How Much Does a Nursing Home Cost in South Carolina in 2026?

A semi-private room in a South Carolina nursing home costs about $9,034 a month in 2026, or roughly $297 a day.

A private room costs about $9,612 a month.

Both land under the national median.

Medicare covers a rehab stay and then stops, and Medicaid pays nothing until your countable savings are down to $9,950.

Note: This is general information, not financial advice. Care costs, Medicare figures, and Medicaid limits are subject to change.

4 Things That Change a South Carolina Nursing Home Bill

Four factors explain most of the price gap between one nursing home and the next.

1. Room Type

Taking a semi-private room instead of a private room saves about $578 a month.

Nationally, the swap from private to semi-private saves roughly $1,217 a month.

So, privacy costs less in South Carolina than it does in most other states.

2. Skilled Care or Custodial Care

A three-week rehab stay after a broken hip and a permanent move into a nursing home carry different prices and different payers.

Skilled care means nursing and therapy that a licensed professional has to deliver.

Custodial care means help with bathing, dressing, eating, and moving around.

Medicare pays only for skilled care, which is why that distinction decides who writes the check.

3. Who Pays the Bill

Medicaid is the primary payer for 62% of residents in South Carolina nursing homes.

The state sets what it pays a home per day.

Families paying out of pocket get the published rate instead.

Two prices, one building.

That published rate is the number you hear on the nursing home tour.

4. How Full the Homes Are

Nursing homes ran 84% full across South Carolina in 2025, from the Upstate to the Lowcountry, against 79% nationally.

Sixteen beds in a hundred sit open.

Fewer open beds means fewer choices when a Greenville discharge planner hands you a list and a deadline.

Where the Daily Rate Comes From

Nursing home prices in South Carolina come from CareScout’s 2025 Cost of Care Survey, a national price study of long-term care.

Researchers gathered more than 25,000 rates from providers between July and November of 2025, then reported medians state by state.

A semi-private room, the kind you share with another resident, came in at $297 a day.

Private rooms came to $316 a day.

Stretch those across a full year and you land at $108,405 or $115,340.

Nationally, semi-private rates rose 2% over 2024 and private rates rose 1%.

These rates keep rising.

Many homes bill by the day rather than a flat monthly rate, so a February bill comes in lower than a March bill.

Psst! Wondering how South Carolina stacks up against the other 49 states? Sort the table below and find your state in seconds.

How South Carolina Compares

Set against the rest of the country, a nursing home in South Carolina is a bargain, though not by a wide margin.

The national median for a semi-private room is $9,581 a month.

South Carolina comes in about $547 under that.

Here’s the comparison that lands hardest: A private room in South Carolina, at $115,340 a year, costs about what the average shared room costs nationally at $114,975.

Georgia is cheaper still at $105,850 a year for a semi-private room, while North Carolina charges more at $116,800.

On shared-room price, South Carolina lands 36th out of 50 states.

Cheap is relative at $108,405.

What Medicare Covers

Medicare pays for a short skilled stay in a nursing home and nothing beyond that.

You need a qualifying inpatient hospital stay of at least three days in a row first.

Hours spent under observation in the emergency room don't count toward it.

Days 1 through 20 cost you nothing.

After that, you owe $217 a day in 2026, which comes to $17,360 if you use all 80 remaining days.

Day 101 is all yours.

The program pays nothing toward a permanent custodial stay, no matter how many years you paid in.

Medicare leaves other gaps too, including hearing aids.

Who Qualifies for Medicaid

Medicaid covers most long nursing home stays in South Carolina, and the doorway is narrow.

A single applicant can hold no more than $2,982 a month in income in 2026, a limit set at three times the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit.

Countable resources top out at $9,950 for an individual.

Your house, your car and your wedding ring generally sit outside that count.

The house can still come back into play after you die.

Once you're approved, nearly all of your monthly income goes straight to the nursing home.

You keep $60 a month for personal needs, an amount South Carolina doubled from $30 on October 1, 2025.

That leaves $2 a day.

A spouse still living at home can be allocated up to $4,066.50 a month out of your income.

South Carolina Medicaid reviews five years of your financial records before approving you.

A generous gift to your kids in 2023 can push your eligibility date out by months.

How Long People Stay

The length of the stay decides whether the bill is manageable or catastrophic.

Half of nursing home residents get no more than two years of care after age 65, according to federal researchers at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Only about 15% of older adults spend longer than that in a nursing home.

Two years at the South Carolina median comes to $216,810.

Nobody budgets for that.

The same researchers put the odds of needing serious long-term care after 65 at roughly 70%, and 48% of people end up receiving paid care at some point.

Cheaper Care Than a Nursing Home

You have three cheaper options before a nursing home, and each of them buys less care.

Assisted living in South Carolina costs about $5,350 a month, roughly $3,700 under a semi-private nursing home room, while in-home help from a non-medical caregiver runs about $71,786 a year.

Adult day health care, where someone spends weekdays at a center and every night at home, comes to about $18,720 a year.

Cross the state line and the math changes, since North Carolina charges about $6,200 a month for assisted living.

None of those buy round-the-clock skilled nursing.

That's the whole gap.

Nursing Home Cost by State

The spread between the cheapest state and the priciest state is wider than most families expect.

Texas posts the lowest semi-private median in the country at $67,525 a year, and Alaska posts the highest at $333,975.

That's nearly five times Texas.

Thirteen states charge more than $150,000 a year for a shared room.

FAQ

South Carolina families ask the same handful of questions once the first nursing home bill arrives.

The answers shift every year.

How much does a nursing home cost in South Carolina?

About $9,034 a month for a semi-private room and $9,612 for a private room in 2026, based on CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey. By the day, that works out to $297 and $316.

Does Medicare pay for nursing home care in South Carolina?

Only short-term skilled care, capped at 100 days per benefit period, and only after a qualifying inpatient hospital stay of at least three days. Medicare pays nothing toward a permanent custodial stay.

What is the income limit for nursing home Medicaid in South Carolina?

$2,982 a month for a single applicant in 2026, with countable resources capped at $9,950. Nearly all of that income then goes to the nursing home, minus a $60 personal needs allowance.

How long do most people stay in a nursing home?

Half of nursing home residents receive no more than two years of care after age 65, and only about 15% of older adults go past that mark.

Is assisted living cheaper than a nursing home in South Carolina?

Yes, by roughly $3,700 a month. Assisted living in South Carolina runs about $5,350 a month, though it doesn't include round-the-clock skilled nursing care.