Assisted Living in Eagan, MN: Eight Big Campuses, 17 Small Homes, and How to Check Each

By Minneapolis Senior Advisor Care Team · October 24, 2026

How many licensed assisted living communities are in Eagan, MN?

As of October 24, 2026, the Minnesota Department of Health lists 27 licensed assisted living facilities with an Eagan address, licensed for 1,006 residents in total. Nine of them hold the separate license for dementia care, and those nine account for 914 of the 1,006 licensed spots.

Those figures come from the MDH Health Care Provider Directory, which MDH says is updated daily; we pulled the Eagan rows on October 24, 2026. The 27 facilities sit in three ZIP codes: 16 in 55122, seven in 55123 and four in 55121. Eagan is in Dakota County, so if the right place is not in Eagan itself, the Dakota County assisted living directory widens the search to neighboring cities.

The headline count hides the real shape of the market. Eight facilities licensed for 32 or more residents hold 908 of the 1,006 licensed spots. Seventeen others are licensed for six residents or fewer. In Eagan, the first decision is usually not which building, but which kind of setting: a large campus or a small home in a residential neighborhood.

Our Eagan assisted living guide covers the city page view. This guide is about telling the two kinds of setting apart and checking each one.

Large campus vs. small residential home in Eagan: what is the difference?

Both kinds hold the same type of license from MDH under Minnesota Statutes chapter 144G. The practical difference in Eagan is scale and dementia licensure: all eight large campuses hold the dementia care license, and only one of the 17 small homes does.

The dementia care license matters more than the size. Under Minn. Stat. 144G.08, a facility that is advertised, marketed or otherwise promoted as providing specialized care for Alzheimer's disease or other dementias must be licensed as an "assisted living facility with dementia care," and so must any facility with a secured dementia care unit. A small home without that license should not be presenting itself as memory care. If memory loss is part of the picture now, or likely to be, start with the Eagan memory care list.

Then ask questions that fit the setting. At a five-bed home, ask who is awake in the house overnight and what happens when that person is helping one resident while another needs help. At a 150-bed campus, ask how many residents each aide covers on the evening shift, and whether a move from assisted living to the dementia care wing means a new contract and a new price. In both, ask what would make them say your parent can no longer stay.

Is independent senior living in Eagan licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health?

Not as assisted living, unless it provides assisted living services. Minn. Stat. 144G.08 defines an assisted living facility as one that provides sleeping accommodations and assisted living services to one or more adults, so a building that only rents apartments to older adults falls outside that license.

The statute's list of assisted living services is concrete: help with dressing, bathing, grooming and toileting; standby assistance; medication reminders and medication management; hands-on help with transfers and mobility; specialized diets ordered by a health professional; and nursing or therapy services. The same section also excludes certain rental housing designated for elderly residents under federal housing programs, and condominiums or cooperatives where at least 80 percent of units are occupied by their owners or members.

That is why a search for independent senior living in Eagan turns up buildings that are not in the MDH assisted living directory. It is not a warning sign on its own. It means the state is not surveying care there, because no assisted living services are supposed to be delivered there.

The gap shows up later. If your parent in an independent apartment starts getting help with medications or bathing, ask who is providing it and whether that provider holds a state license. Our Eagan independent living page lists options in the city.

How do you check an Eagan assisted living community's MDH record before you tour?

Look the facility up by name in the MDH Health Care Provider Directory, then open its survey and complaint documents through MDH's Facility and Provider Complaint and Survey Findings search. Both are free and public, and the findings are posted as PDFs you can read in full.

Here is what that record looks like across Eagan as of October 24, 2026. Twenty-two of the 27 facilities have at least one posted MDH survey, with posted survey dates running from June 2022 to August 2026. Nine facilities have posted complaint investigations, 25 in all: nine substantiated, nine unsubstantiated and seven inconclusive. Read the documents rather than counting them; a large building will usually generate more complaints than a five-bed home, and an unsubstantiated finding is not a mark against anyone.

Five of the 27 hold a provisional license. Under Minn. Stat. 144G.16, a new licensee receives a provisional license that is effective for up to one year. MDH surveys the facility once it has started providing assisted living services to at least one resident, and issues the full license if the facility is in compliance. A provisional home may simply have no survey on file yet. That is a reason to ask whether MDH has visited, not a reason to rule it out.

Finally, MDH posts a Uniform Disclosure of Assisted Living Services and Amenities, or UDALSA, for 25 of the 27 Eagan facilities. It is the closest thing to a side-by-side comparison sheet the state publishes. Our page on verifying a facility license walks through the lookup step by step.

Who helps an Eagan family pay for assisted living through the Elderly Waiver?

Dakota County does. To start, request a MnCHOICES assessment from Dakota County Community Living Services at 651-554-6336 or by email at [email protected]. The county says every Minnesota resident is eligible to be assessed, and the assessment is at no cost to you.

The Elderly Waiver is the Medical Assistance program that pays for services in assisted living. To use it, a person must be 65 or older, need a nursing facility level of care as determined through the long-term care consultation process, choose community care, and meet the Elderly Waiver income standard. Our guide to the MnCHOICES assessment explains what the visit covers.

The Elderly Waiver does not pay rent. Minn. Stat. 256S.17 says Elderly Waiver rates for customized living, the service package delivered in assisted living, must not include room and board, rent or raw food costs. So when a family searches for assisted living in Eagan that accepts the Elderly Waiver, the real question for each community is two-part: does it accept the waiver for services, and what will it charge for room and board?

If you want to talk through options before calling the county, Minnesota Aging Pathways, formerly the Senior LinkAge Line, is a free statewide service of the Minnesota Board on Aging at 1-800-333-2433.

Last verified: October 2026. Facility counts are from the MDH Health Care Provider Directory as retrieved October 24, 2026.

Sources

• MDH Health Care Provider Directory (assisted living facilities), retrieved Oct. 24, 2026
• MDH Facility and Provider Complaint and Survey Findings
• Minnesota Statutes 144G.08, Definitions (2025)
• Minnesota Statutes 144G.16, Provisional license (2025)
• Minnesota Statutes 256S.17, customized living rates
• MN House Research: Elderly Waiver recodification (2019)
• Dakota County: MnCHOICES Assessment
• Minnesota Board on Aging: Minnesota Aging Pathways
• MDH Assisted Living Licensure FAQ (UDALSA)

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