Assisted living in Wisconsin

This state publishes the document, not the severity.

Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services posts that it issued a statement of deficiency or an enforcement action, but not how serious the finding was — and a statement of deficiency can be anything from a forced medication pass to a missing signature. So nothing below is marked a serious violation, and nothing below is ranked: we list alphabetically. More paperwork on file is not the same as being worse, and ordering these communities by how thick their file is would be our guess at severity dressed up as the state’s finding. Open a community’s state report to read the actual citation.

What Wisconsin 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:

• 2,412 Adult foster home — small residential homes, typically 3–5 beds, in a private house
• 1,533 Community-based residential facility — the Wisconsin assisted-living licence — 5+ residents, the closest match to what most people mean
• 362 Residential care apartment complex — registered independent-living apartments with optional services — not assisted living

2,535 of these (58%) are licensed for 6 beds or fewer — residential homes rather than the apartment-style communities most families picture. They are real licensed care and we list them, but filter by beds if that is not what you are looking for.

Memory care isn’t marked here — because the state doesn’t publish it.

Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services’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.

Estimated cost range · regional

In Wisconsin, assisted living typically runs about $5,250–$7,850/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

Wisconsin Medicaid can help pay for assisted living — through a waiver, not through regular Medicaid.

The Wisconsin waiver that can pay for it:

• Family Care / Family Care Partnership — covers adult day care / assisted living / adult foster care / home-delivered meals (managed LTC)

In Wisconsin: apply or check eligibility ↗.

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 Wisconsin Medicaid page.