Home Care vs Assisted Living in Connecticut
Needing more help doesn’t have to mean a move. Here’s what care at home and assisted living each include, how each is paid for, and how one-to-one help works in both.
Assisted living
By the month
$9,118
Connecticut median, per month
Care at home
By the hour
$6,864
40 hour week, per month
The short answer
Home care brings a caregiver to the home your parent already lives in, for the hours your family chooses, while assisted living is a move to a residential community with meals, activities and staff on site; Endurance Home Care provides care at home and one-to-one help inside assisted living communities, and lays out the real Connecticut numbers: a median $9,118 per month for assisted living against roughly $6,864 for 40 weekly hours of care at home.
If your mother or father wants to stay at home and the help they need can be arranged there, home is worth exploring first. Care at home keeps their own surroundings and routines, with one-to-one attention during care hours, and it can start small and grow as needs change. And if they already live in assisted living, a caregiver can add one-to-one help there too.
What each one includes
Assisted living is a move to a residential community. The monthly fee usually covers an apartment, meals in a shared dining room, housekeeping and staff on site, and each community decides what it includes. Care at home brings the help to the house your parent already knows. A caregiver comes for the hours your family chooses and helps with meals, laundry, errands, rides, reminders and company, plus hands-on help with bathing and dressing where it’s needed. We provide personal care in Connecticut and New Jersey. In New York we provide companion care, by the hour, overnight, live-in or around the clock. Endurance offers hourly care and 24/7 care with live-ins, so one house can hold anything from two afternoons a week to continuous coverage.
Assisted living
A new home in a residential community.
- An apartment or room in a community with staff on site
- Meals in a shared dining room, with housekeeping and laundry
- Planned activities and neighbors close by
- Help with daily activities from staff who look after many residents
Care at home
Help that comes to the home your parent already knows.
- A caregiver for the hours you choose, from a few a week to around the clock
- Meals, laundry, light housekeeping, errands and rides to appointments
- Company, medication reminders and, where it's needed, hands-on help with bathing and dressing
- One-to-one attention during care hours, on your parent's own routine
If your question is about care near the end of life, read home care vs hospice.
How each one is paid for
Assisted living usually charges a monthly fee set by each community, and what’s included varies from one to the next. Home care is arranged by the schedule, so the cost depends on the hours, whether nights are part of it, and the kind of help. Both figures above come from one survey, the Long Term Care Navigator 2026 Connecticut figures: home care is priced by the hour, at a Connecticut range of $37 to $42, and at a 40 hour week that lands at about $6,864 a month. Because the two are priced so differently, the useful comparison is one built on your parent’s actual week. We’ll explain what a home care plan would cost, so you can set it beside the communities you’re considering.
Medicare and most health insurance don’t pay for long-term care at home or in the community, so most families plan to pay privately, sometimes with help from a long-term care insurance policy. Endurance is private pay, and we help with the policy paperwork. If what your family needs is a break rather than a move, what respite care costs in Connecticut explains how shorter stretches of care are arranged.
When your parent wants to stay home
Many people want to stay in the home they know, and Connecticut recognizes that too: the state’s Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders helps eligible residents keep living at home. Endurance began with the same wish. Brothers Chris and Tom Weldon started the company after caring for their grandmother, who was living with dementia.
What staying home keeps
- Their own bed, their own kitchen and the view they know
- A routine that stays theirs: breakfast, the bath, the walk after lunch
- One-to-one attention from a caregiver during care hours
- Family and friends dropping in whenever they like
If your parent already lives in assisted living
- A caregiver for one-to-one company and unhurried time
- Help with the daily routine, alongside the community's own staff
- Someone to walk with them to meals and activities
- A Care Manager who keeps you posted, wherever you live
If your family needs a break more than a decision this month, our respite care service can give everyone time to think. And if the comparison you’re weighing is home care vs nursing home, that's a different comparison again. Endurance Home Care helps with daily life at home: company, meals, the house, errands, appointments and, where it's needed, hands-on personal care. For skilled nursing, home health aides or physical therapy in Connecticut, our separate company, Endurance Home Health, can help.
The address stays the same. The help changes as your parent’s needs do.
Staying home isn’t one decision made once. A registered nurse visits at home and writes the care plan with your family, and the care plan gets a customized monthly assessment, so the schedule, the tasks and the preferences inside it match what the household wants that month. Endurance also coordinates with the medical care a client already has in place, so everyone involved works from one picture instead of several. Your Care Manager keeps you updated, so the hours and the help can grow when they need to.
If you’d like to think this through with someone, request a call and bring the hours you think you need. The first conversation is free.
What to have ready for the conversation
It helps to know which days and times are hardest, whether nights are part of it, and what you’d like a caregiver to help with. Call the Client Support Line with those answers in front of you, and we’ll explain what care at home would involve and what it would cost.
A plan for your week
The hours and the help you'd use, explained around your parent's routine.
The right caregiver
We choose a caregiver with your parent in mind and introduce them before the first visit.
Registration
Connecticut License HCA.0002450 · New Jersey License HP0435100 · Connecticut DPH License 9915786 (Endurance Home Health)
Questions families ask
Home care vs assisted living: which one fits?
Home care brings a caregiver into the home your parent already lives in, for the hours your family chooses, from a few a week to around the clock. Assisted living is a move to a residential community with meals, activities and staff on site, usually for a monthly fee. In Connecticut the 2026 figures run $9,118 a month for assisted living versus about $6,864 for 40 weekly hours of home care. If your parent wants to stay home and the help they need can be arranged there, home is worth exploring first. If they already live in assisted living, one-to-one help can be added there too.
Can you help if my parent already lives in assisted living?
Yes. We provide one-to-one help inside assisted living and other care communities, working alongside the community's own staff. A caregiver can keep your parent company, help with the daily routine, walk with them to meals and activities and give them unhurried time. Your Care Manager keeps you posted, wherever you live. Tell us about the community and what your parent needs.
Can home care really replace assisted living?
For many families, yes. One client family had planned on assisted living and found the most cost effective choice was keeping mom at home. A caregiver can help with meals, housekeeping, errands, rides, company and, where it's needed, hands-on help with bathing and dressing, for a few hours a week or around the clock. The difference is that the help comes to your parent, in their own home and on their own routine. In Connecticut, our separate company, Endurance Home Health, can add skilled nursing at home if a doctor orders it.
Let’s talk about staying at home
Tell us what has been getting harder and what matters most to your parent. We’ll talk through the help available at home, or in their community, and explain what it would involve. Home care across Connecticut and New Jersey, and companion care in New York, from a state registered agency. The first conversation is free, and nothing starts until you say so.