Allentown Senior AdvisorWhat is the difference between a personal care home and an assisted living residence in Pennsylvania?
A personal care home (PCH), licensed under 55 Pa. Code Chapter 2600, provides shelter, meals, supervision and help with personal care; an assisted living residence (ALR), licensed under Chapter 2800 since 2011, must also give each resident a private living unit with a bathroom and kitchen capacity and may serve people with higher care needs who still do not need 24-hour nursing.
Both are licensed and inspected by the Department of Human Services (DHS), and both are funded mostly by residents themselves. The ALR rules were written to let people age in place: the residence can bring in supplemental health care services and keep a resident whose needs have grown, where a personal care home would usually have to give notice.
How many personal care homes and assisted living residences are in the Lehigh Valley?
In Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties, DHS's provider directory lists 68 licensed personal care homes and 2 assisted living residences, with 5,255 licensed resident places between them (retrieved November 6, 2026).
The assisted living residence licenses in the three counties are Abode Care of Allentown in Allentown (capacity 35) and Country Meadows of Forks in Easton (capacity 90, special care unit 45). Statewide the pattern is the same: DHS reported 1,068 personal care home licenses against 67 assisted living residence licenses in its 2023 data. Building or converting to ALR standards is expensive, and most operators have stayed with the personal care home license.
Can a personal care home call itself assisted living in Pennsylvania?
No: 55 Pa. Code 2800.11(d) forbids any person or organization from using the term 'assisted living' in a name or in written material unless it holds a Chapter 2800 license, so a personal care home may describe its services but should not market itself as assisted living.
In practice you will still see the phrase in directories and search ads for Lehigh Valley personal care homes. When a brochure says assisted living, ask to see the license on the wall: it will say Personal Care Home or Assisted Living Residence. A campus can hold both licenses for distinct parts of one building, but it may not move or separate residents because of how they pay (2800.11(g)).
What must an assisted living residence unit include?
A new ALR unit must have at least 225 square feet for one resident (300 if two share), excluding the bathroom and closets, with a private bathroom, a food-storage cabinet, a small sink, and outlets for a microwave and small refrigerator; residences that existed before January 18, 2011 may use 160 square feet (210 shared).
The residence must also offer the resident a cooking appliance or small refrigerator. A personal care home has no comparable private-unit requirement: shared rooms and shared baths are common, which is one reason PCH rates usually run lower.
What care can each license provide in Pennsylvania?
A personal care home must give each mobile resident at least one hour of personal care a day and each resident with mobility needs at least two, but it may not provide ongoing skilled nursing with its own staff; an ALR must have a licensed nurse in the building or on call and a dietitian on staff or under contract, and can arrange supplemental health care services so residents can stay longer.
Neither license is a nursing home. A resident who needs 24-hour nursing supervision, or whose needs exceed what the home's staff can safely meet, has to move to a nursing facility. Home health and hospice agencies can visit residents in either setting.
How do the costs and payment rules differ between the two?
Both are mostly private pay; Community HealthChoices waiver services do not pay personal care home or assisted living room and board, but a personal care home resident on SSI can receive Pennsylvania's personal care home supplement, which brings the 2026 total to about $1,433 a month.
Few Lehigh Valley homes accept residents whose only income is SSI, so ask directly. ALR contracts must separate the core package from supplemental services, which makes price comparisons easier but can make the final bill higher. See the SSI supplement explained.
At a glance
| A personal care home is | A personal care home is not | |
|---|---|---|
| License | DHS-licensed under 55 Pa. Code Chapter 2600 | Allowed to call itself assisted living |
| Care | At least 1 to 2 hours of personal care a day | A provider of ongoing skilled nursing |
| Rooms | Often shared, with shared baths | Required to have a private unit and kitchen area like an ALR |
Sources include 55 Pa. Code Chapters 20, 2600 and 2800, Pennsylvania DHS, Department of Health and Department of Aging pages, CMS, VA and CareScout rate tables as cited above; see our editorial standards.
