Westbrook Recovery

Sober Living Rules in 2026: The House Rules, and the Network Behind Them

Last updated

Nearly every recovery residence runs on the same core: no alcohol or drugs, random testing, a curfew, chores, a weekly house meeting, rent on time, and work or an active search for it. The two variations that matter most are medication policy and what happens after a lapse. Whether a house can simply put you out depends on your agreement and your state, not on anyone’s mood. And the largest network is bigger than most people think: we counted the live Oxford House directory on 15 October 2026 and found 4,416 houses across 47 states, with 5,748 open beds that morning.

The short version

  1. The core rules are near-universal — abstinence, testing, curfew, chores, meetings, rent, work: expect all of them, in writing
  2. Ask the medication question first — a house that bans prescribed buprenorphine is a house whose rules conflict with the treatment
  3. We counted the biggest network ourselves — 4,416 Oxford Houses in the live directory, 63% with a vacancy on the day we looked
  4. Whether you can be put out is a paper question — guest agreement or tenancy is decided by the contract and your state, read before signing
  5. The model is three rules, not forty — Oxford’s charter: democratically run, self-supporting, use means out

Step by step

  1. Read the house rules before anything else

    Ask for the written rules and read them before touring. A house that hands them over easily is telling you something good; one that hesitates is telling you more.

  2. Ask the two questions that matter most

    Whether prescribed medication (especially for opioid use disorder) continues, and what happens after a lapse. Both answers should be specific. “It depends” without a process is a red flag.

  3. Verify the certification, if any

    Most states do not license these houses, so the certification body (a NARR affiliate or the Oxford charter) is the quality signal. Call the certifier and confirm the house is actually listed.

  4. Get the money in writing

    Weekly cost, move-in costs, what testing is billed, and what happens to a balance if you leave. The self-run model runs about $110 to $160 a week; anything far above that needs a reason you can see.

Four counted figures for the largest recovery housing network: 4,416 houses in the live Oxford directory, 47 states, 63 percent with a vacancy, 5,748 open beds, counted 15 October 2026
Nobody counts sober living. We collected the whole live directory and counted it ourselves.
Bar chart of Oxford Houses by state from our count of the live directory: Washington 402, Texas 362, Florida 330, North Carolina 328, Oregon 252, Kansas 223, Louisiana 207, Virginia 184
The network is thick in unexpected places: it follows local organizing, not population.
Line chart of Oxford House network growth: 1,303 houses in 2008, 1,521 in 2012, and 4,416 in our own count of the live directory in 2026
The network tripled in eighteen years, through three eras of the opioid crisis.
Three cards for the Oxford charter conditions: democratically run by residents, financially self-supporting at about 110 to 160 dollars a week each, and expulsion by house vote for use
The largest network in recovery housing runs on three rules, not forty.
Seven near-universal sober living rules as cards: no alcohol or drugs, random drug testing, a curfew, chores, a weekly house meeting, rent on time, and work or an active search
Expect all seven, in writing. A house missing most of them is unstructured, not relaxed.

The largest network, counted

Our analysis

Nobody counts sober living. The largest network publishes its houses live, so we collected the whole directory and counted it ourselves: the size, the spread, and how many beds were open that morning.

4,416
Oxford Houses in the live directory
our own count of every listing, 15 October 2026, not a figure from a brochure
63%
of houses had an open bed that day
5,748 open beds across the directory; a real vacancy is the norm, not the exception
×3.4
growth over 18 years
1,303 houses in 2008 (research census), 1,521 in 2012 (state report), 4,416 now
$110–160
per person per week in the self-run model
the published share for Oxford House of North Carolina, 2025
10.1 months
average stay, measured
from the 2008 research census of 1,303 houses
527
houses for women with children
12% of the network: structured housing that keeps custody intact

How we got this: The live Oxford Vacancies directory collected in full on 15 October 2026 (every page of house cards, deduplicated), tabulated by us. Growth and cost figures from the cited research census and state documents. The charter rules from Oxford House’s own published conditions.

What these numbers cannot tell you: One network, not the whole sector: independent houses are not in this directory and do not publish counts. Vacancies are a single-morning snapshot. The directory counts its own listings, which is the only verifiable way to count at all here.

The core rules almost every house has

Whatever the house calls itself, recovery residence, sober living, halfway house in the loose sense, the same seven rules show up in nearly every written set we could find: no alcohol or drugs on or off the premises, drug testing usually random, a curfew, assigned chores, a weekly house meeting, rent paid on time, and work or a documented job search. A house missing most of these is not relaxed; it is unstructured, which is a different product with a different record.

Why the rules are the treatment

The structure is not bureaucracy around the help; it is the help. The rulebook one stage up, inside treatment itself, is on our rehab rules page. Recovery housing research keeps finding the same mechanism: a predictable daily frame plus peer accountability. A house whose rules are vague or unenforced is selling a bed, not the structure. This is the single most useful lens for reading any rulebook: the rules are the product.

What varies, legitimately

Curfew times, guest hours, overnight pass rules, smoking, and how chores are assigned all vary widely and harmlessly. The variations that are not harmless are two: whether prescribed medication continues, and what follows a lapse. Both get their own sections below.

The biggest network, counted by us

Most writing about sober living treats the sector as uncountable. The largest documented network, Oxford House, publishes a live directory of every house with its vacancies. On the morning of 15 October 2026 we collected all of it, page by page, and counted: 4,416 houses across 47 states, 36,669 beds in total, about eight per house. On that day 63% of houses had at least one vacancy, 5,748 open beds in all. This is not the whole market, since independent houses sit outside the network, but it is the largest verifiable slice of it anyone can point to.

  • Houses in the directory

    4,416

  • States covered

    47

  • Total beds

    36,669

  • Beds per house (average)

    ~8.3

  • Houses with a vacancy that morning

    2,803 (63%)

  • Open beds that morning

    5,748

  • Houses for men / women / women with children

    3,087 / 802 / 527

  • Largest states by house count

    WA 402, TX 362, FL 330, NC 328, OR 252

Our count of the live Oxford Vacancies directory, 15 October 2026 (every house card, deduplicated)

Where the houses are

The network is thick where you would not necessarily expect it: Washington leads our count at 402 houses, then Texas 362, Florida 330, North Carolina 328, Oregon 252, Kansas 223, Louisiana 207, Virginia 184. The distribution follows neither population nor coastline neatly; it follows a hundred small local organizing efforts, which is how the model spreads.

The growth curve

The published history gives the network 1,303 houses in 2008 (Jason and colleagues’ census in the research literature) and 1,521 in 2012 (Oxford’s own report to North Carolina). Our count this week is 4,416. The network tripled in eighteen years, through three different eras of the opioid crisis, which is itself evidence about the model.

Who the houses serve

In our count, 70% of houses are for men, 18% for women, and 12% for women with children. That last category is one of the few places in recovery housing where a parent in early recovery can keep custody while living in a structured house, and there are 527 of them.

The three charter rules at Oxford Houses

The network’s rulebook is famously short. A house holds an Oxford charter on three conditions: it is democratically self-run, with residents electing officers on six-month terms; it is financially self-supporting, with members splitting house expenses, currently about $110 to $160 per person per week in the documented state examples; and anyone who uses alcohol or drugs is expelled by vote of the house. Three principles. Everything else is the house’s own housekeeping.

How a short rulebook governs a long stay

There is no maximum length of stay in the model: you stay while you follow the charter. The measured average in the research literature is 10.1 months. The structure that keeps people is not a curfew schedule; it is that the residents themselves enforce the charter, because the house is theirs.

What “blackout rules” actually are

Searches ask about Oxford House blackout rules, meaning an initial no-contact period like some rehabs run. The model has none: no blackout, no device rules, no visiting bans. The charter governs recovery and money, and the democratic house governs the rest. That absence is deliberate: these are homes, not programs.

Can they kick you out

The question deserves an honest two-part answer, because it splits on a legal distinction most people never see. What kind of occupant you are is decided by the agreement you sign and by your state’s law, not by what the house prefers on a given day.

Guest or tenant: the fork that decides

Many sober living agreements are written as guest or license agreements, which in many states allow removal on short notice without a court process. Where you are legally a tenant, eviction takes notice and often court. Neither is automatically better for you: the guest version is what makes same-day removal after use possible, which is the safety feature the other residents are counting on.

What eviction looks like in practice

In the Oxford model, using means the house votes you out, with re-entry possible after detox in many houses. The early signs the house rules are built to catch are mapped on relapse warning signs. In clinically-run residences, a lapse more often triggers a treatment review than a removal. Both are defensible; they protect different things. Ask which philosophy you are signing into, and ask what a single lapse did to the last resident it happened to.

The federal backstop, honestly

The Fair Housing Act protects people in recovery from discriminatory zoning, which is why group homes can exist in residential neighborhoods at all. It does not protect a resident who breaks house rules. The law keeps the house legal; the rules keep it sober. Confusing the two is the commonest misreading of the legal layer.

Curfews, guests and privacy

Expect a curfew, earlier on weekends at some houses, with overnight passes earned by phase or seniority. Guests visit in common areas at set hours; overnight guests are almost universally out. Your room is yours but not private in the hotel sense: houses inspect for safety, and the inspection is in the rules you sign.

Why the curfew exists

The hours after midnight are when the old life is awake. Curfews are the house’s way of making the risky hours boring. They are also the rule residents cite most fondly afterwards and most angrily during, which is about right for a rule that works.

Phones, cars, pets

Phones are generally unrestricted in sober living, unlike residential treatment; the house is a home, not a unit. Cars are commonly allowed, sometimes with proof of insurance and a parking plan. Pets are the rarest yes: a small minority of houses take them, and they are worth filtering for specifically if yours is non-negotiable.

Testing: the house thermometer

Random drug and alcohol testing is the norm, usually urine, sometimes breath. Expect a baseline at intake, random draws, testing on suspicion, and testing after passes. The question worth asking in advance is what counts as a fail: whether a dilute sample counts (at many houses it does), and what happens after a positive. Houses with a written answer run calmer than houses improvising one.

Money and work

Sober living is paid housing with structure, and the money is weekly. The money side of the whole path, treatment included, is on how to pay for rehab without insurance. The self-run Oxford share runs about $110 to $160 per person per week in the documented examples; the wider market for staffed houses runs higher. Work, or an active documented search for it, is a core rule nearly everywhere, because employment is both rent money and structure. Unemployment is the phase, not the lifestyle the house is built to hold.

What the weekly figure buys

Rent share, utilities, testing in many houses, and the household supplies, split democratically. What it does not buy is treatment: outpatient care is separate and often separate-billed, which is why so many residents combine a sober house with an outpatient program.

Move-in costs and the paperwork of leaving

Expect a first payment covering the first weeks plus sometimes a deposit-equivalent, and ask what happens to a balance if you leave or are removed. Houses that answer in writing are easier to leave well, which matters more than it sounds.

The medication rule that decides fit

This is the variation with clinical weight. Some houses refuse residents on prescribed buprenorphine or methadone, reading abstinence narrowly; the better houses continue prescribed medication, stored locked and dispensed by rule, because that is what the evidence supports. If you take medication for opioid or alcohol use disorder, this question outranks every other: a house that bans it is offering you a conflict between its rules and your treatment, and that conflict is yours to survive, not theirs.

What we counted, and how

On 15 October 2026 we collected the entire live Oxford House vacancies directory (74 pages of house cards) and counted it ourselves: 4,416 houses, 47 states, 36,669 beds, 63% with a vacancy that morning, 5,748 open beds, with the gender split at 70% men, 18% women, 12% women with children. The growth series comes from the research census of 2008 and Oxford’s 2012 state report. Costs are the published figures from Oxford House of North Carolina (2025) and the 2008 research census. The charter rules are Oxford’s own stated conditions.

The limits of this count

Oxford is the largest documented network, not the whole sector: independent and provider-run houses sit outside it. The vacancies are one morning’s snapshot of a database that updates daily. And the count measures the network’s own listings, which is the honest way to count anything here: the rest of the market does not publish at all.

Two cards on medication policy: houses that ban prescribed buprenorphine versus houses that continue it locked and dispensed by rule
The question that outranks every other if you take prescribed medication: a ban is a conflict between the rules and the treatment.
Two cards on drug testing in sober living: random urine or breath with a baseline at intake, and the questions to ask about what counts as a fail
Testing is the house thermometer. A written answer about dilute samples and consequences is the calm version.
Two cards on removal from sober living: guest agreements allow short-notice removal in many states, while tenants get notice and court process
Guest or tenant is written in the agreement, decided before signing, not on the day of the argument.
Two house philosophies after a lapse: expel-and-refer on the day, versus a clinical review that adjusts the plan
Both are defensible and they protect different things. Ask which philosophy you are signing into.

Where this sits in the system of care

Addiction treatment is organised into levels of care, and clinicians choose between them using the ASAM criteria (six dimensions covering withdrawal risk, medical and psychiatric conditions, readiness, relapse risk and, decisively, the environment you return to. Facilities are licensed by the state and many hold additional accreditation from bodies such as the Joint Commission or CARF; that status is worth confirming for any specific programme. Percentages below are our count of how many facilities in the federal directory report offering each level of care.

  1. Detox19.5% of facilitiesmedical withdrawal management, 3–7 daysDetox vs rehab
  2. Residential21.4% of facilitieslive on site, 24-hour staffingInpatient vs outpatient
  3. PHP20–30 structured hours a week, sleep at homePHP vs IOP
  4. IOP9–19 hours a week, usually compatible with workPHP vs IOP
  5. Standard outpatient85.4% of facilities1–8 hours a week, the maintenance levelMutual aid options
“Remaining in treatment for an adequate period of time is critical.”

Programmes for specific groups

Facilities also report dedicated programming, and the coverage is wider than most people expect, worth asking about before assuming a programme will not fit. From our count: 42.7% run programmes for adolescents, 39.2% for veterans, 38% for pregnant and postpartum women, and 25% provide services in Spanish. Medication for opioid use disorder is available at 59.2% (buprenorphine) and 13.7% (methadone).

Cost and coverage vary by level: residential care is the tier insurers scrutinise most and almost always requires prior authorisation before admission. See what your plan covers and how to pay without insurance. Family involvement is a standard part of most programmes, and aftercare planning ( step-down to a lower level, sober living, relapse prevention) should be discussed before admission, not at discharge. If a mental health condition is also present, ask specifically whether the programme is staffed for co-occurring disorders: 69.5% of facilities in the directory report treating them, but that is a self-reported field worth confirming.

Two cards on the Fair Housing Act: people in recovery are a protected class against zoning, and the act does not shield a resident breaking house rules
The law keeps the house legal; the rules keep it sober. The two are not interchangeable.
Two cards on oversight: most states do not license sober living homes, so certification is the quality signal, with Arizona as the lesson after its fraud wave
Ask who certifies the house, then call that body and confirm the house is listed.
The Arizona lesson in two cards: unlicensed houses billed for treatment never given, and the fix is asking who certifies the house and verifying by phone
Fraud wore the right words. Verification is a phone call, not a website read.
Four checks before signing with a sober living house: read the written rules, verify the certification by phone, ask the lapse policy directly, get the costs in writing
Twenty minutes of verification against months of the wrong house.
What to bring to a sober living house and what to leave home: prescriptions in original packaging, ID and work clothes come; valuables, alcohol-containing products and sometimes the car stay out
The intake search is standard practice, not suspicion of you.
Bar chart of weekly costs per person: the Oxford House expense share at 110 to 160 dollars in the documented 2025 example against the wider sober living market range
The self-run model is the cheap end because residents split real costs instead of paying for staffing.
Diagram of the step-down pathway through addiction treatment: detox, residential, partial hospitalisation, intensive outpatient, then outpatient and aftercare
Nobody needs every step. The ladder exists so that support can be reduced as stability improves, not so that everyone starts at the top.
Bar chart of how many US treatment facilities offer each level of care: outpatient 85.4%, residential 21.4%, medical detox 19.5%, hospital inpatient 5.9%
Outpatient care is nearly universal; residential and detox are the scarce tiers. That scarcity is part of why they cost what they do and why waits exist.
Bar chart of medication for opioid use disorder availability: buprenorphine at 59.2% of facilities, methadone at 13.7%, certified opioid treatment programmes at 12.8%
The four-to-one gap between buprenorphine and methadone availability is a regulatory fact, not a clinical judgement about which works better.
Checklist of the six ASAM assessment dimensions: withdrawal risk, medical conditions, emotional and behavioural conditions, readiness to change, relapse potential, and recovery environment
This is the framework US programmes and insurers actually use. The sixth dimension — what home is like — is the one families most often underestimate.
Three figures: 69.5% of facilities treat co-occurring disorders, 59.8% offer trauma-informed care, 19.5% run medical detox
Co-occurring capability is self-reported. Ask what it means concretely, which clinicians are on staff, and whether psychiatric medication can be prescribed and reviewed on site.
Checklist of six questions to ask a treatment facility about network status, prior authorisation, all-in cost, medication availability, aftercare and accreditation
How plainly a programme answers these is itself information about how it operates.
Bar chart of payment types accepted by US addiction treatment facilities: cash 91.6%, private insurance 80.7%, Medicaid 83.4%, Medicare 55.2%, state-financed 54.5%, military 49.6%, sliding scale 40.0%, payment assistance 22.5%
Accepting your insurer is not the same as your plan covering the level of care you need. The two questions have to be asked separately.
Table showing when to call 911, 988 or the SAMHSA National Helpline for overdose, immediate danger, suicidal thoughts, severe distress and treatment questions
All three are free and staffed around the clock. 988 is the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline; the SAMHSA National Helpline is 1-800-662-4357.

Common questions

What are the rules of a sober living house?

Nearly everywhere: no alcohol or drugs, random testing, a curfew, assigned chores, a weekly house meeting, rent on time, and work or an active job search. Guest rules, smoking and passes vary by house. The two variations that decide fit are medication policy and what happens after a lapse; ask both in writing.

Can a sober living home kick you out?

Yes, and how fast depends on your agreement and your state. Guest-style agreements often allow same-day removal without court; tenancies require notice and process. In the Oxford model, using means removal by house vote, with re-entry after detox possible in many houses. Read which one you are signing before you sign it.

Do sober living homes drug test?

Yes, usually random urine or breath testing, plus a baseline at intake and tests after passes or on suspicion. Ask what counts as a fail, including whether a dilute sample counts, and what happens after a positive. A house with a written answer runs calmer than one improvising.

How much does sober living cost?

The self-run Oxford model shares house expenses at about $110 to $160 per person per week in the documented 2025 example. Staffed houses with more services run higher. Whatever the number, get the weekly cost, move-in costs, and what happens to a balance on leaving, in writing.

Can you have your phone in sober living?

Yes, generally unrestricted: sober living is a home, not a treatment unit. This is one of the clearest differences from residential rehab, where phones are commonly held. The rules that do exist are about behavior, not devices.

What are Oxford House rules?

Three charter conditions, not forty pages: the house is democratically self-run with elected officers, it is financially self-supporting with members splitting expenses, and anyone who uses is expelled by house vote. There is no maximum stay and no blackout period. Our count of the live directory found 4,416 such houses in 47 states.

Do sober living homes allow medication like Suboxone?

It splits, and it is the question to ask first. Some houses refuse prescribed medication for opioid use disorder; the better houses continue it, locked and dispensed by rule. A house that bans it is putting its rules against the evidence, which is useful to learn before you move in rather than after.

Can you have guests or visitors in sober living?

Yes, in common areas and at set hours; overnight guests are almost universally prohibited. Visits that matter clinically, like children, are worth asking about specifically, since practice varies widely by house and some houses for women with children are built around exactly that.

Sources

Compare levels of care

Check what your plan covers

How this page was made

Who wrote it:
the Westbrook Recovery editorial team : researchers and writers, not clinicians. No doctor has reviewed this page, and we do not claim otherwise. What that means in practice: we report what public clinical sources say and show you where to read them, rather than offering a clinical opinion of our own.
Checked against:
8 primary sources listed above: federal agency material and published clinical criteria. Where a figure varies by state, plan or facility, we say so instead of publishing a number that looks authoritative and is not.
Original analysis:
the facility proportions on this page are our own count of SAMHSA’s public directory. The full method is documented , including what we count, what we deliberately do not publish, and an error the approach caught. You can repeat the pull and check the numbers.
Last reviewed:
. This date changes when the content is actually re-checked, not automatically on every visit.
What this page is not:
a medical recommendation, a diagnosis, or a referral. Decisions about levels of care and medication belong with a clinician who knows your history. We do not operate facilities, take placement fees, or receive payment for sending anyone anywhere.

Related on this site

More guides

Weighing levels of care? See PHP vs IOP and what your insurance covers.

This page is information, not medical or legal advice. Laws on commitment and treatment differ by state. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 in the US, or reach the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 — free, confidential, 24/7.