JP long-term care premium for age-65+ (kaigo-hoken Class 1) — 9 tiers × municipal base

Long-term care premium tiers reveal age, pension income, and tax status

Calculating a Class-1 (age 65+) long-term care insurance premium requires knowing the household and individual resident-tax status, pension income, and aggregate income — inputs that together identify age bracket, pension level, and income tier. This information is commercially valuable to providers of insurance products, elder-care services, and retirement financial planning, all of which target the 65+ demographic.

Beyond commercial targeting, the combination of ‘resident-tax-exempt household’ plus income level is a sensitive welfare indicator. It can signal eligibility for various public support programmes, and is the kind of data that deserves at minimum the same protection as medical information.

Why elder-care financial tools should not send data to servers

Care-insurance calculators appear on the websites of elder-care facilities, life insurers, and regional banks — all of whom have a direct commercial interest in identifying the income level and care-payment capacity of prospective clients. Entering age, pension income, and resident-tax status into a server-side form on one of these sites connects that data to their CRM, even if no account is created.

The calculation itself is one multiplication — base amount × tier multiplier — which JavaScript executes instantly in your browser. No server is needed.

Municipality-specific base amount with in-browser arithmetic

The tool multiplies the tier-5 monthly base amount (default ¥6,225 = FY2026 national average) by the MHLW-standard tier multipliers (0.30 to 1.70 for tiers 1–9, post-subsidy rates for tiers 1–3). The base amount field is editable so you can enter the exact figure from your municipality’s notification letter. The payment method (special-collection from pension / ordinary-collection by slip) is flagged automatically. Nothing reaches a server.

URL state-sync means you can bookmark the result for your specific tier and base amount, then recheck next year when the base amount is revised.

When to use this estimate and when to look at the actual notice

Many municipalities have extended beyond the standard 9 tiers to 13–17 to capture higher-income households, and some have custom multipliers above 1.70. This tool uses the standard 9-tier model, so if you are in a higher tier the actual premium will be more than shown here. The definitive figure is on the premium notice mailed by your municipality each July. Use this tool to understand the structure and approximate the amount, then verify against the notice for the exact payment. For Category-2 insured (ages 40–64), the care premium is bundled with health insurance — kenpo-kyokai-jp handles employees and kokuho-hoken-jp handles NHI-side cases — both stay browser-only.

The nine-tier structure, the three-year revision cycle, and the 9th Plan (FY2024 onward)

Japan’s long-term care insurance operates on a three-year planning cycle under LTC Insurance Act Article 117 (source: MHLW long-term care insurance plan). The current plan is the 9th (FY2024–FY2026), with a FY2026 national-average base of JPY 6,225 per month (tier 5). Each municipality builds its own plan from projected service demand and the elderly-population mix. The 8th plan (FY2021–FY2023) averaged JPY 6,014; the 9th rose 3.5%, reflecting growing elderly population and care demand.

The nine tiers run from tier 1 (welfare recipients or resident-tax-exempt households with pension income ≤ JPY 800k) at 0.30× the base, through tier 5 (the reference) at 1.00, to tier 9 (taxable households with aggregate income ≥ JPY 3M) at 1.70. The detailed boundaries: tier 2 is non-taxable households with pension JPY 800k–1.2M at 0.50; tier 3 is non-taxable above JPY 1.2M at 0.70; tier 4 is taxable household but individually non-taxable at 0.90; tier 6 is individually taxable with aggregate income < JPY 1.2M at 1.20; tier 7 is JPY 1.2M–2M at 1.30; tier 8 is JPY 2M–3M at 1.50. This tool implements these multipliers as JavaScript constants, with tiers 1–3 already reflecting the FY2024 enhanced-reduction rates after the reform.

Municipal expansion beyond nine tiers and the special-vs-ordinary collection rules

Many of Japan’s special wards (Tokyo’s 23-ku), designated cities, and core cities have extended above the standard nine tiers — up to 13 to 17 tiers — to capture higher-income households. Tokyo Shinjuku-ku’s FY2026 schedule uses 17 tiers, with the top tier (aggregate income ≥ JPY 15M) at a multiplier of 3.30 (roughly double this tool’s 1.70 cap), yielding about JPY 250k per year. Areas with concentrated high earners typically have more tiers and steeper top-tier rates. Because this tool uses the standard nine-tier model, anyone falling into tier 9 should verify against the actual municipal notice — the real figure is likely higher.

Collection method defaults to ‘special collection’ (deducted from pension payments) for those receiving annual pension above JPY 180k. The premium is withheld six times per year on the even-numbered months when pension payments arrive. Recipients below JPY 180k of annual pension, or those whose special collection is interrupted by relocation or pension suspension, are switched to ‘ordinary collection’ — paper bills (typically eight instalments from July through the following March) or bank auto-debit. Category-2 insured (ages 40–64) pay their long-term care premium bundled with their health insurance premium and are outside this tool’s scope. For Category-2 calculations, use kenpo-kyokai-jp (employees) or kokuho-hoken-jp (NHI).