Assisted Living in South Carolina: A Family Guide
What assisted living is called in South Carolina, what it costs, how Medicaid can help, how to check a community’s license and inspections, and who to call if something goes wrong. Every fact links to the official source.
- Licensed by
- South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH), Healthcare Quality (formerly under DHEC)1
- Licensed communities on Lilisity
- 427 assisted living, 138 with memory care
- Medicaid help
- Limited: Community Choices (CC) Waiver (SC.0405): Residential Personal Care II2
- Typical cost
- $5,350 a month (state median, CareScout 2025)
- Long-term care ombudsman
- 1-800-868-90953
- File a complaint
- 1-800-922-67354
What assisted living is called in South Carolina
- Community Residential Care Facility (CRCF) (Regulation 60-84)South Carolina's license that covers assisted living. It covers places that give room, board, and some personal care to two or more adults who are not closely related to the licensee.1
Memory care rules
A community residential care facility that offers an Alzheimer's special care unit or program must put in writing what makes its care suited to people with Alzheimer's, and share that with the responsible party seeking a placement in the unit.5
Questions to ask memory care about nights.
What assisted living costs in South Carolina
The median cost of assisted living in South Carolina is $5,350 a month, below the national median of $6,200 (CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025, collected July to November 2025). Prices vary with the apartment, the level of care and the community, so ask each one for its current rate sheet, including care-level fees.
If more care is needed later: nursing home costs in South Carolina, with CareScout medians and the private-pay rates South Carolina nursing homes publish.
Plan with our free tools: how long will the money last? and home care or assisted living?
Paying for assisted living in South Carolina
Medicare does not pay for assisted living. Families pay from savings and income, long-term care insurance, or benefits such as VA Aid and Attendance (estimate it). Who actually pays for long-term care.
Medicaid. Yes, in a limited way. South Carolina's Community Choices waiver offers a service called Residential Personal Care II for waiver members who live in a CRCF and are assessed as needing an intermediate nursing facility level of care. Program: Community Choices (CC) Waiver (SC.0405): Residential Personal Care II.2 Medicaid does not pay rent or meals in assisted living in any state, and not every community accepts it, so ask each one.
Optional State Supplementation (OSS). A monthly state payment for people on SSI and other low-income people who meet the state's income limits and live in a licensed CRCF that takes part in the program. People who get OSS also qualify for Medicaid.6
How to check a community in South Carolina
Look up a license. DPH's Find a Facility map shows every licensed community residential care facility, with its address, phone, administrator, license number and expiration date, and number of licensed beds. You can export the list. Search South Carolina’s records.7
Always visit in person, at a mealtime or in the evening if you can. Bring the tour scorecard and the 8 tour questions.
If something goes wrong
Complaints about care or conditions. DPH takes complaints about the health facilities and services it regulates, including CRCFs, through an online form. If you cannot use the form, you can call. Call 1-800-922-6735 or file online.4
Abuse, neglect or exploitation. Call 1-800-868-9095. How to report.3 If someone is in danger, call 911.
The long-term care ombudsman is a free advocate for residents of assisted living and nursing homes: they help resolve problems with a community, including move-out notices. Call 1-800-868-9095 or find your local ombudsman.3
Find assisted living in South Carolina
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Common questions
Yes, in a limited way. South Carolina's Community Choices waiver offers a service called Residential Personal Care II for waiver members who live in a CRCF and are assessed as needing an intermediate nursing facility level of care. Medicaid does not pay rent or meals in assisted living.
The median is $5,350 a month (CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025), compared with $6,200 nationally.
South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH), Healthcare Quality (formerly under DHEC).
DPH takes complaints about the health facilities and services it regulates, including CRCFs, through an online form. If you cannot use the form, you can call. Phone: 1-800-922-6735.
DPH's Find a Facility map shows every licensed community residential care facility, with its address, phone, administrator, license number and expiration date, and number of licensed beds. You can export the list.
Sources
- Licensing agency, license types (dph.sc.gov)
- Medicaid (scdhhs.gov)
- Ombudsman, reporting abuse (aging.sc.gov)
- Complaints (dph.sc.gov)
- Memory care rules (scstatehouse.gov)
- Optional State Supplementation (OSS) (provider.scdhhs.gov)
- License lookup (dph.sc.gov)
- CareScout Cost of Care Survey 2025 (state medians)
Facts checked against these official sources on September 28, 2026. Rules and programs change; confirm with the agency before making a decision. General information, not legal or financial advice.
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