What a standard care home room costs

The weekly price of a standard room in a rest home or hospital is capped for every district. From 1 July 2026 the cap runs from $1,513.33 to $1,634.43 a week, GST included.

What the cap is

The Ministry of Health calls it the maximum contribution: the most a resident can be asked to pay each week for a standard room and the contracted care that comes with it. It is what a standard room costs whether you pay yourself or the Residential Care Subsidy pays, and it is the same for rest home, hospital and dementia care.

In the Ministry's words, the cap "is the same for all residents regardless of the type of contracted care services they receive" (Ministry of Health notice). Health New Zealand says the fees "are capped and apply at all levels of residential care, and for subsidised and privately paying residents" (Health New Zealand).

What sits on top

Premium rooms and care suites cost more than the cap, and so do extras such as hairdressing. Most homes do not publish what they charge for a premium room, so ask for every extra charge in writing before you sign. Health New Zealand says premium room fees of around $10 to $85 a day are common, and that there is no public funding for them (Health New Zealand).

A home cannot make a premium room or any other extra a condition of moving in. The national care agreement says the resident has "a choice whether or not to receive any individual Additional Service" (Age Related Residential Care Services Agreement, clause A13.2).

Which cap applies

Most homes charge the rate for their district or city. A few rural areas have their own, higher cap: the Ministry says the rate for the district "applies unless the facility is in a statistical area region set out in Part 2, in which case the rate specified in Part 2 applies." Those are the rows marked "Rural area" below.

The table still names the council areas from before Auckland's councils merged in 2010 and Banks Peninsula joined Christchurch in 2006, so Auckland has seven district rates, not one. Health New Zealand tells each home the rate that applies to it, so ask the home to confirm. We matched 693 of 697 care homes to a row by their town or suburb, and show the cap on each one's page.

The lowest district cap is $1,513.33 a week (South Waikato District, Grey District, Waimate District, Waitaki District, Clutha District and Gore District). The highest is $1,634.43 (Auckland City).

The cap in every district, from 1 July 2026

Press a column heading to sort. "Care homes here" counts the homes on this site we matched to that row.

Source: Ministry of Health, maximum contribution applying in each region from 1 July 2026, read 15 October 2026. Weekly amounts, GST included. The cap is set again every 1 July.

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