Japan Long-Term Care Insurance Premium Calculator (Age 65+, Category 1 Insured)
Estimate your Japanese long-term care insurance premium (介護保険料) if you are 65 or older (a Category 1 insured person), based on your household's resident tax status and income amount. Using the national standard 13-bracket model, you can quickly see an estimated annual and monthly figure.
Long-term care insurance premium: national standard 13-bracket model (FY2024–2026)
This is an estimated annual and monthly amount, calculated by multiplying the national standard 13 brackets for the Category 1 premium by the national average base amount (¥6,225 per month). Please check the actual number of brackets and multipliers published by your own municipality.
| Income bracket | Multiplier | Annual amount (estimate) | Monthly amount (estimate) | Who this typically applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bracket 1 | ×0.285 | 21,289 yen | 1,774 yen | Recipients of public assistance, etc., or households where everyone is tax-exempt and total income plus taxable pension income is ¥826,500 or less |
| Bracket 2 | ×0.485 | 36,230 yen | 3,019 yen | Everyone in the household is tax-exempt, and total income plus taxable pension income is over ¥826,500 and up to ¥1,200,000 |
| Bracket 3 | ×0.685 | 51,170 yen | 4,264 yen | Everyone in the household is tax-exempt, and total income plus taxable pension income is over ¥1,200,000 |
| Bracket 4 | ×0.9 | 67,230 yen | 5,603 yen | You are tax-exempt but someone in your household is taxed, and your total income amount is ¥826,500 or less |
| Bracket 5 | ×1 | 74,700 yen | 6,225 yen | You are tax-exempt but someone in your household is taxed, and your total income amount is over ¥826,500 (base amount bracket) |
| Bracket 6 | ×1.2 | 89,640 yen | 7,470 yen | You are taxed, and your total income amount is under ¥1,200,000 |
| Bracket 7 | ×1.3 | 97,110 yen | 8,093 yen | You are taxed, and your total income amount is ¥1,200,000 or more but under ¥2,100,000 |
| Bracket 8 | ×1.5 | 112,050 yen | 9,338 yen | You are taxed, and your total income amount is ¥2,100,000 or more but under ¥3,200,000 |
| Bracket 9 | ×1.7 | 126,990 yen | 10,583 yen | You are taxed, and your total income amount is ¥3,200,000 or more but under ¥4,200,000 |
| Bracket 10 | ×1.9 | 141,930 yen | 11,828 yen | You are taxed, and your total income amount is ¥4,200,000 or more but under ¥5,200,000 |
| Bracket 11 | ×2.1 | 156,870 yen | 13,073 yen | You are taxed, and your total income amount is ¥5,200,000 or more but under ¥6,200,000 |
| Bracket 12 | ×2.3 | 171,810 yen | 14,318 yen | You are taxed, and your total income amount is ¥6,200,000 or more but under ¥7,200,000 |
| Bracket 13 | ×2.4 | 179,280 yen | 14,940 yen | You are taxed, and your total income amount is ¥7,200,000 or more |
Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, "National Average of Category 1 Long-Term Care Insurance Premiums and Estimated Service Volume for the 9th Long-Term Care Insurance Business Plan Period" (published May 14, 2024), and published materials from municipalities that use the standard 13-bracket multiplier model (e.g. Kujukuri Town, Chiba Prefecture).
What is the long-term care insurance premium calculation for people 65 and over?
The long-term care insurance premium paid by people aged 65 and over (Category 1 insured persons) works differently from the premium deducted from an employee's salary for people aged 40 to 64 (Category 2 insured persons). For Category 1, your municipality sets a "base amount" every three years, and your actual premium is that base amount multiplied by a "bracket multiplier" that depends on your household's resident tax status and your income. The premium is then collected either automatically from your pension ("special collection") or by bill or direct debit ("ordinary collection").
Because the base amount and the number of brackets differ from one municipality to another, the highest and lowest municipalities can differ by more than double. This tool uses the national standard 13-bracket multipliers and the national average base amount as a reference model, so you can quickly get an estimated bracket, annual amount, and monthly amount based on your household's tax status and income. For the exact figure, please check the notice sent to you by your municipality.
Sources used in this calculation
Statutory figures such as tax and insurance rates come from the public bodies listed below. They change when the law is revised, so please also check the primary source before relying on the result for an important decision.
- Japan long-term care insurance (age 65+) national average base amount and standard 13-bracket multipliers — Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (厚生労働省) Effective 2024-04 to 2027-03 ／ Last checked 2026-09-11
How to estimate your long-term care insurance premium
- Choose your household's resident tax status Select whichever applies: receiving public assistance, everyone in the household tax-exempt, only you tax-exempt, or you are taxed.
- Enter your income amount Depending on the category you chose, enter your total income amount (and, for tax-exempt households, your taxable public pension income) in yen.
- Check your bracket and estimated premium Your income bracket (Bracket 1 through 13), along with the estimated annual and monthly amounts, will appear immediately.
Tips for getting more out of it
- For people aged 40 to 64 (Category 2 insured persons), the long-term care premium is added on top of health insurance premiums. Once you turn 65 (Category 1), the calculation switches to one set individually by your municipality, so the way the amount is worked out changes significantly compared to your working years.
- If your annual pension amount is ¥180,000 or more, your premium is, in principle, collected automatically from your pension — this is called "special collection." If it is under ¥180,000, you pay by bill or direct debit instead, called "ordinary collection."
- Because income brackets are reviewed every year, your bracket can change in any year your pension income or total income amount changes.
- Falling behind on long-term care insurance premiums can lead to penalties, such as an increased out-of-pocket share when you use care services, so it is worth checking your status early.
Ways to use this long-term care insurance premium estimate
Estimating costs before turning 65
If you are approaching your 65th birthday, you can see roughly how your burden will change once collection shifts from an employer's salary deduction to a pension deduction or a bill, before the switch actually happens.
Checking how much is deducted from a parent's pension
If you know the pension income and resident tax status of a parent living elsewhere, you can estimate their income bracket and premium before their official notice arrives.
Projecting changes before retiring or moving
Use this as a guide when a retirement payout or the start of pension benefits might shift your income bracket, or when you are considering a move to a municipality with a different base amount.
Sanity-checking the amount on an official notice
Your actual premium is set using your municipality's own brackets and base amount, but comparing it against the national standard model here gives you a rough sense of how far it may differ.
Glossary
- Category 1 insured person
- A person enrolled in long-term care insurance who is 65 or older. Their premium, based on the municipality's base amount and their income bracket, is in principle deducted directly from their pension.
- Category 2 insured person
- A person enrolled in health insurance who is aged 40 to 64. Their long-term care premium is collected as an add-on to their health insurance premium, and is not covered by this tool.
- Base amount
- The reference premium amount, set by each municipality every three years based on the projected cost of local long-term care services. It corresponds to the annual amount actually paid by someone in the bracket where the multiplier is 1.0.
- Income bracket
- A system that classifies the premium according to the resident tax status and income amount of the insured person and their household. Higher brackets carry a higher multiplier applied to the base amount.
- Total income amount
- The combined total of various income types — employment income, business income, pension income (after the public pension deduction), and so on. This figure is calculated before income deductions such as the social insurance premium deduction or basic deduction are applied.
- Special collection / ordinary collection
- Special collection means the premium is deducted directly from your pension; ordinary collection means you pay by bill or direct debit. Which one applies is decided automatically based on whether your annual pension amount is ¥180,000 or more.
Frequently asked questions
Side Note — why long-term care premiums are split into "Category 1" and "Category 2"
If you look into how the long-term care insurance premium works, you will run into the unfamiliar terms "Category 1 insured person" and "Category 2 insured person." These labels go back to the year 2000, when Japan's long-term care insurance system began and was designed to be funded from two sources at once: premiums paid directly by people 65 and older, and an additional charge layered onto the health insurance premiums of the working-age population aged 40 to 64. Calling the 65-and-over group "Category 1" and the 40-to-64 group "Category 2" is less about which group joined the system first and more about placing the group most likely to actually receive benefits — older adults — in the primary position.
The reason the Category 1 premium is worked out individually, as a municipal base amount multiplied by an income bracket, is that long-term care insurance is administered by municipalities themselves, which act as the insurer. Every three years, each municipality draws up a long-term care insurance service plan based on its local elderly population and projected use of care services, and works backward from the funding it needs to set its base amount. As a result, municipalities with smaller populations and higher aging rates tend to end up with higher base amounts, and even in urban areas, places with more developed care facilities tend to see their base amounts rise as well.
The move from 9 brackets to 13, and in some municipalities to 18 or more, reflects a deliberate strengthening of income redistribution — the idea of keeping the burden light for lower-income older adults while asking higher-income, higher-capacity households to contribute more. For someone living on pension income alone, the premium can still feel like a real burden, but the finer bracket divisions are specifically designed to keep the premium quite low for people receiving public assistance or living on a small pension.