Memory Care in Port St. Lucie, FL: Costs and How to Choose

Port St. Lucie, FL, sits on Florida's Treasure Coast, and families here can find memory care close to home. Four communities in the city offer it, and two list their prices: $6,629 and $6,750 a month to start, as of Oct. 9, 2026. Memory care is assisted living for people living with Alzheimer's disease or another dementia. It's often in a secured setting, with staff who have extra dementia training. A Florida law passed in 2026 will add a separate memory care license.

Memory care in Port St. Lucie, FL. AI interpretation of Port St. Lucie, FL, with approximate buildings and layout
Last Updated: October 2026
9-minute read| Author: Seth Burney
Published: October 2026
9-minute read | Author: Seth Burney | Date Published: October 2026 | Last Updated: October 2026

Key Takeaways

Armchairs around a table, for memory care communities in Port St. Lucie, FL
Four communities in Port St. Lucie, FL, offer memory care. Two list prices, starting at $6,629 and $6,750 a month.
A first aid case, for Florida's dementia training rules, part of our guide to memory care in Port St. Lucie, FL
Florida requires dementia training for staff who give personal care, and more where a community advertises dementia care.
Hands holding a heart, for help paying for memory care in Florida, part of our guide for Port St. Lucie, FL
Medicare doesn't pay for memory care. Florida's Alzheimer's Disease Initiative helps pay for short breaks for family caregivers.
A hospital building, for the memory disorder clinic that serves St. Lucie County, part of our guide to memory care in Port St. Lucie, FL
St. Lucie County is in the service area of the Health First Memory Disorder Clinic in Melbourne, FL.

What Memory Care Costs in Port St. Lucie, FL

Chart of published starting prices: The Brennity at Tradition, memory care $6,629 and assisted living $4,061 a month; Watercrest St. Lucie West, memory care $6,750 all-inclusive and assisted living $4,500 a month, part of our guide for Port St. Lucie, FL

CareScout's 2025 Cost of Care Survey is a national study. It's based on about 16,000 completed surveys of care providers, and it has no memory care category. We didn't find an official Florida figure either. So the prices here come straight from the communities.

At the two communities that list both, memory care starts $2,250 to $2,568 a month higher than their own assisted living rate. That's before any difference in what each rate includes. For a wider view, CareScout put the area's assisted living median at $5,583 a month in 2025.

Words like "all-inclusive" and "starting at" can mean different things at different communities. A memory care rate may or may not cover care, help with medicines, incontinence supplies, meals and activities. The price may also change as your family member's needs grow.

Memory Care Communities in Port St. Lucie, FL

Profile card for Palms at St. Lucie West memory care: Alzheimer's Special Care Center, secured courtyard with walking areas, respite stays, part of our guide for Port St. Lucie, FL

Palms at St. Lucie West offers memory care in its Alzheimer's Special Care Center. Residents can walk outside in a secured courtyard. The building has an electronically monitored security system. The memory care program is called Meaningful Moments. Before a move, staff visit your family member at home for an assessment. Palms also offers short respite stays, from days to weeks, which give a family caregiver a break. It doesn't list a memory care price. Florida license record

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Memory Care in Port St. Lucie, FL

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Communities and Florida License Records

Help at Home Before Memory Care

A first aid case and stethoscope, for help at home before memory care, part of our guide for Port St. Lucie, FL

Many families bring in help at home before a move to memory care, or so the family caregiver can rest. Which kind of provider fits depends on the help that's needed.

  • Bathing, dressing and other hands-on care come from a home health agency, or from an aide a nurse registry refers. Each agency's license lists the services it may provide.
  • Meals, housekeeping, shopping and company can come from a homemaker or companion service that registers with Florida. These services can't give hands-on personal care.
  • A nurse registry is a go-between. It refers nurses, aides, companions and homemakers. They're independent contractors, not registry staff, and the registry doesn't supervise or train them.

CareScout's 2025 survey puts a non-medical caregiver at a median of $30 an hour in the Port St. Lucie, FL, area.

Medicare's limits on care at home. Its home health benefit is for people who are homebound and need part-time or intermittent skilled care. A doctor or other provider has to order the care, and a Medicare-certified agency gives it. It doesn't cover 24-hour care at home. It also doesn't cover help with bathing and dressing when that's the only care needed.

Our guide to assisted living in Port St. Lucie, FL lists the city's home care and home health providers, with each one's Florida license.

Memory Care, Assisted Living or a Nursing Home?

The three overlap. Here's what changes from one to the next.

In Port St. Lucie, FL, every community with memory care holds an assisted living license. That's why the same community often offers both. It's also why Florida's limit on 24-hour nursing supervision applies to memory care.

What Florida Requires of Memory Care

Florida memory care rules: one hour of dementia training, four more hours then four a year, awake staff at all hours, and a new memory care license, part of our guide for Port St. Lucie, FL

Training. Staff who give personal care or spend regular time with residents must take a one-hour state dementia course. They have 30 days from being hired to finish it. If a community advertises specialized dementia care, its personal care staff take four more hours within six months. Then they take four hours of continuing education every year.

A written description of the care. Some communities say they offer special care for people with Alzheimer's. Until the new memory care rules take effect, each one must put in writing what makes that care different. It has to give a copy to anyone who asks about its programs.

Staffing at night. If a community advertises special Alzheimer's care and has 17 or more residents, a staff member must be awake and on duty at all hours. The community must also offer activities designed for people with cognitive impairment. That means trouble with memory and thinking.

The new memory care license. Florida's 2026 law, Chapter 2026-102, adds a memory care services license. Assisted living communities that serve residents with Alzheimer's or a related dementia will need one. The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) must adopt the rules by June 1, 2027. Communities then have six months to get the license. As of Oct. 9, 2026, AHCA hadn't released draft rule text. So the new license isn't on community records yet.

State records. FloridaHealthFinder, the state's lookup site, shows each community's complaints, sanctions and deficiencies.

How to Choose Memory Care in Port St. Lucie, FL

There's no single moment when memory care becomes the right step. It usually comes up when keeping your family member safe at home gets harder each day, or when the family caregiver can't keep up. Your family member's doctor can help with the timing.

Questions that help on a memory care tour:

  • How many staff are on duty during the day, in the evening and overnight?
  • How does the team respond when a resident is upset, restless or tries to leave?
  • What does a typical day look like, and are activities planned for people at different stages?
  • How is the secured area set up, and can residents get outside safely?
  • How and how often will the family get updates?
  • Can we see the written description of the community's Alzheimer's care?
  • What happens if more nursing care is needed later?

A visit at mealtime or during an activity shows how staff and residents spend the day together.

Paying for Memory Care in Florida

Memory care in Florida falls under the assisted living license. Florida's consumer guide says assisted living is most often paid with private funds. Long-term care insurance that covers assisted living may also help, depending on the policy.

The public programs that help with assisted living can help with memory care, too. Florida's Medicaid long-term care program pays for care services for people who qualify, but not for room and board. VA Aid and Attendance adds money to a VA pension for veterans who need daily help. Our guide to assisted living in Port St. Lucie, FL covers each one, along with Optional State Supplementation. Medicare doesn't pay for memory care. It doesn't cover long-term custodial care, which is daily help with things like bathing and dressing.

Help for caregivers while you decide. Florida's Alzheimer's Disease Initiative pays for respite, caregiver counseling, support groups and training. It works through the state's Area Agencies on Aging. In St. Lucie County, that's the Area Agency on Aging of Palm Beach/Treasure Coast.

Dementia Support in Port St. Lucie, FL

  • Alzheimer's Association Southeast Florida Chapter. It serves the Treasure Coast and runs a 24/7 Helpline.
  • Alzheimer's Community Care. Its Family Navigators work with caregivers in St. Lucie County. It also runs Alzheimer's day centers, including two in Port St. Lucie, FL, at St. Andrew Lutheran Church and Grace Lutheran Church.
  • Memory disorder clinic. Florida's 2025 Memory Disorder Clinic map places St. Lucie County in the service area of the Health First Memory Disorder Clinic in Melbourne, FL.
  • Council on Aging of St. Lucie. Its adult day care and respite services can give a caregiver time off while a family weighs its options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Memory care is assisted living built for people living with Alzheimer's disease or another dementia. It often adds a secured setting, a set daily routine and staff with more dementia training. In Florida, assisted living staff who give personal care take a one-hour dementia course. Where a community advertises dementia care, those staff take four more hours within six months.

In Port St. Lucie, FL, the two communities that list memory care prices start at $6,629 and $6,750 a month. That's $2,250 to $2,568 more than their own assisted living rates, before any difference in what each rate includes. CareScout's 2025 national survey doesn't report memory care. We found no official Florida figure either.

No set stage decides it, in Florida or anywhere else. The move usually comes when daily safety or care gets too hard to manage at home. It can also come when a family caregiver can't keep up. A doctor can help a family judge the timing. In Port St. Lucie, FL, Family Navigators from Alzheimer's Community Care also work with caregivers.

Not yet. Today, memory care runs under an assisted living license. A 2026 Florida law will change that. Assisted living communities that serve residents with Alzheimer's or a related dementia will need a separate memory care services license. Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration must adopt the rules by June 1, 2027. Communities then have six months to get the license.

Until the new memory care rules take effect, a community that claims special Alzheimer's care must describe in writing what makes its care different. Florida requires it to hand that document to anyone who asks about its programs. The resident contract also has to include the refund policy and give at least 30 days' written notice of a rate increase.

The two terms overlap, and dementia care is the wider one. It covers any care for a person living with dementia. That includes help at home, adult day programs and nursing homes. Memory care usually means a place to live within assisted living that's designed around dementia. In Port St. Lucie, FL, dementia care also includes Alzheimer's day centers for people who still live at home.

Sources

Checked Oct. 9, 2026.

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