What this usually covers
The brochure rarely says it plainly.
- Room and board
- General supervision
- Personal-care assistance
- Medication-related services within license
- Activities and common spaces
- Nursing overview where required by license level
Questions to raise before deciding
- What is the home's current license level?
- Which services are included?
- What staffing is present overnight?
- How are fees and discharge decisions handled?
What families should keep in mind
Availability and suitability must be confirmed directly for the person and date.
A request made here can lead to an introduction with a participating residential care home, once permission is given.
The license level, the fees and the fit are then confirmed directly with that home.
This is the largest category of senior housing in Vermont
Vermont licenses 87 residential care homes: more than five times the number of assisted living residences and more than double the number of nursing homes.
If you are looking at senior housing anywhere outside Chittenden County, this is most likely the category you are actually looking at, whatever the marketing calls it.
Residential care homes vary enormously.
Some are purpose-built buildings with dozens of residents; many are converted houses caring for a handful of people, which some families find far more humane than a larger community and others find too small for comfort.
The licence tells you the regulated category, not the atmosphere.
Level III and Level IV, and why the difference matters
Vermont licenses residential care homes at two levels.
Level III homes provide personal care: help with bathing, dressing, grooming and daily routines.
Level IV homes provide general supervision, meals and a place to live, without routine personal care.
A person who needs hands-on help every morning cannot be served by a Level IV home, however pleasant it is.
Ask which level the home holds before you tour it.
Doing that is the fastest way to rule places in or out, since the level itself is public record, not opinion.
What it costs and how people pay
The national cost survey does not price residential care homes as a separate Vermont category, which is one reason families struggle to budget for them.
In practice they generally sit below the $8,595 a month median for assisted living, and the gap is widest in the smallest homes.
Ask for a written monthly figure covering room, board and the actual care level.
The Medicaid route matters more here than in any other category: of the 81 Vermont settings taking Assistive Community Care Services, most are residential care homes.
A family with limited private funds has the most realistic chance of a funded place right here, in this category.
Where the state's residential care homes are
The state directory records 87 residential care homes in 45 towns.
Chittenden County has the most with 16, followed by Rutland County with 12 and Washington County with 12.
Not every county has one, and Essex County has the fewest with 1.
A family in a county with few homes should expect to look at a neighbouring county.
Residential care homes county by county
- Addison County: 3 homes in Middlebury, Salisbury
- Bennington County: 9 homes in Bennington, Manchester Ctr., North Bennington
- Caledonia County: 3 homes in Danville, St. Johnsbury
- Chittenden County: 16 homes in Burlington, Colchester, Essex Junction, Richmond, Shelburne, South Burlington, Underhill, Winooski
- Essex County: 1 home in North Concord
- Franklin County: 4 homes in Enosburg Falls, Richford, St. Albans
- Lamoille County: 3 homes in Jeffersonville, Morrisville
- Orange County: 6 homes in Bradford, Chelsea, Newbury, Randolph, Williamstown
- Orleans County: 4 homes in Barton, Craftsbury, Derby Line, Newport
- Rutland County: 10 homes in Brandon, Mendon, Rutland, Wallingford
- Washington County: 12 homes in Barre, Montpelier, Northfield, Waterbury
- Windham County: 3 homes in Bellows Falls, Brattleboro
- Windsor County: 7 homes in Ascutney, North Springfield, Windsor, Woodstock