Last verified: October 2026
What is memory care in Pennsylvania?
Memory care in Pennsylvania is a secured dementia unit inside a DHS-licensed home: a Secure Dementia Care Unit in a personal care home or a Special Care Unit in an assisted living residence, with admission screening, extra staff training and secured exits.
71 homes in our seven counties hold one, with 2,380 secured beds. Allegheny County alone has 47 of them; Armstrong County has none.
When does someone with dementia need a secured unit?
A secured unit is for someone with a documented dementia diagnosis whose safety depends on secured exits and specialized supervision, typically because of wandering, exit-seeking or unsafe judgment; the admission screening in 2600.231 documents that need.
Many people with early dementia live safely in the general part of a personal care home. A move to the secured unit is a care decision the family, physician and home make together.
What does memory care cost around Pittsburgh?
No primary source publishes a memory-care cost median for Pennsylvania or Pittsburgh, because CareScout does not survey memory care as its own category; expect secured-unit rates to run above the same home's personal care rates and compare written quotes.
The Pennsylvania assisted living median from CareScout's 2025 survey is $6,352 a month, which is a floor for comparison, not a memory-care price.
What should you ask a memory care unit on a tour?
Ask how many staff work the unit on each shift and whether they are assigned only to it, what dementia training they have beyond the required 6 annual hours, how residents spend the afternoon and evening, and what behavior would lead to a discharge.
Then read the home's recent DHS inspection summaries. The memory care directory lists every licensed unit with its capacity and latest inspection date.
Which Pittsburgh-area homes have the largest secured dementia units?
By secured beds on the DHS certificate, the largest units in the seven counties are at Concordia of Bridgeville-Memory Care in Bridgeville (100 beds); Mountain View Memory Care in Greensburg (80 beds); Artis Senior Living of South Hills in Bethel Park (72 beds); the median unit holds 30 residents.
Smaller units can mean a calmer setting and staff who know every resident; larger ones may offer more programming. Visit both kinds.
Memory care: what it is and is not
| It is | It is not | |
|---|---|---|
| License | a unit on a PCH or ALR certificate | a separate memory-care license |
| Doors | secured | an open general floor |
| Price data | set by each home | a published median |
| Medical care | personal care with dementia training | a nursing home |
