What Are the Hidden Gaps Between Retirement Communities?
The biggest surprises in a Maryland retirement community contract usually live in two places. One is what happens to your entrance fee if you leave, while the other is what your monthly fee actually covers once your care needs change.
Same Entrance Fee, Very Different Refund Terms
Two communities, often called CCRCs, short for continuing care retirement communities, can quote you nearly the same entrance fee, yet still mean two very different things by it. The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care, known as NIC, is the industry’s primary tracker of this data. It puts the average CCRC entrance fee at roughly $480,000 as of 2025, up from about $400,000 five years earlier. The range still runs anywhere from $100,000 to more than $1 million, depending on the community and unit type. What that fee buys you afterward depends entirely on the refund structure attached to it:
- Declining-balance refund — the amount you’d get back shrinks by a set percentage each year you live there.
- Full or partial estate refund — your estate receives money back no matter how long you stayed.
- No refund — once you move in, the entrance fee is gone.
Two communities can charge the identical $480,000 entrance fee. Your family can end up with a very different number if you need to leave, or if you pass away.
When “All-Inclusive” Monthly Fees Aren’t
Monthly fees tell a similar story, since U.S. News & World Report cites the same NIC data. Average monthly fees for independent living run between roughly $3,873 and $4,285. Most brochures list that number under an “all-inclusive” heading. That label holds up fine until you ask what happens if you move into assisted living or memory care. The answer tends to grow more complicated, since some communities fold that transition into the same monthly rate. Others charge a new, higher fee once your care level changes, on top of whatever you’re already paying. Comparing the sticker price alone tells you almost nothing about what you’d pay two or three years down the road.
Why Does Contract Type Change What You’ll Pay Later?
The reason these gaps exist comes down to one decision buried in the paperwork. It’s which type of continuing care agreement you’re signing. Maryland law defines continuing care through a three-part legal test, and the Maryland Department of Aging frames that test explicitly around financial risk, not just the services offered. Understanding which type you’re being offered tells you who’s absorbing that financial risk, you or the community.
Maryland’s Type A, B, and C Contracts
Maryland recognizes three broad continuing care contract types, and each one shifts financial exposure in a different direction.
| Contract Type | Entrance Fee | Who Carries Future Cost Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Type A (Life Care) | Highest | The community absorbs most of the risk. Your monthly rate stays close to the same even if you need a higher level of care. |
| Type B (Modified) | Moderate | Risk is shared. Some future care is included at a discount, not fully covered. |
| Type C (Fee-for-Service) | Lowest | You carry most of the risk. You pay full market rate for any higher level of care you need. |
How Contract Type Affects Future Care Costs
None of these contract types is automatically the appropriate choice for every family. A Type A contract can make sense if you want cost predictability and can afford the higher entrance fee. A Type C contract can make sense if you’re healthy now and want to keep more cash available. It works well if you’re comfortable budgeting for care costs later, if they arise. What matters most is knowing which type you’re actually comparing, since a lower entrance fee on a Type C contract isn’t automatically cheaper. Once you account for what you might pay in five or ten years, Type A often wins instead.
What Must Maryland Communities Disclose to You?
Maryland doesn’t leave you to guess at any of this, since state law obligates every continuing care community to give prospective residents a disclosure statement before they sign. That document is one of the most useful comparison tools available to you.
The Disclosure Statement You’re Entitled to See
Under Maryland’s Health-General Article, continuing care communities must provide an annual disclosure statement free of charge. They must give it to you before you sign or pay an entrance fee. It covers the community’s finances, its fee history, and the specific terms of your contract type. This requirement exists so families can compare communities on equal footing instead of relying on promotional brochure language. The same section of state law also spells out resident cancellation and discharge protections.
If a community can’t produce a disclosure statement, or hesitates to share one, treat that as a red flag.
What the Disclosure Statement Won’t Tell You
The disclosure statement covers the financial and contractual side of the decision well. What it won’t tell you is whether you’ll like living there, since social culture doesn’t show up in a disclosure statement, and neither does the dining room. Whether the other residents share your interests and pace of life is something you have to see for yourself. That side of the comparison matters as much as the numbers, since evaluating it takes a different kind of research.
How Do You Compare Communities Side by Side?
Once you understand entrance fees, contract types, and disclosure requirements, comparing communities becomes considerably less overwhelming, since it just takes a consistent framework applied to every community you tour.
A Simple Touring Framework for Multiple Communities
Bring the same short checklist to every tour, and write the answers down before moving on to the next community:
- Ask for the contract type in writing, not just verbally.
- Ask what the disclosure statement says about refund terms, and compare that language directly across communities.
- Spend time in common areas on a normal weekday, since a scheduled tour alone won’t give you an honest sense of daily life there.
- Note how staff interact with current residents when they don’t realize they’re being observed.
I’ve written separately about how to weigh the social side of that comparison. Financial fit and social fit are both real factors, and neither one should get skipped.
Questions to Ask Before You Narrow Your List
U.S. News & World Report published a list of more than 75 expert-sourced questions for a senior living tour. A few apply directly to the financial comparison covered here:
- What percentage of your entrance fee is refundable, and under what conditions?
- Has your monthly fee increased in each of the last five years, and by how much?
- What happens to my contract if the community is sold or changes ownership?
Questions like these get you real, comparable answers instead of marketing language, and they’re worth carrying to every single tour.
Choosing the Maryland Retirement Community That’s Right for You
Comparing Maryland retirement communities on entrance fees, contract types, and disclosure protections takes more effort than reading a brochure, but it’s effort that protects your family from a costly surprise later. You don’t have to sort through all of this alone, so if you’re weighing a few specific communities right now, reach out to me directly. We’ll go through the numbers and the contract language together.