And when you add in the medical care, personal support services and other expenses connected with monitoring and caring for those in need of either assisted living or Alzheimer's/dementia care facilities, it can get very pricey indeed — not to mention that the cost can vary wildly, depending on the region of the country in which it's provided. 

According to A Place for Mom, all prices hit record highs in 2014.

And while independent living costs are rising faster than inflation — monthly rent alone for an independent living community rose 8.3 percent over the four years of the data, compared with inflation increasing at 5 percent — the most expensive place to be, regardless of the level of care needed, is the Northeast, where senior care costs 10-20 percent more than in the other parts of the country. In the Northeast, independent living comes in at $2,765 a month. Assisted-living there will run you $4,315. 

Independent living costs are rising most quickly in the South, at 3.9 percent per year, and in the Midwest, where they rose 3.1 percent per year. 

Memory care, which is the most expensive of the three categories, is considerably more expensive in the Northeast, at $5,779 a month. But costs are rising quickly for it and for assisted-living, and the regions where those costs are rising the fastest are the West — where memory care increased 2.2 percent per year and assisted living increased 1.7 percent — and the Midwest, where memory care was up 2.1 percent and assisted living was up 1.9 percent.