What Fairfield County nursing homes charge: the 2025 rates every home reported to the state

Where the numbers come from

Every year the Connecticut Department of Public Health publishes a Nursing Facility Registry with a line for each licensed home: beds, residents on the reporting date, who pays for their care, their ages, and the daily rate the home charges private-pay residents for a private and a semi-private room. Few states publish anything like it. It is the closest thing families have to a real local price list.

Our figures come from the 2025 registry year for the 35 nursing homes in Fairfield County's 23 towns. They are facility-reported private-pay rates. Medicare and HUSKY C, Connecticut Medicaid, pay their own rates, and private bills can include pharmacy, therapy and supply charges on top.

The county picture, town by town

Statewide, CareScout's 2025 survey puts Connecticut's median at $200,750 a year for a private room, about $550 a day, and $182,500 for semi-private, about $500. Fairfield County's reported median private rate of $616 is higher than that statewide survey figure, which fits the county's cost of living.

The highest and lowest reported rates

The highest private-room rate in the registry is $735 a day at Mozaic Senior Life in Bridgeport; the lowest is $465 at Notre Dame Convalescent Homes Inc. in Norwalk. The gap, more than $270 a day, is over $98,550 a year.

A higher rate does not by itself mean better care. Before reading anything into price, compare each home's CMS ratings, staffing hours and latest inspection on its facility page, and its share of residents on Medicaid, which shows how used it is to residents who have spent down.

What a month really costs

At the county median private rate, a 30-day month costs about $18,478, and a year about $224,818. A parent paying privately with $300,000 in countable assets would reach HUSKY C's $1,600 asset limit in roughly 16 months, faster with extra charges. That is why families should plan a Medicaid application well before the money runs out, and why a spouse at home should understand Connecticut's spousal protections, which in 2026 allow the community spouse to keep up to $162,660 in assets.

Private rate versus what families actually pay

Few families pay the private rate for years. A typical path in Fairfield County is a Medicare-covered rehab stay after a hospital admission, then a period of private payment, then HUSKY C once assets fall to the $1,600 limit for a single person. The private rate matters most in that middle stretch, and it decides how long savings last.

Long-term care insurance can cover part of the private rate, and continuing care contracts cover residents of the campuses that have them. DPH's registry counts residents under each payer, so you can see how common each path is at a given home.

Rates and quality are separate questions

It is tempting to read a high rate as a sign of better care. Fairfield County's data does not support any simple rule. Some of the higher-priced homes have strong CMS ratings and staffing; others do not. Treat price as a budget question and CMS's ratings, inspections and staffing as the quality question, and look at both on each home's page before deciding.

How the county compares with the state survey

CareScout's statewide medians come from a survey of providers across Connecticut, while the registry rates are each Fairfield County home's own report. The two do not measure exactly the same thing, but together they show that Fairfield County sits at the expensive end of an expensive state. Families moving a parent from elsewhere in Connecticut, or from another state, should budget accordingly and confirm every number with the home itself before signing an admission agreement. Ask, as well, whether a deposit is required for private-pay admissions and how it is refunded.

Remember that rates change each year. The registry shows the reporting year; the admissions office has today's number.

How to use the registry on a tour

Ask the admissions office to confirm the current private rate and what it includes, because the registry reflects the reporting year. Ask what the last two annual increases were. Ask whether the home keeps residents who convert from private pay to Medicaid in the same room. Our daily rates page lists every home's reported figures in one sortable table.