What does Tucson Senior Advisor do?
Tucson Senior Advisor is a free referral and advisory service for families choosing senior care in Tucson and the rest of Pima County: we publish the state's own licensing and inspection records for all 310 licensed assisted living centers and homes, CMS ratings for 24 nursing homes, and a local advisor helps you narrow the list.
Communities pay us a referral fee when a family we helped moves in, which is how the service stays free to you. We say that here rather than in the fine print because it is the first thing you should know about any placement service.
How does Arizona license assisted living?
The Arizona Department of Health Services licenses two sizes of assisted living facility: assisted living centers for 11 or more residents and assisted living homes for 10 or fewer, each approved for one or more of three service levels: supervisory care, personal care and directed care.
Around Tucson the split is lopsided: 257 small homes against 53 centers, though the centers hold more beds. How centers and homes differ →
Where is memory care around Tucson?
Arizona has no separate memory-care license; dementia care is licensed as directed care. In Pima County 39 assisted living centers and 257 small homes hold a directed care license.
Every directed care license in Pima County →
What does senior care cost in Arizona?
CareScout's 2025 survey puts Arizona's median at $6,185 a month for an assisted living community, about $38 an hour for a non-medical home caregiver and $8,365 a month for a semi-private nursing home room. No Tucson-specific figure is published, and no source publishes a memory-care median.
Does ALTCS pay for assisted living in Tucson?
ALTCS, Arizona's Medicaid long-term care program, pays for care services in an assisted living facility for members who need a nursing home level of care and meet its financial limits, but it does not pay room and board, which the member or family still owes.
What ALTCS covers in assisted living →
Areas with their own page
- Tucson (by ZIP)
- Casas Adobes
- Catalina Foothills
- Oro Valley
- Marana
- Green Valley
- Sahuarita
- Vail
- South Tucson
- Catalina and SaddleBrooke
What a senior advisor does and does not do
| We do | We do not | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to your family | nothing, ever | charge families or take deposits |
| Facility information | show ADHS and CMS records as published | invent ratings or hide inspection history |
| Recommendations | match licensed facilities to care needs and budget | steer you only to facilities that pay us |
| Decisions | help you compare and tour | sign contracts or make medical decisions for you |
