Assisted living around Winston-Salem: what North Carolina's adult care homes provide

What is assisted living in North Carolina?

Assisted living in North Carolina is care in a licensed adult care home (seven or more residents) or family care home (two to six), which provides a room, meals, supervision around the clock and help with bathing, dressing, toileting and medications.

The state's October 2026 rosters list 47 adult care homes (2,977 beds) and 13 family care homes (63 beds) across Forsyth, Davidson, Davie, Stokes and Yadkin counties; Forsyth County accounts for 30 of the adult care homes and 9 of the family care homes.

Who is assisted living right for?

Adults who need daily help and someone available day and night, but not daily skilled nursing: a parent who has fallen, struggles with medications or meals, or is lonely and unsafe alone, but whose medical needs are stable.

A resident whose needs grow beyond what the home can safely meet, such as round-the-clock skilled nursing, would generally move to a nursing home. Residents with dementia who begin to wander need a special care unit.

What does assisted living cost around Winston-Salem?

CareScout's 2025 North Carolina median is $74,400 a year, about $6,200 a month; no Winston-Salem figure is published, and real quotes vary with room size, building age and care needs.

Most residents pay privately, sometimes with long-term care insurance or VA pension with Aid and Attendance. For low-income residents, State/County Special Assistance pays up to $1,397 a month in 2026 in homes that accept it.

How are assisted living homes rated in North Carolina?

DHSR rates every adult care home and family care home from zero to four stars based on survey results, and posts the survey documents and any fines from the past 36 months alongside the rating.

Of the 55 homes the state has rated in the five counties, 25 have four stars, 24 three, 4 two, 2 one and 0 zero.

What should we look for when visiting an assisted living home?

Look at how staff treat residents, whether residents are engaged or idle, how clean and calm the building is, and ask about night staffing, medication handling, care-level charges and what happens if needs increase.

Read the home's recent survey documents first, so you can ask about specific findings. Each licensed home has its own page in our directory.

How many assisted living homes are in the Winston-Salem area?

The state's October 2026 rosters list the adult care homes and family care homes counted in the table below, from large buildings in Winston-Salem and Clemmons to small family homes in Lexington and Kernersville.

Most of them are in Forsyth County; Stokes, Davie and Yadkin counties each have only a handful.

How is assisted living spread across the five counties?

This is how the state's files distribute assisted living across Forsyth, Davidson, Davie, Stokes and Yadkin counties.