ElderCareCosts Research
https://www.eldercarecosts.com/press/data/licensed-supply-by-state/
Data newsroom · Access and supply · ElderCareCosts Research
Licensed Care Supply Per Ten Thousand Older Residents, by State
Licensed assisted living communities and nursing homes set against each state's older population.
The finding
Across 51 states and the District, the ElderCareCosts directory holds 45,531 licensed assisted living communities and 14,931 licensed nursing homes for 41,353,752 residents aged 65 and over counted in Census places. The median state has 6.9 assisted living communities and 4.3 nursing homes per 10,000 older residents. Assisted living supply is densest in Alaska (82.3 per 10,000) and thinnest in New York (2.1). Nursing home supply runs from 8.6 per 10,000 in Iowa down to 1.1 in Arizona. 3 states are left out of the assisted living ranking because our directory does not yet hold that state's assisted living registry: Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee.
- Assisted living per older residents
- 6.9
median of the 48 ranked states, per 10,000 residents aged 65 and over
- Nursing homes per older residents
- 4.3
median of 51 states, per 10,000 residents aged 65 and over
- Densest assisted living supply
- Alaska
82.3 communities per 10,000; thinnest ranked state is New York at 2.1
Cite this piece
Cite this: ElderCareCosts Research, "Licensed Care Supply per Ten Thousand Older Residents, by State". Data as of directory as loaded; Census place populations as loaded. https://www.eldercarecosts.com/press/data/licensed-supply-by-state/
Reporters and researchers: reuse with attribution, no permission needed. Questions, corrections, or a cut of this data for your patch: [email protected].
How to read this
Each rate divides the number of licensed providers of that type with an address in the state by the state's residents aged 65 and over, summed from Census places, per ten thousand. The counts are licenses on file, not beds and not occupancy, so a state of small board-and-care homes scores high on count where a state of large campuses scores low.
States with a high assisted living rate and a low nursing home rate are usually states whose licensing rules let small residential homes serve people other states place in nursing homes. The two columns substitute for each other more than they add.
Nursing home counts come from the federal CMS file and cover every state the same way. Assisted living counts come from state licensing registries, which we hold for most states and not yet for all; the states we do not hold are named above and excluded from the ranking rather than shown as empty.
In-home care agencies are counted in the download for completeness and left out of the ranking. An agency's mailing address is not its service area, and treating it as one would invent a finding the data cannot support.
Charts
Licensed providers per 10,000 residents aged 65 and over
The states with the densest assisted living supply and the states with the thinnest, among states whose assisted living registry we hold. The upper bar in each pair is assisted living; the lower bar is nursing homes.
Unit: providers per 10,000 older residents
- Assisted living
- Nursing homes
| Label | Assisted living (providers per 10,000 older residents) | Nursing homes (providers per 10,000 older residents) |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 82.3 | 2.2 |
| Hawaii | 63.7 | 1.6 |
| Wisconsin | 57.4 | 4.3 |
| Michigan | 47.4 | 4.5 |
| Minnesota | 27.1 | 4.4 |
| Georgia | 23.8 | 4.7 |
| Maine | 21.5 | 5.6 |
| Maryland | 20.0 | 2.7 |
| New Jersey | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| Louisiana | 3.2 | 5.4 |
| Connecticut | 3.2 | 5.0 |
| Indiana | 3.0 | 6.6 |
| Illinois | 2.7 | 3.7 |
| District of Columbia | 2.5 | 2.1 |
| New York | 2.1 | 2.2 |
Full data
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Every row above is in the download. Download the full dataset as CSV.
Methodology
For every state we count licensed providers in our directory by care type, excluding records whose license status our directory reads as closed, and divide by the state's residents aged 65 and over summed from the Census places in our backbone, per ten thousand. Counts are licenses on file: not beds, not occupancy, not availability.
States are ranked by assisted living supply. The nursing home rate is published alongside, with the raw counts behind every rate in the table and the download. A state whose assisted living registry we do not yet hold is listed as not ranked rather than shown as empty, because a gap in our sources is not a gap in that state's supply.
In-home care agencies are counted in the download and left out of every rate, because an agency's mailing address is not its service area and a per-capita figure built on it would invent a finding the data cannot support.
Sitewide cost and data method: Methodology · Data sources · Corrections
What this cannot tell you
The denominator is a floor. Residents of unincorporated areas outside any recognized Census place are not counted, so every rate here is higher than the true per-capita figure, and the overstatement is largest in rural states. Compare states with that in mind.
A license is not a bed. A state whose rules favor small residential homes will show many assisted living licenses for the same capacity another state holds in a few large campuses. The assisted living and nursing home columns substitute for each other more than they add.
Our directory is built from state licensing registries and CMS files, and those registries differ in how completely and how recently they publish. A state whose registry we hold only partially will look thinner than it is, and we do not correct for that because correcting would mean estimating providers we cannot name.
Supply is not access. A license at an address says nothing about price, waiting lists, Medicaid acceptance or whether a family can reach it.
Sources
- ElderCareCosts licensed provider directory: Licensed provider records built from state licensing registries and CMS files, with the source and load date recorded on every row
- US Census Bureau, American Community Survey and Gazetteer: Place and county backbone, population aged 65 and over, and median household income
- CMS Nursing Home Provider Information: Nursing home records, ownership type, and chain identifiers
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