Where Utah County's 523 Memory Care Beds Are, and How to Compare Them

How does Utah count memory care?

Utah does not issue memory care licenses. A building that locks its doors for residents with Alzheimer's or another dementia must hold a Type II assisted living license with an approved secure unit, and DLBC's monthly regulated facility report shows how many of each license's beds are secure. That bed count is the only official way to know which buildings can actually keep a wandering resident safe inside.

Words like memory care neighborhood or reminiscence program have no legal meaning on their own. If the report shows no secure beds, the building cannot lock residents in.

Which Utah County buildings have the most secure beds?

Source: Utah DLBC November 2026 regulated health facility report. Eleven more licenses hold 13 to 21 secure beds each; the full list is on our memory care directory page.

Fully secure houses or a wing on a larger campus?

Seven Utah County licenses are secure from end to end: Lake Ridge Senior Living - North in Orem, Abbington Manor Memory Care in Lehi, and residential Beehive Homes houses in Provo, Payson, Salem, Santaquin and Spanish Fork. These are usually 16 to 35 beds, with the same small group of caregivers day after day. Some families find that a quieter, smaller setting reduces agitation.

Campus wings sit inside larger buildings that also offer regular assisted living. The advantage is continuity: a spouse can live on the other side, and a resident who starts in regular assisted living can move into the secure unit without changing communities. Ask how the two sides share staff, meals and activities.

What Utah's rule guarantees, and what it doesn't

Utah's secure-unit rule requires a secure-unit admission agreement with a negotiated wander-risk agreement and discharge criteria, at least one direct-care staff member inside the unit at all times, an emergency evacuation plan for the unit, and at least 4 of each direct-care worker's 16 one-on-one training hours inside the unit. Residents must still be able to exit with one person's limited help.

The rule does not set a staffing ratio beyond that one-person minimum, and it does not publish prices. Those are the two things you must ask about directly.

How memory care is paid for

No public program pays memory care rent in Utah. Families typically pay privately at first, sometimes with long-term care insurance or VA Aid and Attendance. Utah's New Choices Waiver can pay for services in a licensed assisted living facility for people who qualify, including in secure units that accept waiver residents, but the resident still pays room and board from their own income.

There is no published memory care price median for Utah, because CareScout does not survey it separately. Utah's regular assisted living median is about $5,233 a month, and secure units generally charge more. Ask each building for its full secure-unit rate sheet, including how care levels are assessed and what happens to the price when needs increase.

When memory care is no longer enough

Because Utah requires secure-unit residents to be able to exit with one person's help, some people with advanced dementia eventually need a nursing care facility. Several Utah County nursing homes report secure beds of their own on the state's monthly report, which allows dementia care alongside skilled nursing. Hospice can also allow a resident to remain in a secure unit near the end of life when the building's plan supports it.

Ask about these transitions before move-in, not after. A memory care director who can describe exactly when and how residents have moved on in the past year is giving you real information.

Questions that separate one unit from another

How many caregivers are in the unit on the day, evening and overnight shifts, and do they float to other parts of the building? What dementia training have they had beyond the state minimum? What specifically would trigger a discharge under the agreement? How are hospice and late-stage care handled? What is the all-in monthly price, and how are care levels set?

Visit in late afternoon, when sundowning tests staff most, and check the license's DLBC inspection findings before you sign.