Information checked October 23, 2026. This guide is general information, not medical, legal or financial advice. It does not recommend or refer you to any facility.
Most searches for senior care in Chicago are made by an adult son or daughter, often after a fall, a hospital stay or a diagnosis. This guide is for that moment: what the options are, who pays, and how to check a facility using the state’s and Medicare’s own records.
Start with the level of care
The first question is what your parent needs day to day, not which building looks best. Ask their doctor, or the hospital discharge planner if they are in hospital, whether they need help with daily activities, round-the-clock nursing, or dementia care. That answer narrows the choice to one or two of Illinois’s licensed care types.
- Help with daily activities, no continuous nursing: assisted living, shared housing or, if your parent has a low income and Medicaid, supportive living.
- Round-the-clock skilled nursing or rehab after a hospital stay: a nursing home.
- Dementia care: a memory care unit inside one of those licensed types. Ask for the facility’s written dementia care disclosure, which Illinois law requires.
- Independent, but planning ahead: a life plan community (CCRC), or senior housing with no care attached.
Our guide Nursing Home, Assisted Living or Supportive Living? How Illinois Licenses Senior Care in Chicago explains all six types, who regulates each, and who usually pays.
Who pays
Medicare does not pay for long-term care. It covers limited short-term skilled nursing, typically after a hospital admission. Long nursing home stays are paid privately or by Medicaid, which covered about 70% of Illinois nursing home days in 2023. Assisted living is mostly private pay. For low-income parents on Medicaid, Illinois’s Supportive Living Program pays for assisted-living-style services while the resident pays rent.
Questions about Medicaid eligibility, a parent’s home or other assets, or power of attorney belong with an elder law attorney. Decisions made in a hurry can affect eligibility later.
Check any facility yourself
- Nursing homes: Medicare Care Compare for star ratings, inspections, staffing and ownership.
- Assisted living and shared housing: the IDPH licensed establishments directory.
- Supportive living: the HFS Cook County list.
- Life plan communities: the IDPH Life Care Facilities Program confirms whether a community holds a permit.
Where to get help
- Chicago Senior Services: the city’s Area Agency on Aging, run by the Department of Family and Support Services. Hotline 312-744-4016, weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Illinois Long-Term Care Ombudsman: advocates for residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, including with complaints.
In this guide
- The six types of senior care and who licenses them
- Supportive living: Illinois’s Medicaid alternative to a nursing home
About this guide
- This is general information, not medical, legal or financial advice. Talk to your parent’s doctor, an elder law attorney or a financial adviser about your own situation.
- ChicagoRealEstate.ai is independent. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by HFS, IDPH, CMS, the City of Chicago or any facility named here.
- Naming a facility is not a recommendation. The site does not recommend, rank or refer families to any facility or broker.
- Rules, rates and facility details change. Facts were checked on the date at the top of the page; confirm anything you rely on with the agency or the facility.
- The site is run by Joe Bjorklund, a licensed Illinois real estate broker with Baird & Warner.
- Found an error? Tell us and we will check it against the source.
If you are worried about someone’s safety
If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. To report abuse, neglect or financial exploitation of an adult 60 or older, or of an adult 18 to 59 with a disability living in the community, call the Illinois Adult Protective Services hotline at 1-866-800-1409, 24 hours a day (Illinois Relay: 711). To complain about a nursing home or assisted living facility, call the IDPH Central Complaint Registry at 800-252-4343, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.