Paying for Care
Medicaid Home Equity Limits: How Your House Counts Toward Eligibility
Your home is not counted for long-term care Medicaid in many cases, but your equity in it has a limit: $752,000 to $1,130,000 for 2026, set by your state. See how the rule works.
Key takeaways
- For 2026, home equity limits run from $752,000 to $1,130,000 (Ledger D8). Each state picks its own limit inside that range.
- Equity means the value of your share of the home, minus what you still owe on it.
- The limit does not apply when your spouse, a child under age 21, or a child who is blind or has a disability lives in the home.
- The general individual resource standard is $2,000 (Ledger D3). A home that is left out of the count does not break that standard.
- If your equity is over your state limit and no exception fits, you do not qualify for long-term care Medicaid until the equity is brought down.
Many people who need long-term care own a home. The first fear is that the home must be sold before Medicaid will help. In many cases that fear is wrong. The home is left out of the resource count in set cases, but the equity in the home has a federal limit.
This guide explains equity, the 2026 limit range, and the cases where the limit does not apply at all. It covers long-term care Medicaid: nursing home care and home and community services. Other Medicaid programs use other tests.
Watch the video
What equity means
Equity is not the full price of the house. Equity is the part you own. Take the fair market value of the home. Subtract what you still owe on a mortgage or other loan tied to the home. The rest is equity.
A paid-off home has equity close to its full value. A home with a large loan still owed has much less equity. The state looks at your share only. If you own half of a home with a sibling, only your half share goes into the test.
The 2026 limit range
For 2026, the home equity limit is at least $752,000 and at most $1,130,000 (Ledger D8). Each state picks a limit inside that range. States with high home prices tend to pick near the top. States with lower home prices tend to pick near the bottom.
Ask your state Medicaid office for its exact limit before you apply. The answer is one number, and it decides how your home is treated. A home with equity at or below the state limit can be left out of the resource count when the other rules fit. A home with equity above the limit blocks long-term care coverage until the equity falls.
The limit sits next to the normal resource test. The individual resource standard is $2,000 (Ledger D3). Savings and other countable assets must fit under that standard. The home is tested by the equity rule, not by the $2,000 standard, when the home is left out of the count.
When the limit does not apply
The equity limit does not apply in three home cases. It does not apply when your spouse lives in the home. It does not apply when your child who is under age 21 lives in the home. And it does not apply when your child of any age who is blind or has a disability lives in the home.
In those cases the home stays out of the count no matter how much equity it holds. This is why many married couples keep the home with no change at all. Our guide on Medicaid and the spouse at home covers the rest of the spouse rules.
A person who moves to a nursing home can also state that they plan to return home. That statement can keep the home out of the count for a time, but the equity limit still applies in that case. Only the three family cases above lift the limit in full.
What happens if equity is too high
If your equity is over the state limit and no exception fits, the state will deny long-term care coverage. The denial is about the equity, not about owning a home as such. People bring equity down in real ways: a loan against the home lowers equity, and needed repairs paid from a loan do the same. Each path has tax and debt effects that last for years.
Do not give the home away to fix the count. Medicaid reviews asset transfers in the years before an application, and a gift of a home can cause a period with no coverage. Our guide on Medicaid spend down covers transfers and records. Families who face this choice often get legal advice from an elder law attorney in their own state before they act.
If you plan to tour nursing homes, our guide on questions to ask about Medicaid nursing home participation helps you check that a home takes Medicaid at all.
Who pays for what
- Medicare pays for short rehab stays after a hospital stay under its own rules. Medicare does not pay for long-term care, and it does not test home equity.
- Medicaid pays for long-term care once the applicant meets the income, resource, and home equity tests in this guide.
- Private pay: you pay for care in full while equity or other assets are over the limits, and for any care Medicaid does not cover.
- Your state Medicaid office sets the exact equity limit inside the federal range and decides each application.
Sample situation
Frank is 82, widowed, and needs nursing home care. He owns his home with no loan owed. The home would sell for an amount that puts his equity above $752,000, the low end of the 2026 federal range (Ledger D8). No spouse, young child, or blind or disabled child lives in the home, so the exception does not lift the limit for him. Frank asks his state for its exact limit. His state picked a limit inside the $752,000 to $1,130,000 range (Ledger D8), and his equity is still above it. His other savings must also meet the $2,000 resource standard (Ledger D3). Frank learns that he does not qualify yet, and that giving the home to his son now would be reviewed as a transfer. He gets legal advice first, sells nothing in a rush, and plans his next step with the state limit in hand.
Steps to check your own home
- Work out your equity: a fair value for the home minus what you still owe on it.
- Ask your state Medicaid office for its exact 2026 equity limit.
- Check whether a spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child lives in the home.
- Do not transfer the home before you learn how the transfer rules treat gifts.