Aged care cost calculator
Aged care in Australia is means-tested and the fees can be confusing. Move the sliders to estimate what a care home — or Support at Home — might cost you, using the 2026 Aged Care Act fee structure.
Your situation
Your assessable assets (everything except your home) at the time you ENTER care — that's when aged care means-tests you. If care is years away, use what you expect to have left then, not today's balance.
A kept former home is counted in the means test only up to $214,884 (and is exempt for the first 2 years if a partner still lives there).
RAD — Refundable Accommodation Deposit (lump sum). A one-off deposit for your room, like an interest-free loan to the provider. It's refunded when you leave (less any agreed deductions) and is exempt from the pension assets test — but it ties up a large amount of capital.
DAP — Daily Accommodation Payment. Pay for the room as an ongoing daily charge instead — the unpaid room price × the 8.43% government rate (the MPIR). You keep your capital (so it stays assessable for the pension), but the DAP is a non-refundable cost for as long as you're in care.
A mix pays part as a RAD and charges the rest as a (smaller) DAP — a common middle ground.
The advertised room price — the daily payment (DAP) is this × the 8.43% MPIR. National average about $570,000.
The typical stay is around 2.6 years.
Advanced: assessable income
Usually the assets test binds; leave at 0 if unsure.
- Savings, super & investments
- $500,000
- + Former home (capped at $214,884)
- $214,884
- = Assessable assets
- $714,884
- Assessable income
- $0/yr
7.8% × (assets − $238,000) = $37,197/yr, ÷ 364 = $102.19/day, capped at $22.15/day.
7.8% × (assets − $501,981), ÷ 364. Stops at $137,917 lifetime or 4 years.
Your means-tested amount is $312.68/day vs the $72.30/day supplement. At or above the supplement, so you pay the market room price (as a RAD, DAP, or a mix).
What are 7.8%, $238,000 and $501,981?
- 7.8% — the asset taper.
- Each year you contribute 7.8% of your assessable assets above a threshold (income above its own threshold is added at 50%).
- $238,000 — the hotelling threshold.
- Below this you pay nothing towards the hotelling contribution (the everyday-services charge).
- $501,981 — the care threshold.
- The higher bar for the care contribution (NCCC) — you only start contributing towards your personal care once your assets pass it.
Government figures (1 Jul 2026 vintage), indexed periodically. The daily amount is the annual contribution ÷ 364.
Paying the room as a refundable lump sum (RAD) avoids the daily payment (DAP), so it effectively earns you the MPIR — tax-free and risk-free. Compare that with keeping the $570,000 invested and paying the DAP from the returns.
MPIR 8.4% − retention 2.0% — tax-free & risk-free. To beat it by investing you'd need a pre-tax return above 6.4%.
Many retirees pay little or no tax — super pension-phase earnings are tax-free and low incomes are covered by SAPTO. Leave at 0% if unsure.
At a 6% return, tax-free, your money earns 6.0% after tax vs the RAD's 6.4%. Paying the RAD leaves you about $2,451/yr better off on the $570,000 room.
A simplified comparison of the accommodation choice only. It ignores investment risk (the RAD is government-guaranteed) and any pension effect beyond the assets-test taper. General information, not advice.
General information only, a 2026-vintage estimate in today's dollars — not personal financial advice. Clinical care is fully government-funded and not charged here. Your actual fees depend on the full statutory means test, your provider's room price, and current rates.
How aged care is charged
Residential care has four charges: a flat basic daily fee everyone pays, a means-tested hotelling fee for meals and cleaning, a means-tested care contribution (NCCC) that is capped, and the cost of your room — paid as a refundable lump sum (a RAD), as a daily payment (a DAP), or a mix. Clinical care is fully government-funded.
How much of the means-tested fees you pay depends on your assessable assets and income — the same test behind the Age Pension, with your former home counted only up to a cap. A refundable deposit is exempt from that test, which is part of why the RAD-vs-DAP choice matters.
See it in your whole retirement plan
The free planner models a care phase inside your full projection — how the fees, the RAD and your Age Pension play out over the years, and what it leaves to your estate.
Open the planner