Essex County, Massachusetts

Data Insights

Essex County, Massachusetts contains 45 nursing homes certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, operating a combined 5,285 licensed beds. Across the 45 facilities with a published CMS overall star rating, the county average works out to 3.0 out of 5 stars. 17 facilities score 4 stars or higher on the CMS 5-star scale, while 17 carry a below-average rating of 1 or 2 stars.

State-level care-cost medians published in the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey give a useful cost frame for Massachusetts: a semi-private nursing home room runs about $14,448 per month, while a private room averages $15,817 per month. Assisted living costs $9,600 per month, home health aide services $7,627, and adult day health care N/A. Local providers within Essex County may price above or below these state medians depending on urban versus rural setting, facility amenities, and memory-care or specialty units.

CMS rates nursing facilities on overall quality plus three sub-components: health inspection findings from the last three cycles, nurse staffing hours adjusted for resident acuity, and fifteen clinical quality measures drawn from resident assessments. When comparing facilities within Essex County, families typically weigh the star breakdown alongside bed size, ownership type (for-profit, non-profit, government), distance from family caregivers, and the specific conditions a prospective resident needs managed — such as dementia care, rehabilitation, or ventilator support. The per-facility pages below link through to inspection and staffing detail.

The figures above come directly from the U.S. Centers for Medicare \& Medicaid Services Nursing Home Compare dataset for federal quality ratings, combined with the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey of more than 15,000 elder-care providers nationwide and U.S. Census American Community Survey income data. Cost figures are monthly medians, refreshed annually with each new CareScout release; quality ratings are refreshed quarterly from the CMS Provider Information File. Read these state and county medians as benchmarks, then verify current rates with individual providers and consult care managers before making placement decisions. See our methodology for source vintage. Median figures above represent the middle of the cost distribution: half of providers charge less, half charge more, and price spreads within a metro area can exceed thirty percent. Where Genworth and CareScout publish overlapping numbers, the more recent CareScout survey takes precedence; both organizations use the same survey methodology developed by the federal Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living, so cross-year comparisons are valid back to 2004 when the survey was first standardized.