Greensboro Senior AdvisorWhat is the difference between assisted living and memory care in North Carolina?
Assisted living is an ordinary bed in a licensed adult care home or family care home; memory care is a bed in a special care unit, a secured dementia program that DHSR has approved as part of the home's license and that must give families a written disclosure statement.
Across the three counties, 17 adult care homes hold special care unit beds (655 beds in all, from DHSR's October 28, 2026 list), and 4 nursing homes add 66 more. Many residents with early dementia live well in an ordinary adult care home. The special care unit becomes the right place when safety needs, especially leaving the building unnoticed, outrun what an open building can manage.
When does a parent with dementia need a special care unit?
Usually when wandering or exit-seeking begins, when confusion makes the open building unsafe, or when behaviors need staff trained and assigned specifically for dementia; a diagnosis alone does not decide it.
Watch for a parent who has tried to leave home at night, who gets lost in familiar places, or who no longer recognizes danger. Those are the signs that most often lead an adult care home to say it can no longer meet a resident's needs, and moving before a crisis is easier than after one.
How do costs compare between assisted living and memory care around Greensboro?
No local median exists for either, but a special care unit typically costs more than a standard bed in the same building; for low-income residents, Special Assistance's 2026 Enhanced Rate of $1,792 a month for a special care unit is higher than the $1,397 Basic Rate.
CareScout's 2025 North Carolina assisted living median of $6,200 a month is the only published benchmark, and memory care is not surveyed separately. Get each home's written rate sheet, and ask how the special care unit's price changes as dementia progresses.
Can a couple live together if only one has dementia?
Sometimes: a home with both standard beds and a special care unit can keep spouses on one campus, and a few small family care homes manage mixed needs, but a special care unit's secured setting is designed for residents who need it.
Ask whether the healthy spouse can visit freely and share meals, and what happens to the apartment if one spouse moves to the unit. Combined campuses with nursing beds on the same license add one more step for later.
How do we compare two special care units in the Triad?
Compare the written disclosure statements side by side, then check each home's DHSR star rating and recent inspection documents, and ask both for third-shift staffing inside the unit.
Our memory care directory lists every special care unit in the three counties with unit beds, total beds and DHSR stars. A building where the unit beds equal the total beds is dedicated entirely to dementia care, which some families prefer and others do not.
Side by side
| An ordinary adult care home bed | A special care unit bed | |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Open building with supervision | Secured program for dementia |
| Disclosure | Standard residency documents | Written special care unit disclosure (G.S. 131D-8) |
| Special Assistance (2026) | Basic Rate, $1,397 a month | Enhanced Rate, $1,792 a month |
| Best for | Personal care needs without unsafe wandering | Dementia with exit-seeking or unsafe confusion |
Drawn from G.S. Chapter 131D, 10A NCAC 13F and 13G, DHSR and NCDHHS publications, NC Medicaid, CareScout, CMS, the VA and the Piedmont Triad aging agency cited in the text; our editorial standards explain how we check them.
