Assisted living in Iowa
335 licensed communities · 168 have a serious flag on record. Listed alphabetically: Iowa publishes the findings, not a rating, so we do not rank them and we do not invent a score.
What Iowa licenses — and why this total isn’t comparable to another state’s
There is no national definition of “assisted living.” Each state decides what it licenses and what to call it, so a state total counts whatever that state chose to license — state counts on this site are not comparable to each other, and a bigger number does not mean more assisted living. Here that total is:
- 335 Assisted living program — an assisted-living program operating inside another licensed setting
Memory care isn’t marked here — because the state doesn’t publish it.
Iowa Dept. of Inspections, Appeals & Licensing’s licensing file carries no memory-care or dementia-unit designation, so we cannot tell you which of these communities has one. There certainly are memory-care communities in this state — we just have no authoritative list of them, and we won’t guess from a community’s name. Ask any community directly whether it runs a secured dementia unit, and ask your Long-Term Care Ombudsman ↗ which local communities take dementia residents.
Median private-pay cost, CareScout (Genworth) 2025 Cost of Care Survey — a regional midpoint, not any single community’s rate. Private rooms and higher care levels cost more; ask for a current quote. Project your own in the cost-of-care planner.
† Memory care is our estimate, not survey data: CareScout does not survey memory care, so we take the assisted-living median for the state and add $1,200/month — the typical secured-dementia-unit premium. It is a planning figure with no state-level detail behind it, and real memory-care pricing varies far more than that. Treat it as a starting point and ask the community for its own memory-care rate.
Estimated cost range · regional
In Iowa, assisted living typically runs about $4,300–$6,450/month.
This is a regional estimate modeled from published survey data (the CareScout/Genworth state median, ±20%) — not this community’s actual price, which it sets privately. Ask the community for its current all-in monthly rate and what each care level adds.
Paying with Medicaid
Iowa Medicaid helps pay for assisted living only in limited circumstances — through a waiver, and not everywhere in the state or for everyone who qualifies.
The Iowa waiver that can pay for it:
- HCBS Elderly Waiver — covers in-home / adult day / assisted living
Iowa runs a waiting list for this waiver. Qualifying does not mean a place is funded — apply as early as you can, before you need it.
In Iowa: apply or check eligibility ↗ or call 855-889-7985.
A waiver pays for care, not for rent. Even where the state covers assisted-living services, room and board is still the resident’s to pay. Full eligibility limits — income, assets, the look-back — are on our Iowa Medicaid page.
335 communities — scroll within the box to see all.