memory care figure that does not exist |
| Programs | How SMMC LTC, OSS, Medicare, VA and PACE work | An eligibility decision |
| Limits | DCF's April 2026 income, asset and spousal figures | Legal or tax advice |
