Assisted living in Wisconsin: how it is licensed.
Who licenses assisted living in Wisconsin, and what to check before you choose.
What Wisconsin calls it
In Wisconsin, assisted living is licensed under the term “Community-Based Residential Facility (CBRF) and Residential Care Apartment Complex (RCAC)”. Other states use different names, so it helps to know the exact term when you search.
Who licenses and inspects
Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Division of Quality Assurance, Bureau of Assisted Living is the agency that licenses these communities. It is the official place to check a community’s license and inspection history. The state also lists an official facility search tool.
Paying for care
Medicare generally does not cover long term custodial care.
Wisconsin's Family Care and IRIS Medicaid programs may help pay for services for members living in a licensed community-based residential facility (Family Care) or a licensed or certified adult family home or certified residential care apartment complex (both programs). Eligibility rules apply, and neither program covers room and board.
Checking a community
A page of facility directories by type that points to a Provider Search tool where survey results from the past three years can be viewed.
Help and complaints
Wisconsin Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (Board on Aging and Long Term Care) supports residents of long term care and their families.
Also worth knowing in Wisconsin
Wisconsin requires community-based residential facilities, which house five or more unrelated people and provide up to three hours of nursing care weekly, to be licensed, while residential care apartment complexes must be registered or certified.
Sources we checked (October 2026)
Licensing rules change. We checked the pages below. Confirm with the state agency.
Questions
Who regulates assisted living in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Division of Quality Assurance, Bureau of Assisted Living.