Nursing Home Costs in South Dakota
A semi-private nursing home room in South Dakota costs a median of $9,444 a month, and a private room $10,190 a month, according to CareScout’s 2025 Cost of Care Survey. Nationally the medians are $9,581 and $10,798.
Updated October 2026 · CareScout 2025 medians and published private-pay rates
How South Dakota compares with the national median
A semi-private room in South Dakota costs 1% less than the national median.
| Nursing home | South Dakota | U.S. | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-private room, a month | $9,444 | $9,581 | 1% lower |
| Private room, a month | $10,190 | $10,798 | 6% lower |
| Semi-private room, a year | $113,333 | $114,975 | 1% lower |
| Private room, a year | $122,275 | $129,575 | 6% lower |
Source: CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025, median nursing home costs, collected July to November 2025.
Rates South Dakota nursing homes publish
We have not yet found a private-pay rate published by a South Dakota nursing home. Ask each one for its daily rate for a semi-private and a private room, and what the rate leaves out.
What moves the price
- Room type. A private room costs more than a shared one; in South Dakota the CareScout medians differ by $746 a month.
- Care needs. Therapy, wound care, dementia care and other skilled services can add to the daily rate.
- What the rate covers. Ask what is billed on top: medication, supplies, laundry, beauty shop, phone and cable.
- Location. Rates differ between cities and between urban and rural areas.
South Dakota has 97 Medicare-certified nursing homes. Compare them by CMS rating, staffing and inspections.
Paying for a nursing home in South Dakota
- Medicare covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing care after a qualifying hospital stay, with a daily copayment after day 20. It does not pay for long-term custodial care.
- Medicaid pays for long-term nursing home care for people who qualify on income and assets. South Dakota’s Medicaid agency sets the rules; most nursing homes accept it.
- VA benefits: VA Aid and Attendance can pay up to $29,093 a year for a veteran with no dependents (2026), and some veterans qualify for VA nursing home care.
- Long-term care insurance and private pay: savings, income, home equity and family help.
Our free guide Paying for Senior Living walks through a monthly budget and each way to pay, and Choosing a Nursing Home covers what to check before you decide. Free tools: How long will the money last? · VA Aid and Attendance estimator.
Other care in South Dakota
Not everyone who needs help needs a nursing home. Assisted living and memory care cost less for people who do not need skilled nursing around the clock. All senior living in South Dakota lists every licensed community and nursing home by county. The South Dakota assisted living guide covers what assisted living costs in South Dakota and how it is licensed.
Sources
- CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025, median cost data tables (nursing home, semi-private and private room), collected July to November 2025: carescout.com/cost-of-care.
- Lilisity review of nursing home websites and state price reports, October 2026: private-pay rates posted by nursing homes on their own websites, archived copies of those pages, and private-pay rate reports some states publish. Rates dated before 2025, state veterans homes and rates under half the state’s CareScout semi-private median (usually an assisted living price on the same campus) are left out, as is a single figure from one web page credited to several nursing homes (a general statement such as “more than $8,000 a month”, not each home’s rate).
- Nursing home list: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Care Compare.
What will senior living cost, and how will we pay?
Our free guide shows the starting prices communities post for each kind of care, walks you through a monthly budget, and explains how insurance, VA benefits, Medicaid and Medicare can help.
Free guide · 16 pages
Paying for Senior Living
Costs by type of care, a monthly budget, and how insurance, the VA, Medicaid and Medicare help.