How Much Does a Nursing Home Cost in Iowa Per Month?

Last updated: September 16, 2026

What an Iowa nursing home runs, city by city, what the state pays when Medicaid covers it, and what Medicare will and won’t pay.

What would a year in an Iowa nursing home cost you?

At the Iowa median for a semi-private room, it runs about $111,325 a year. A private room runs about $120,450.¹

Now picture two years. Or three.

Where would that money come from?

How Much Does a Nursing Home Cost in Iowa Per Month?

These are Iowa medians from the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey.¹

• Nursing home, semi-private room: $305 a day, about $9,277 a month, or $111,325 a year. Up 4 percent from the year before.¹
• Nursing home, private room: $330 a day, about $10,038 a month, or $120,450 a year. Up 4 percent.¹

For comparison, the national medians are $315 a day for a semi-private room and $355 a day for a private room, which CareScout shows as about $9,581 and $10,798 a month.¹²

An Iowa nursing home costs a little less than the national median. Does less mean affordable?

For the full national picture, including the odds you will need care at all, see How Much Does Long-Term Care Cost Per Month?.

Nursing Home Costs by City in Iowa

Iowa is not one price. Here is what CareScout shows for a month in a nursing home in each Iowa area it reports, from its 2025 survey.¹

• Iowa City area: about $10,129 semi-private, about $11,406 private.¹
• Cedar Rapids area: about $10,007 semi-private, about $11,406 private.¹
• Des Moines area: about $9,931 semi-private, about $11,528 private.¹
• Waterloo area: about $9,794 semi-private, about $10,190 private.¹
• Sioux City area: about $9,627 semi-private, about $9,733 private.¹
• Dubuque area: about $9,125 semi-private, about $9,733 private.¹
• Davenport area: about $8,136 semi-private, about $8,882 private.¹
• Ames area: about $7,361 semi-private, about $10,463 private.¹
• Rural Iowa (areas outside a metro area): about $9,155 semi-private, about $9,613 private.¹

The same kind of room can cost almost $2,000 a month more in the Iowa City area than in the Davenport area.¹

What Does Iowa Medicaid Pay a Nursing Home?

This is a different number.

When Medicaid is paying for a nursing home resident in Iowa, the state pays the nursing home a daily rate. Iowa’s Department of Health and Human Services publishes those rates.³

For rates in effect July 1, 2026, the state’s own list for 378 active free-standing nursing facilities shows:³

• An average base rate of $251.69 a day, ranging from $135.62 to $337.26.
• With the quality assurance assessment fee included, an average of $302.49 a day, ranging from $179.13 to $397.68.

By the month, those averages come out to about $7,656 and about $9,201.

This is what Iowa Medicaid pays the facility. It is not a price quote for a family paying on their own. CareScout’s survey and the state’s rate list are two different sources, measured two different ways, and the numbers don’t line up neatly. Neither source explains the difference, so this page doesn’t try to either.

What it does tell you is how much the price can swing from one Iowa nursing home to the next, even under the same state program.

My experiences suggest a caveat with Medicaid you should consider. You’ll likely have to find a Medicaid eligible bed and that may or may not be near you. You could lose some control over where that care is handled.

How Much Does Assisted Living Cost in Iowa Per Month?

CareScout’s 2025 survey puts the Iowa median for assisted living at $5,381 a month, or $64,566 a year. That is up 4 percent from the year before.¹

The national median is $6,200 a month.¹²

And non-medical help at home in Iowa? CareScout shows an Iowa median of $41 an hour, and puts it at about $7,836 a month at 44 hours a week.¹

How many hours are in a week? 168.

If someone needs care around the clock, who covers the other 124 hours?

Does Medicare Pay for Nursing Homes in Iowa?

For long-term care, no. Medicare is a federal program, and the rules are the same in Iowa as everywhere else.

Medicare says so on its own website: “Medicare doesn’t pay for long-term care.”⁴

What Medicare does cover is short-term skilled care in a skilled nursing facility, after a hospital stay, and it comes with rules.⁵

• You generally need a medically necessary inpatient hospital stay of at least 3 days in a row first.⁵
• Part A limits that coverage to 100 days in each benefit period.⁵
• In 2026 you pay $0 a day for days 1 through 20 after the $1,736 deductible, $217 a day for days 21 through 100, and all costs after that.⁵

For the full Medicare rules, including hospital observation stays, see the Medicare section of How Much Does Long-Term Care Cost Per Month?.

Those dollar amounts are 2026 figures and they change every January.⁵

What an Iowa Nursing Home Bill Means for Your Retirement Income

Do you know what your retirement income floor covers today?

Does it cover the essentials, the adventures, the experiences, and the memories with the people you love?

And if a care bill of $9,300 to $10,100 a month showed up, where would it come from?

Is Social Security part of that income for you?

Knowing how long your money actually lasts, before a care event, is a lot better than finding out during one.

Related: whether a nursing home takes your Social Security check

Related: how much memory care costs for dementia

Related: who pays for a nursing home if you have no money

Nursing home costs in the other states I serve: Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Florida.

Frequently Asked Questions

All figures are as of the dates shown and are for education only. Care costs vary by facility and by the level of care needed, and Medicare and Medicaid amounts change. This page is not legal, tax, or Medicaid planning advice. Questions about Iowa Medicaid eligibility belong with an elder law attorney in Iowa.