If you're looking for board & care homes in McLean, Fairfax County, VA, here's the local rundown - real 2026 pricing, how this jurisdiction licenses it, and what to check before you tour.
McLean in context
McLean is Northern Virginia's premium senior-living market, with newer, amenity-heavy communities near Tysons and a deep bench of high-end memory care.
McLean sits in Fairfax County, VA, part of Virginia. Nearby hospitals include Inova Fairfax Hospital, Virginia Hospital Center, which matters for discharge planning and staying close to a parent's physicians. Families here commonly focus on areas such as Tysons, Langley, Chesterbrook, Ballantrae. McLean prices at the top of the Northern Virginia range, on par with the District's Northwest quadrant.
Board & Care Homes: what you're really paying for
Board-and-care homes are small residential care settings - often a converted house with a handful of residents - offering a quieter, family-style alternative to a large campus.
In Virginia, this level of care is regulated under an Assisted Living Facility (ALF) license issued by VDSS under 22VAC40-73, overseen by the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS), Division of Licensing Programs. A typical monthly range is $4,500 to $7,000 a month.
Walk past the lobby and check these instead:
- the owner or operator's tenure and how hands-on they actually are
- the caregiver-to-resident ratio, which is the small home's real selling point
- what happens if a resident's care needs exceed what the home is licensed to provide
What it costs, and how families pay, around McLean
Around McLean, board & care homes typically runs $4,500 to $7,000 a month. McLean prices at the top of the Northern Virginia range, on par with the District's Northwest quadrant. Most families layer sources over time: private savings and Social Security first, then long-term-care insurance if it's in place, VA Aid & Attendance for eligible veterans and surviving spouses, and Virginia Medicaid, administered by the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) and delivered through the Cardinal Care managed-care program (the former CCC Plus name lives on as a benefit within it) - which can fund care services (not room and board) through Cardinal Care/CCC Plus home- and community-based waiver services, plus the Auxiliary Grant, which helps cover room and board in an assisted living facility or adult foster care home and is jointly administered with the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) for those who meet the income and asset tests.
Verify any community's license and inspection record through the VDSS assisted living facility search tool and VDH nursing-facility inspection records before you commit - the one authoritative source covering every provider in Fairfax County, VA.
How to take the next step
A free DC Senior Advisor advisor can shortlist options that fit your timeline and budget and line up tours across DC, Maryland, or Virginia. Reach us online - there's never a fee for families.
