I get asked about price on almost every first phone call, and I understand why. It’s the number that determines whether a plan is possible. But it’s also the number the industry is worst at explaining.

The websites you’ve probably already visited quote a single monthly figure. Florida’s statewide assisted living average lands around $5,300 a month, and the national memory care average runs closer to $6,700. Those numbers aren’t wrong, exactly. They’re just not useful, because nobody pays the average, and Southwest Florida isn’t the average.

Here’s what things actually cost here, and — more importantly — where the cost hides.

The four models you’ll encounter

Before you can compare prices, you have to know what you’re comparing. In Naples, Fort Myers and Bonita Springs, you’ll run into four fundamentally different financial structures.

1. Rental independent living

Month-to-month or annual lease, no buy-in. You pay for an apartment, meals, housekeeping and activities. Care is not included; it’s added if and when you need it.

Typical local range: [BRUCE: your observed IL rental range, e.g. $3,800–$7,500/mo depending on square footage and community]

2. Assisted living

Rent plus a care component. This is where most families’ sticker shock happens, because the advertised rate is almost never the rate you pay.

Typical local range: [BRUCE: your observed AL base range] Plus care levels: [BRUCE: typical level-of-care tiers and dollar increments you see locally]

3. Memory care

Secured neighborhood, higher staffing ratios, specialized programming. Usually priced all-inclusive or in two or three tiers rather than by à la carte care level.

Typical local range: [BRUCE: your observed memory care range]

4. Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs)

The most misunderstood option in our market — and one of the most common in Naples. You pay an entrance fee up front, then a monthly service fee. In exchange you get priority access to higher levels of care for life, often at a predictable rate.

Entrance fees locally: [BRUCE: range, and note which contract types — Type A/B/C — are common here] Refundability: [BRUCE: what refund structures you're seeing, e.g. 50%/90% refundable]

A CCRC can be the least expensive option over a fifteen-year horizon and the most expensive over three. Which is why the right answer depends entirely on the person, not the price sheet. Here’s my fuller explanation of how CCRCs work.

The costs that aren’t on the price sheet

This is the part I spend the most time on with families.

Community fee / move-in fee. A one-time charge, frequently [BRUCE: typical local range]. Sometimes negotiable — especially on units that have been sitting.

Second person fee. If both spouses move in, expect an additional [BRUCE: typical range] per month. Couples routinely budget for one and get billed for two.

Level-of-care reassessment. Your parent is assessed at move-in and periodically after. Each step up the care ladder raises the bill. Ask how often reassessments happen, what triggers one, and how much notice you get before a rate change.

Annual rate increases. Nearly every community raises rates each year. Ask for the actual increases from the last three years, in writing — not the policy, the history.

Medication management. Often billed separately, often per administration rather than per medication.

Incontinence care and supplies. A common and significant line item that families rarely anticipate.

Ancillary services. Salon, transportation beyond a set radius, guest meals, covered parking, pet fees.

Move-out terms. How much notice is required, and is the community fee prorated if a health event forces a move within a few months?

I’ve seen a community with the lowest advertised rate in the county end up being the most expensive place a family looked at, once care levels and fees were layered in. The advertised rate is a marketing number. The all-in number is the real one — and getting to it takes a conversation with the business office, not a brochure.

What actually pays for it

Most families here fund senior living from some combination of:

• Private funds — savings, investments, Social Security, pension
• Proceeds from selling the home — the biggest single lever for most Southwest Florida families
• Long-term care insurance — read the elimination period and the daily benefit cap carefully; many older policies don’t cover assisted living at all
• VA Aid & Attendance — a monthly benefit for wartime veterans and surviving spouses who need help with daily activities. Genuinely underused. More on veterans benefits here.
• Medicaid — Florida’s program can help with assisted living in limited circumstances through managed care waivers, but the waitlist and eligibility rules are their own subject
• Reverse mortgage or bridge loan — occasionally the right tool, frequently not

What doesn’t pay for it: Medicare. That surprises people every single week, and it’s worth its own article — which is what I’ll cover next Monday.

How to compare two communities honestly

Ask each community for a written, itemized estimate based on your parent’s actual current care needs — not a generic rate sheet. Then build one page with:

1. Base monthly rate
2. Current care level and its cost
3. Community fee, second person fee
4. Everything billed separately
5. The last three years of rate increases
6. The all-in monthly total

Do that for every community on your list and the picture changes. Sometimes dramatically.

If that sounds like a lot of work, it is — and it’s exactly what my community analysis service does. I track pricing across nearly 100 communities in Naples, Fort Myers and Bonita Springs. I know which ones have flexibility right now, which ones are raising rates, and which ones have units they’re motivated to fill.

There is no cost to families for my referral services — communities pay me, families don’t. Here’s exactly how that works, because you should know before you call.

Start with a real number, not an average

If you take one thing from this: don’t budget off a national average and don’t budget off a website. Get an itemized estimate for your parent’s actual needs, from communities that actually have availability, in the neighborhoods you’d actually consider.

Call me and we’ll build that number together. It usually takes one conversation.

Bruce Rosenblatt is the owner of Senior Housing Solutions and has helped Southwest Florida families evaluate senior living for more than 30 years. Download the free Senior Community Comparison Guide.