Nursing home cost in the Netherlands explained

If your mother or father needs a place in a Dutch nursing home, the bill is not a fixed price per room. The Wlz (Wet langdurige zorg, the Long-term Care Act) pays for most of the care and the stay. Your parent pays a personal contribution based on income and savings, and in 2026 that contribution is never more than €3,061.80 a month. This page explains the nursing home cost in the Netherlands the way the CAK calculates it, with a worked example and the traps that catch families out.

Who pays for what in a Dutch nursing home

The Wlz is a national insurance scheme. Everyone who lives in the Netherlands has a right to Wlz care if they meet the conditions. To get it, your parent needs an assessment (indicatie) from the CIZ, the body that decides who qualifies. The CIZ checks whether someone permanently needs care close by 24 hours a day, or constant supervision.

With that assessment, the government pays most of the cost of living in a Wlz nursing home. What your parent pays is the eigen bijdrage, the personal contribution. It is calculated and invoiced by the CAK, the agency that calculates the personal contribution. It can be withheld from the AOW state pension or another benefit.

A few things fall outside that contribution:

Extras in the home. If the home provides a cable connection, the subscription and the television are for your parent to pay. Medical aids such as a wheelchair or shower chair usually cost nothing extra.
Private nursing homes. In a private (particulier) home your parent pays the housing costs themselves. The care can still be funded with an assessment, usually through a personal budget (pgb).
A short stay after hospital. Temporary admission with a medical need (eerstelijns verblijf) lasts up to 3 months and is covered by the health insurer, not the Wlz.

The low and the high personal contribution

The CAK uses two rates. In a nursing home your parent pays the low contribution for the first 4 months, and after that usually the high contribution.

Contribution in 2026	Minimum per month	Maximum per month	When it applies
Low (lage eigen bijdrage)	€212.60	€1,115.80	First 4 months in a home, or a full care package at home
High (hoge eigen bijdrage)	€0.00	€3,061.80	Usually from month 5 in a home
Modular package at home or pgb	€30.40	€933.60	Wlz care at home in parts, or a personal budget

Your parent keeps paying the low contribution after 4 months if their partner still lives at home, or if they regularly pay for raising a child. One exception matters for some families: someone who receives the AOW for unmarried people counts as having no partner, and pays the high contribution.

For a single parent admitted on 1 January, the 2026 maximum for the first year is 4 × €1,115.80 plus 8 × €3,061.80, which is €28,957.60. Most people pay less, because the amount depends on income and savings.

How the CAK works out the amount

For the 2026 contribution, the CAK uses income and assets from 2024. It takes the verzamelinkomen, the total income from the three Dutch tax boxes on the tax assessment. Savings, investments and a second home count as assets. The home your parent lives in does not, because it falls in box 1.

Assets up to a threshold are ignored: €36,952 for a single person and €73,904 for a couple. Of everything above that, 4% is added to income. The CAK looks at the assets on 1 January of that year.

Low contribution

Take the income plus the 4% addition, deduct the compensation for the former elderly allowance if it applies (up to €1,133 per person in 2026), take 10% and divide by 12. The result is then kept between the minimum and maximum above.

High contribution

This one starts from income after tax. The CAK then deducts a fixed amount for health insurance, a personal allowance of €4,925 for a single person (€7,661 with a partner) and €1,294 for people above pension age, plus some further deductions. Then 4% of assets above the threshold is added in full, not 10% of it. Because of the tax step, you cannot reliably work it out on paper. The CAK calculator gives the precise figure.

Worked example for a single parent

These are assumptions, not typical figures:

Your mother is single and above state pension age.
Her 2024 verzamelinkomen was €30,000 (AOW plus a modest pension).
On 1 January 2024 she had €60,000 in savings.
No compensation for the former elderly allowance applies.

Step	Amount
Savings above threshold (€60,000 − €36,952)	€23,048
4% added to income	€921.92
Income counted (€30,000 + €921.92)	€30,921.92
10%, divided by 12	€257.68 a month

So in her first 4 months she pays €257.68 a month. From month 5 the high contribution applies, somewhere between €0 and €3,061.80, and the calculator gives the exact figure. What you can see on paper is the weight of her savings: in the low contribution they add €7.68 a month, in the high contribution €76.83 a month.

The trap of the two-year lookback

The CAK uses figures from two years earlier because only then has the tax office finalised them. That delay works in both directions, and families often discover it after the parental home is sold.

Say your mother's house is sold in 2026 and €400,000 is on her account on 1 January 2027, on top of her €60,000. Nothing changes straight away. In 2029, the CAK counts €423,048 above the threshold, which adds €16,921.92 a year. Her low contribution would rise to €391.02 a month. In the high contribution the same savings add €1,410.16 a month, until the maximum of €3,061.80.

Two other points to check:

Tax paid abroad. If your parent paid income tax in another country and it is not on the Dutch assessment, send the foreign assessment to the CAK. It will recalculate.
Income has dropped. If income and part of assets in 2026 are at least €3,293.60 lower than in 2024, the CAK can adjust the low contribution.

Income and assets of adult children or parents living in the same house do not count. If you move in together, your own money stays out of the calculation.

The waiting list for a nursing home

On 1 April 2026, 17,538 people were waiting for a nursing home place, down from 18,438 a year earlier. That is the latest national report by the care offices (zorgkantoren) and the Zorginstituut. Of them, 92% were waiting for a home of their own choice, and 94% already received some form of care.

Of the 43,900 people admitted between April 2025 and April 2026, 30% could start straight away and 65% within 6 weeks. About 80% were admitted within 13 weeks and 93% after 6 months. Dementia is the largest group: 55% of everyone with a nursing care assessment has the profile for sheltered living with intensive dementia care.

Staying close to family instead

A Wlz assessment gives a right to care in a home or at home. With a full care package at home (volledig pakket thuis) your parent always pays the low contribution. With a modular package or a personal budget, the maximum is €933.60 a month. Ask the care office which form fits.

Some families choose a garden home (mantelzorgwoning) in their own back garden. The core rule is that it can usually be placed without an environmental permit when it is in the back garden (achtererfgebied) and is used temporarily because of informal care. That care must be demonstrable with a statement from a GP, district nurse or another adviser named by the municipality, and the garden home may house at most two people. A permit is needed if your house is a listed monument or in a protected townscape, and once the care ends, it may no longer be used as a separate home. Check your address with our permit check.

If your parent has dementia, read whether a garden home works with dementia first. Our garden home models start from €95,900 (Zwaluw), including VAT.

Which route to look into first

Your parent needs care or supervision day and night, and no one can be nearby. Apply to the CIZ and put them on the list for a home. Compare several homes: many people who wait beyond the target time are holding out for one specific provider.
Your parent has a partner who stays at home. The low contribution continues, so costs stay lower than for a single person. A partner may also move into the home without their own assessment.
Your parent has significant savings or recently sold a house. Run the CAK calculator for this year and for two years ahead.
You can provide care nearby and have a back garden. Look at Wlz care at home combined with a garden home, and check the permit rules before anything else.

Sources

Personal contributions, waiting times and permit rules depend on your parent's situation, region and address. This page is general information and not personal financial or care advice.

What does a nursing home cost in the Netherlands?