Where the Salt Lake Valley's 1,194 Secure Memory Care Beds Are

How Utah counts memory care

Utah has no separate memory care license. A locked dementia unit is an approved secure unit inside a Type II assisted living license, and DLBC's monthly report of regulated health facilities shows how many of each license's beds are secure. That number, not a marketing description, is the reliable measure of memory care capacity.

Some licenses are entirely secure, meaning the whole building or license is a locked memory care setting. Others have a secure wing inside a larger Type II building. Of the 40 local licenses with secure beds, 13 are entirely secure.

Secure beds by city

The south valley, from Sandy and Draper west to South Jordan, Riverton and Herriman, holds more than half of the area's secure beds. Salt Lake City is the other concentration.

What the map means for families

If a parent lives on the west side, in West Valley City, Magna or Kearns, the nearest secure units may be in Taylorsville, Kearns or West Jordan, or across the valley. Distance matters more for memory care than for almost any other setting, because frequent family visits help residents with dementia and help families spot problems early.

Start with the person who will visit most and work outward from their home. Our memory care directory sorts every secure-bed license by bed count and lets you filter by city.

What the secure-unit rules require

Only residents who can exit with one person's limited help may live in a Utah secure unit. Each resident needs a secure-unit admission agreement documenting the placement, a negotiated wander risk management agreement, and the discharge criteria that would trigger a move to a higher level of care. At least one direct-care staff member must be inside the unit at all times, and the unit needs its own emergency evacuation plan.

Those rules set floors. Ask each building for its actual overnight staffing inside the unit, how residents spend afternoons, and how families are notified of falls or attempts to leave.

What memory care costs

No public figure exists. CareScout's 2025 survey, the standard source for state medians, does not survey memory care as a category in Utah or anywhere else. Its Utah assisted living median, $62,790 a year for a private one-bedroom, is a floor rather than a guide, because secure-unit rates are usually higher.

Ask for written pricing that separates base rent from care levels, and ask how often care levels are reassessed. Utah requires a new assessment at least every six months and after any significant change.

Entirely secure buildings vs. secure wings

Thirteen of the 40 local licenses with secure beds are entirely secure: every licensed bed is in a locked setting. These are memory care licenses in their own right, sometimes across the street or on the same campus as an assisted living building that holds a separate license, as with the two Alta Ridge licenses in Sandy. The other 27 licenses have a secure wing or neighborhood inside a larger Type II building.

Each model has trade-offs. An entirely secure license serves only residents who need a locked setting, while a wing inside a larger building can make it easier for a couple to live near each other when only one spouse needs memory care. Ask about both if a spouse is involved.

Questions about late-stage care

Utah secure units can serve residents only while they can exit with one person's limited help and do not need 24-hour continual nursing expected to last more than 15 days. Ask each building how it handles late-stage dementia, whether residents can stay on hospice, and what the written discharge criteria say. Those answers determine whether a move into memory care is likely to be the last move.

Reading the inspection record

Every license with secure beds also has a DLBC inspection record. A secure-unit-specific finding, such as a missing secure admission agreement, shows up under the rule DLBC labels for secure units. Our profiles list each finding with its level and correction status, so you can ask informed questions on a tour.

Can a Type I facility have memory care in Utah?

Not a locked unit. Only Type II licenses with approved secure beds may admit residents with dementia to a secure unit.

How many memory care beds are in Salt Lake County?

DLBC's October 2026 report shows 1,167 secure beds at 38 licenses in Salt Lake County, plus 27 at two Tooele licenses, 1,194 in all.

Is there a staffing ratio for Utah memory care?

No numeric ratio. Utah requires at least one direct-care staff member inside the secure unit continuously.

Does Medicaid pay for memory care in Utah?

The New Choices Waiver can pay for services in a secure unit for eligible residents; it does not pay room and board.

Which city has the most secure memory care beds?

South Jordan, with 286 secure beds across eight licenses in DLBC's October 2026 report, followed by Salt Lake City with 211.