Long-Term Care Costs in Canada: 2026 Rates by Province

Long-term care costs in Canada are set by each province. The province pays for the care, and the resident pays for room and board. In 2026, that charge runs from nothing in Nunavut to $4,142.60 a month in British Columbia, where it’s 80% of after-tax income up to that maximum.

A basic room in Ontario costs $2,129.17 a month, and an individual room in a Quebec long-term care centre (CHSLD) costs at most $2,242.20. Most provinces charge less on a lower income and leave residents a small monthly allowance for personal spending.

How much does long-term care cost in Canada?

Most provinces charge between about $2,100 and $3,600 a month for a standard room in 2026. British Columbia’s maximum is the highest, at $4,142.60, and the territories charge the least. In the provinces that charge by income, the maximum applies only to residents with higher incomes, and everyone else pays less.

Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island publish daily rates, so their monthly figures here are the daily rate times 365, divided by 12. Alberta’s range runs from a shared room to a private one, and its suites cost more.

What does the monthly charge cover?

It pays for your room, meals, housekeeping, laundry and utilities, and the province pays for the nursing and personal care. Alberta’s accommodation charge page (opens in a new tab) lists rooms, meals, housekeeping, utilities and routine building maintenance, and says health care goods and services come at no cost to residents.

The resident pays for personal extras. In Quebec, the home supplies soap, shampoo, toothpaste and laundry, and the resident pays for the hairdresser, a personal phone, a TV rental, dry cleaning and meals ordered in, according to Quebec’s health insurance board, RAMQ (opens in a new tab). In the Northwest Territories, a home can also charge (opens in a new tab) for continence products, social activities, hairdressing and massage.

Ontario expects its $149 monthly comfort allowance to cover clothing, a phone, cable and the Ontario Drug Benefit’s prescription co-payment. The province exempts long-term care residents from its $45 ambulance fee.

Where is the charge a set price?

In Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, the charge depends on the type of room, not on your income. Everyone pays the posted rate unless they qualify for help. Ontario and Quebec lower the bill for residents who can’t afford it, and Alberta covers it through its low-income benefits. Yukon and the Northwest Territories charge one flat fee.

Ontario

Ontario sets the same maximum in every home, for-profit or not. Since July 1, 2026, a basic room costs $70.00 a day ($2,129.17 a month), a semi-private room $84.40 ($2,567.17) and a private room $100.01 ($3,041.97), according to the province’s page on paying for long-term care (opens in a new tab).

Only a basic room can get a rate reduction. The reduced rate is your yearly net income divided by 12, minus the comfort allowance and any deductions for dependants, and your house and savings don’t count. A single resident with no deductions would likely qualify with a net income under $27,338. You have to re-apply every year between July 1 and September 28, or the home can charge the full basic rate.

Quebec

In a public CHSLD, the most you pay in 2026 is $2,242.20 a month for an individual room, $1,872.90 for a room with two beds and $1,395.30 for three beds or more. RAMQ (opens in a new tab) charges that maximum unless you send its Application for Exemption or for Re-Evaluation. It then looks at your income from the previous month and at your assets, and leaves you $349 a month for personal expenses.

The same contribution applies in a private CHSLD that has an agreement with the government (a CHSLD privé conventionné) and in the province’s new maisons des aînés (opens in a new tab). A private CHSLD without one sets its own price, according to the government’s legal information site, Juridiqc (in French) (opens in a new tab).

Alberta

Alberta charges a flat daily rate by room type, whatever your income. Since August 1, 2026, a shared room costs $71.85 a day and a private room $83.05, about $2,185 and $2,526 a month, under the province’s accommodation charges (opens in a new tab). The same rates apply in what Alberta now calls type A homes (the former nursing homes and auxiliary hospitals) and type B homes (the former designated supportive living).

If you get the Alberta Seniors Benefit or Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH), the charge can be partly or fully covered, and you’re assured of at least $373 a month for personal expenses.

Yukon and the Northwest Territories

Yukon charges $1,217 a month, or $40 a day for a stay shorter than a month, according to yukon.ca (opens in a new tab). Someone who hasn’t lived in Yukon for 12 months in a row pays $509 a day until they have. The Northwest Territories has charged $1,021 a month (opens in a new tab) since May 1, 2026, and a resident who can’t afford it can apply for income assistance to help pay it.

The Government of Nunavut told the legislature in a 2020 written answer (opens in a new tab) that it doesn’t charge for accommodation in its long-term care facilities.

Which provinces set the charge from your income?

Seven do: British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the four Atlantic provinces. Each one works out the charge from the income on a recent tax return, up to a maximum. So a resident living on Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement pays far less than the maximum in the table above.

British Columbia

British Columbia charges 80% of your after-tax income, with a minimum of $1,507.70 and a maximum of $4,142.60 a month in 2026, according to the province’s Home and Community Care policy manual (opens in a new tab). If paying would cause serious financial hardship for you or a spouse, you can ask for a temporary rate reduction (opens in a new tab).

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan starts from a standard charge of $1,423 a month and adds 57.5% of any monthly income above $1,925, up to $3,547, according to the province’s special-care homes page (opens in a new tab). Every resident also pays a $26.75 monthly supply charge. A couple’s income is added together and split in half, unless they live apart for reasons beyond their control and file a form to have only the resident’s income counted.

Manitoba

Manitoba charges from $44.40 to $107.40 a day between August 1, 2026, and July 31, 2027, based on your net income minus tax on your 2025 notice of assessment, according to the province’s information manual (opens in a new tab). That’s about $1,351 to $3,267 a month. When one spouse stays in the community, the couple’s income is combined and $46,284 a year is set aside for the spouse at home.

The Atlantic provinces

All four work from income, and none of them counts assets.

• New Brunswick: up to $113 a day ($3,437.08 a month), a maximum that hasn’t changed since April 1, 2014, according to the Department of Social Development (opens in a new tab). A single resident pays their net income minus a comfort and clothing allowance of $150 a month (opens in a new tab). When one spouse stays home, the couple pays no more than 40% of their net income, under the nursing homes regulation (opens in a new tab).
• Nova Scotia: up to $114 a day in a nursing home since March 1, 2026, and $68 a day in a residential care facility. The charge is worked out from your assessed income after you keep $366 a month or 15% of your income, whichever is more. The rate schedule and the guide to paying for care are both on the province’s long-term care page (opens in a new tab).
• Prince Edward Island: $116.96 a day for a semi-private room in a public home, and privately run homes may charge a different rate, according to Health PEI (opens in a new tab). If your income is too low to pay the full rate, the subsidy covers the gap.
• Newfoundland and Labrador: up to $2,990 a month. A single resident pays 87% of their assessed income, according to the province’s income-based assessment manual (opens in a new tab), and the province stopped testing liquid assets (opens in a new tab) in November 2018.

How much does a resident keep each month?

Most provinces leave residents some spending money after the charge, from $130 a month in Prince Edward Island to $425.50 in Manitoba. It’s meant for things like clothing, a phone and toiletries. Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories don’t publish a set amount.

In Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, the allowance applies when you get a reduced rate or a low-income benefit. In British Columbia, the minimum rate is set to leave $325 a month to someone on the full Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement, and residents with an after-tax income above about $22,600 a year keep 20% of it.

When do the rates change?

Most provinces update their rates once a year, usually with inflation. Quebec and British Columbia change on January 1, the Northwest Territories on May 1, Ontario on July 1 and Manitoba on August 1. Alberta’s 2026 inflation increase also took effect on August 1. Every figure on this page was checked against the government’s own page on October 31, 2026.

Ontario’s increase follows the previous year’s inflation and is capped at 2.5%, according to the ministry’s update as posted by The Pines (opens in a new tab), a long-term care home in Muskoka. This year’s was 2.1%. Saskatchewan moves its standard charge with Old Age Security, which is adjusted every three months. Nova Scotia’s current rates started on March 1, 2026, and Health PEI gives at least 30 days’ notice before a change. New Brunswick’s maximum has been $113 a day since 2014, and Newfoundland and Labrador’s $2,990 comes from a 2021 schedule.

Can you claim long-term care fees on your taxes?

Often, yes. The CRA counts the regular fees for full-time care in a nursing home as a medical expense, food and accommodation included. To claim them, the resident needs a disability tax credit certificate (Form T2201), or a doctor’s written note that they depend on others for their personal needs because of a lack of normal mental capacity.

Revenu Québec accepts the same fees, on line 381 (opens in a new tab). On either return, claiming the full fees can rule out the disability amount for that person. On the federal return, the other choice is to claim the disability amount plus only the part of the fees that pays for attendant care, up to $10,000 a year, or $20,000 in the year the person dies. You’d need a breakdown from the home showing that part, according to the CRA’s guide to medical expenses (opens in a new tab).

The medical expense tax credit applies to the part of a year’s medical expenses above 3% of net income or $2,834, whichever is less. That’s the 2025 threshold, from the CRA’s page on eligible medical expenses (opens in a new tab). If the resident’s own tax bill is too small to use the credit, a family member who supported them and paid the fees may be able to claim them instead.

A savings cushion for what the fee leaves out

The monthly charge is predictable. The costs around it are harder to plan for: the hairdresser and the phone bill, new glasses or dental work, and the gas and parking for whoever visits most. Having some money in an emergency fund makes those easier to handle when they come up.

Lodavo is a free app that rewards you for saving. Connect the savings or chequing account you already use, and every $25 in it earns a ticket in a weekly draw for cash prizes up to $10,000. Your money stays in your own account, at your own bank.

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This article is general information, not tax advice. Which tax claim works out better depends on the resident’s income and on who pays the fees, so a tax preparer can help you compare them.

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