Fast Facts about the 1M+ in US Residential Care Communities

In the US, more than 1 million individuals reside in residential care communities. These people cannot live independently but do not yet require the skilled care offered by nursing homes. The aging population in the US is expected to lead to an increase in the size of these communities, which already accounted for 1,197,600 beds in 2020, according to estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). These communities made up almost half of the providers of post-acute and long-term care settings (30,600 of 68,150), and 81.9 percent were privately owned in 2020. Other providers include those running adult day care centers, home health agencies, inpatient rehab facilities, hospices, nursing homes, and long-term care hospitals. Together with residential care communities, these facilities house 7.3 million people. Almost two out of three people in residential care in 2022 (62 percent) required assistance with three or more activities, with bathing (75 percent), walking (71 percent), dressing (60 percent), and getting in or out of a chair or bed (57 percent) being the most common. Half of the residents need help with toileting (51 percent). Residents frequently experience chronic health conditions. Half of the residents (55 percent) have at least two or three of the 10 most common conditions, and one in five residents (18 percent) have four or more. High blood pressure is the most prevalent condition (58 percent), followed by Alzheimer’s disease or dementia (44 percent) and heart disease (33 percent). Diabetes is less common (16 percent). In 2022, the majority of residents were female (67 percent), white (92 percent), and aged 85 and older (53 percent), according to the NCHS. Almost two in 10 residents (17 percent) received Medicaid. Sources: Lendon JP, et al. Overview of post-acute and long-term care providers and services users in the United States, 2020. National Health Statistics Reports; no 208. NCHS 2024. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc/158328. Melekin A, et al. Residential care community resident characteristics: United States, 2022. NCHS Data Brief, no 506. NCHS 2024. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc/158327.