For immediate release · October 10, 2026
Senior care in South Dakota: assisted living $4,900 a month, a nursing home $9,444 a month, home care about $44 an hour
ElderCareCosts Research
OCTOBER 10, 2026 Families in South Dakota pay a median $4,900 a month for assisted living, 21% below the national median, and $9,444 a month for a nursing home, according to The ElderCareCosts 2026 Cost of Senior Care Index, published October 10, 2026 by ElderCareCosts.
Agency home care in South Dakota works out to about $44 an hour at the survey's 44-hour week, against a median wage of $18.14 an hour for the home health and personal care aides who deliver it (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025). The difference carries payroll taxes, insurance, scheduling and backup coverage, not only margin.
South Dakota ranks 46th of 50 states for assisted living cost and 32nd of 51 states for nursing home cost (first is most expensive). The index lists 161 assisted living communities, 102 nursing homes and 17 hospice agencies in South Dakota, drawn from state licensing registries and federal files.
South Dakota medians at a glance
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In-home and home health figures assume 44 hours of care a week. Every figure is a modeled statewide median anchored to the latest published national cost survey and adjusted with federal wage data; it is an estimate to plan against, not a quote from any provider.
Paying for it in South Dakota
How South Dakota Medicaid covers nursing home care and care at home, who in a family may be paid to provide it, and the waiver programs that apply are on the South Dakota Medicaid guide. Licensed providers, with inspection records where the state or CMS publishes them, are on the South Dakota assisted living directory and the nursing home directory.
Where the numbers live
- South Dakota page of the 2026 index, with hourly math, the wage comparison and an embeddable table.
- South Dakota data as CSV, every state and city row with its source and period.
- The national index, archived under DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23005532 and listed in the NIH National Library of Medicine Dataset Catalog.
Reuse any figure with attribution to ElderCareCosts Research and a link to the page it came from. No permission is needed.
About ElderCareCosts
ElderCareCosts is a cost-first senior care resource. We publish care costs by care type, state, and city with the source and date on every number. We list licensed providers from government records, not just the ones that pay. We explain how families actually pay: Medicaid, veterans benefits, insurance, and what happens when the money runs out.
We do not hide prices behind forms. We do not have commissioned advisors. We do not remove providers for bad inspection results, and we do not let anyone pay to bury them.
Authorship: ElderCareCosts Research (Organization). Not medical, legal, or financial advice.
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The research desk is available for comment, state and metro data cuts, and a CSV of any table on the site.
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