How Long Does the Average Person Need Long-Term Care?

Stephanie Stearns is an assistant director of Risk Products at Northwestern Mutual.

Long-term care is a financial blind spot for many. It’s easy to think that it’s just something you and your family will deal with if it happens. But the more you understand what’s involved, the more prepared you and your loved ones can be should the need arise.

There are several reasons it’s so important to plan for long-term care while everyone is healthy. Keep in mind that the United States has no broad public program covering long-term care. Medicare pays for doctors, hospitals, medication and short-term rehab after hospitalization—but not for independent or assisted living. And a long-term care event has wide-ranging emotional, financial and physical consequences that can be mitigated with a well-defined plan. Planning ahead can afford you more options to help you stay in your home longer, which is a common goal.

Finally, the Population Reference Bureau’s 2024 data shows that the percentage of the elder population (age 65 and older) is increasing and people with chronic conditions and disabilities are living longer, contributing to an even higher demand for paid and family caregivers.¹ This increased demand makes it more important than ever to have the support in place to get the care you want.

Let’s explore what a plan might look like for long-term care that allows you to remain comfortable at home and in the community while helping to protect the financial, emotional and physical well-being of those you love.

What are the chances I will need long-term care? 

The likelihood of requiring long-term care as you age is one of the greatest health-related risks facing retirees. The longer you live, the more likely it is you may need care. According to a U.S. Department of the Treasury report in 2020, approximately half of Americans turning age 65 today will need some type of long-term care in their lives.²

It may never happen to you, but it’s well worth considering the impact on your family and friends should you ever need care. It’s often not until someone you love needs care or you see a friend providing extended care to a family member that you start to understand the benefits of having a plan in place to help manage this life-changing event.

In a 2022 survey of home-based, unpaid family caregivers, one-third cite getting emotional support, worrying about their workplace responsibilities, and coordinating care needs with the recipient’s doctor and other providers as the challenges they encounter most frequently.³ Emotional burnout is one of the main reasons family caregivers turn to paid in-home help.

What is long-term care? 

Long-term care is defined as the services that are provided to someone who has a chronic condition that is progressive in nature, gets worse as time goes on and generally has no cure. It’s important to note that, typically, long-term care does not include medical care or treatment of the underlying illness or injury.

Someone who needs long-term care assistance would need physical help or supervision when performing at least two activities of daily living (ADLs). Examples of basic ADLs include eating, bathing or showering, getting dressed, using the bathroom and getting in and out of bed or a chair.

How much care will I need?

The amount of care you may need varies substantially from person to person. Of the 56 percent of Americans turning 65 today expected to develop an impairment serious enough to require long-term care assistance (as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), many will need assistance for under three years. This is according to 2022 research commissioned by the department of Health and Human Services, which also found that:⁴

• About one in five of all adults (22 percent) will have a care need for more than five years.
• The average duration of care is higher for women (3.6 years) than for men (2.5 years).
• Among women, 64 percent are likely to develop a significant disability that requires daily help, and 26 percent will need care for at least five years.

What is the average age of a patient/client in a long-term care facility?

Adults aged 65 and older face the most significant risk for long-term care due to chronic conditions—which can be cognitive, physical or both. Considering all care settings (with in-home care being the most prominent), the vast majority of long-term care insurance claims happen after a person turns 80.⁵ The average age at which people purchase Northwestern Long Term Care policies is 55.⁶

In 2022, 88 percent of older adults reported it was important to them to continue living safely in their homes for as long as possible, according to a poll from the University of Michigan.⁷ And the good news is that the private home is where most care takes place, especially early on.

When an older person can no longer live safely or comfortably in their own home and is unable to move in with family or friends, they might move to a residential (live-in) facility. This can include a board and care home, an assisted living facility or a continuing care retirement community—or eventually a nursing home. An older person may also need to move when they need more help than a family member or friend can provide.

The 2023 “Profile of Older Americans” showed that a relatively small number of people (1.3 million) 65 and older lived in nursing homes.⁸ But the percentage of the population increased with age, ranging from 1 percent for people aged 65–74 and 3 percent for people aged 75–84 to 8 percent for people over 85.⁹

What are the major reasons a person requires long-term care?

Unexpected medical events, accidents and declines in health can affect your ability to live independently should they compromise your ability to function safely on an ongoing basis. Stroke, heart failure, Parkinson’s, ALS, arthritis and cancer—or conditions like Alzheimer’s that lead to memory or reasoning loss—can all lead to a need for personal assistance with at least two of the six ADLs or supervision. (As described above, these are things like eating, bathing or showering, getting dressed, using the bathroom and getting in and out of bed.) And any progressive, chronic, physical or cognitive condition can cause you to require long-term care.

How much does long-term care cost? 

The cost of covering long-term care can vary greatly depending on the type and amount of care you need—which also affects where it can be best delivered. You can see what care costs in your local area using this interactive online tool.

Here are some nationwide averages for home-based care, adult day care as well as care in assisted living and nursing home settings.¹⁰

• Home-based care: Home care costs differ significantly based on the skill set necessary to deliver the type of service needed. But to give you a starting point, the national average for eight hours of home health aide services each day of the year is about $90,520 annually. And if you wanted to have that same level of around-the-clock, skilled care in the home, it could cost nearly twice as much as a nursing home.   
• Adult day care: Adult day care centers are local, community-based programs offering a safe, secure setting with socialization and supervision during the day. They can be great resources along with volunteer caregivers, who often have paid jobs and other responsibilities. If you assume three days a week in adult day care at $103 per day, which is the average for the social model, that adds up to about $16,068 a year.
• Assisted living facility (or community): When more help is needed than home and community-based services can give, assisted living facilities offer a home-like environment. It feels more like an apartment and typically includes personal care services such as meals, housekeeping and support with things like dressing and bathing. The average annual cost for a one-bedroom apartment in this setting is $65,556. That’s $5,463 per month.

• Skilled nursing home: The greatest level of assistance is usually received in nursing homes because these facilities have professional teams that can give personal and nursing care on a 24-hour basis. A private room in a nursing home averages over $115,000 per year.

How would you pay for long-term care? How long would you be able to sustain those costs?

When you see numbers like those, often the next thought is how you’d pay for that kind of care if you or someone you loved needed it—and for how long you’d be able to keep paying. Budgeting for those costs can be difficult, especially when there’s no way to know how long care could be needed. Having a way to pay for long-term care down the road may be easier than you think.

The first step is understanding the costs of care and what funding sources are available to not only help reduce your risk but potentially better protect the rest of your assets. Your financial advisor can help you estimate how an average long-term care event can impact your retirement plan with scenarios customized to you.

What does long-term care insurance cover?

There are many types of long-term care policies, and you may be able to customize a policy for your needs and budget. You may be interested in a traditional long-term care insurance product or one that is combined with life insurance.

Many policies provide a daily or monthly benefit to help pay for care provided in your own home, an adult day care facility, assisted living facility, nursing home or hospice facility. Most people are using their policy benefits at home for help with ADLs, such as bathing and dressing.¹¹ The National Association of Insurance Commissioners created a Shopper’s Guide to help you understand long-term care and the variety of insurance options to help you pay for long-term care services.¹²

Healthy aging includes thinking ahead to the financial, medical and family issues that you may face as you grow older. Planning ahead for where you’ll get care, how you’ll get it and how you’ll pay for it is a critical component of retirement planning.

And sharing your plan can help you and your loved ones maintain confidence in the face of the unexpected by boosting the emotional and physical wellbeing of those who may otherwise have primary caregiving responsibilities. Your Northwestern Mutual financial advisor can help you develop a plan that includes long-term care planning so that you and your family won’t have to worry about affording the best option for your situation.

1. Source: “Fact Sheet: Aging in the United States.” Published 2024 by Population Reference Bureau.

2. Source: “Long-Term Care Insurance: Recommendations for Improvement of Regulation.” Published 2020 by U.S. Department of the Treasury

3. Source: “Following the Journey of Family Caregivers: Findings From a Survey of Home-based Caregivers.” Published July 2022 and sponsored by CLTC, Homethrive and Home Instead.

4. Source: “Long-Term Services and Supports for Older Americans: Risks and Financing, 2022.” Published 2022 and commissioned by U.S. department of Health and Human Services.

5. Source: “New Report Reveals Ages When Claims Begin For Long-Term Care Insurance.” Published 2024 by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, aaltci.org, in 2024.

6. Source: Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company new sales by issue age as of 12/31/2023.

7. Source: “National Poll on Healthy Aging.” Published 2022 by the University of Michigan.

8. Source: “2023 Profile of Older Americans.” Published 2024 by the Administration on Aging, part of the Administration for Community Living, an operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

9. Source: ibid

10. Source: “2023 illumifin Cost of Care Study.” Published March 2024 by illumifin Corporation.

11. Source: Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company claims data as of 07/31/2003.

12. Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Accessed August 2024.