Assisted living in Hawaii: how it is licensed.
Who licenses assisted living in Hawaii, and what to check before you choose.
What Hawaii calls it
In Hawaii, assisted living is licensed under the term “Assisted Living Facility (ALF); also Adult Residential Care Home (ARCH)”. Other states use different names, so it helps to know the exact term when you search.
Who licenses and inspects
Hawaii Department of Health, Office of Health Care Assurance is the agency that licenses these communities. It is the official place to check a community’s license and inspection history.
What assisted living costs in Hawaii
The median cost of assisted living in Hawaii is about $12,096 a month (about $145,152 a year) for a private one-bedroom in a community, based on the 2025 CareScout Cost of Care Survey. That is $5,896 a month above the national median of about $6,200, and ranks Hawaii 1 out of 50 states from highest to lowest cost.
Your own cost depends on the community, the room size and the level of care. Ask each community for its full price list in writing, including care level fees.
Paying for care
Medicare generally does not cover long term custodial care. Ask an advisor what may apply in Hawaii.
Checking a community
Hawaii's State Licensing Section keeps a registry of adult residential care homes, special treatment facilities and homes for the developmentally disabled, along with their vacancies, and publishes combined ARCH and Expanded ARCH vacancy reports by area. It does not describe inspection or survey reports on that page.
Help and complaints
Hawaii Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program (Executive Office on Aging) supports residents of long term care and their families.
Also worth knowing in Hawaii
Hawaii splits residential care by how much nursing help a resident needs: a plain Adult Residential Care Home, and an Expanded ARCH, which the state describes as licensed to admit people who need a nursing home level of care. Assisted Living Facilities are a separate licence category again.
Sources we checked (October 2026)
Licensing rules change. We checked the pages below. Confirm with the state agency.
Questions
Who regulates assisted living in Hawaii?
Hawaii Department of Health, Office of Health Care Assurance.