40% Still Within Reach: Senior Living Operators Control Expenses, Use Tech To Increase Margins

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Demand for senior living is high in 2026, and communities are filling up. But occupancy is just part of the game, the real target is higher margins.

Protecting the bottom line is a delicate balance in 2026 as providers juggle rising expenses, from staffing to food costs. Operators are successfully increasing operating margins this year, and providers told Senior Housing News that achieving a 40% operating margin is still within reach for certain product types.

But not without more staffing discipline, refined resident satisfaction efforts and the use of technology to support more efficient senior living operations.

At high occupancy rates, providers can sometimes grapple with “expense creep,” Beztak Executive Vice President of Senior Living Jason Kohler said. Avoiding growing expenses is possible by proactively managing costs directly tied to a community’s growing resident count, such as food or care services.

“The challenge really shifts from reaching occupancy goals to never being satisfied, not in a negative sense, but in a way that you can find more opportunity for efficiency and more focus to go from great to exceptional,” Kohler told Senior Housing News.

At the same time, operators that are too aggressive with concessions or discounting to secure occupancy gains risk running into problems once they reach high census, such as reduced revenue per resident, sustained margin compression and inability to accurately set rates without impacting resident satisfaction, according to Viva Senior Living COO Chris Metternich.

Providers including Beztak, Viva Senior Living, The Aspenwood Company and Insight Living are working to protect operating margins at high occupancy.

Finding balance, navigating nuance in margins

NIC MAP occupancy data released last month showed the industry was at 89.5% occupancy thanks to strong demand for senior living coupled with limited development growth.

Farmington Hills, Michigan-based Beztak operates eight senior living communities and recently launched a third-party management company to operate luxury properties with select ownership groups.

As of April, Beztak reported 94% occupancy across its All Seasons and Monark Grove senior living community brands, with an operating margin of 48.6% at the end of the first quarter, according to data shared by Kohler. Three of its All Seasons properties are at full census, including locations in Ann Arbor and Birmingham, Michigan, as well as Oro Valley near Tucson, Arizona.

By budgeting for properties to be at 90% occupancy, Kohler said Beztak is able to add staff as needed on a more targeted basis, usually in areas that experience greater demand when a community is running at high or full occupancy, including additional hours for housekeeping or dining staff.

“Staffing pressure is one thing you need to balance, but resident satisfaction is another,” Kohler said. “There are more people living in the community and that means there’s more pressure on satisfaction, especially in dining and programming.”

The nuances of high occupancy really show up in how operators control expenses. If controllable operating costs are a certain amount per day, those costs should not rise in direct proportion simply because there are more residents, Kohler said.

For example, using a 200-unit community like Beztak’s Ann Arbor property, if it costs about $100 per resident per day to provide care and services for 180 residents, an operator should not assume it will cost another full $100 per day for each of the next 20 residents when budgeting correctly.

“That improves your margin, you’re not preserving it, you’re improving it at that point and that’s what you should expect as an operator with high occupancy,” Kohler said.

Viva Senior Living manages 33 communities in 12 states, and the provider has grown rapidly through expanding partnerships with ownership groups. In 2024, Viva Senior Living was brought in to manage four newly acquired senior living properties in the Southeast.  After 30 months, the properties were sold for approximately 45% above the original purchase price, according to data provided by Viva Senior Living. The company was retained as manager of the properties, which are now at full occupancy after starting at around 70% occupancy at the time of the takeover.

The increase in Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) from initial takeover to the sale was over 80%, and they maintain an operating margin of approximately 25%

Metternich believes margin growth is possible within the four-property portfolio as concessions phase out. Protecting occupancy boils down to several areas for Viva Senior Living, including regular census check-ins with community teams to assess move-ins, customer service initiatives and acuity changes.

Once a high or full census is achieved, Metternich said Viva Senior Living communities focus on collections, including unbilled services and ensuring clinical care assessments are accurate and updated. Viva Senior Living properties also regularly monitor hospital transitions to understand the flow of a community’s resident base.

Fighting expense creep is possible through accurate staffing during lease-up, and Metternich said the “biggest protection” he can provide residents and staff is “to spend well.” Negotiating service and procurement contracts for things such as dining services on an annual basis is another way operators can protect the bottom line, he said.

Being diligent can also protect residents from surprise rental rate increases. For example, Viva Senior Living has remained committed to single-digit rental rate increases, such as 7%, instead of having to implement double-digit increases, Metternich said.

“If I purchase well, and I am constantly renegotiating, looking for that better opportunity with quality, I am going to be able to protect residents from higher rates,” Metternich said.

‘Two things at once’ to stabilize occupancy, protect margins

Once occupancy builds, it can be difficult to maintain the momentum needed to continue increasing census. Moving from between 88% and 92% occupancy to between 93% and 96% occupancy requires discipline in operations, according to Insight Living President Bryan Ziebart.

While pushing for higher occupancy, operators must focus on execution, dealing with “two things at once” by delivering quality care, dining and resident experiences whether a community has 50 residents or 100 residents as it stabilizes. For example, Insight Living’s Tanner Springs in West Linn, Oregon reached 100% occupancy but then experienced move-outs and fell to 94% census. It rebounded to 96% as of last month, Ziebart said.

“That’s the real benefit of running at high census,” Ziebart said. “When you get hit with an anomaly like a cluster of move-outs, the community can still perform financially because it has room to play within a range and stay stabilized. A building running thin doesn’t have that cushion.”

Using technology, data analysis to protect margins, find efficiency

Providers in recent years have adapted technology platforms to better meet their operational needs, with some operators launching proprietary data models and dashboards that help improve operating performance.

In 2025, Centennial, Colorado-based Ascent Living Communities modernized its back-end data collection and analytics platform, providing deeper insights into resident care and overall community performance. The enhanced visibility and responsiveness have not only improved care outcomes but also contributed positively to the organization’s financial performance, according to CEO Tom Finley.

When a community reaches 90% occupancy with a labor ratio equal to 30% of revenue, it is possible to achieve operating margins of around 40%.

For example, Ascent Living Communities’ Carillon at Belleview Station has maintained occupancy between 95% and 99% this year, with an operating margin of 40%, according to data provided by Finley. That breaks down to net operating income per unit of approximately $3,700 per month.

Another property, Hilltop Reserve, recently opened in Denver. Occupancy has increased from 79% last year to 91% this year, with an operating margin of 41% and NOI per occupied unit of approximately $3,100 per month.

To protect margins at high occupancy, Finley said Ascent Living Communities uses a points-based acuity model to determine residents’ care needs each week and then allocates labor hours to executive directors based on that real-time acuity rather than static annual budgets.

The operator also closely tracks labor as a percentage of revenue, care fee margins, NOI per occupied unit and overall operating margin through internal dashboards. It adjusts staffing to match both occupancy and resident acuity while avoiding across-the-board cuts that would harm service quality.

“That really allows us to not only get that higher occupancy, but maintain and expand our margins as we grow,” Finley said.

Together, these tools help Ascent Living Communities maintain labor efficiency, shorten vacancy periods and convert occupancy gains into sustainable NOI growth more quickly, Finley said.

For Houston-based The Aspenwood Company, technology has also played a role in the company’s success in protecting margins while maintaining high occupancy. The company operates 20 communities in four states. Across its stabilized properties, The Aspenwood Company maintains 94% occupancy in 2026, according to President Heather Tussing.

“Truly maintaining full occupancy is like solving a Rubik’s cube,” Tussing said.

One Aspenwood Co. community, The Village on the Park Plano, near Dallas, has maintained occupancy above 97% this year. Last May, the property had a 22% operating margin. Today, it stands at 30%, data shared by Tussing shows.

The company tailors operating performance dashboards for each community, adjusting them to each property’s unique needs as they evolve over time, Tussing said. “You have to adapt early on.”

Tussing said operators cannot wait for communities to build census before identifying issues in staffing ratios or billing practices. A “robust” manager-on-duty program is another way providers can protect the bottom line at high census, she said.

“You have to have great systems, great technology and a staff that is trained well to understand the community,” Tussing said.

But growing the census and maintaining strong operating margins cannot be the only focus. Resident satisfaction matters, otherwise providers risk an influx of move-outs.

Ascent Living Communities relies on a third-party survey platform that shares resident satisfaction scores, allowing communities to respond to resident concerns more quickly. High scores are used to generate positive reviews and new resident referrals, while lower scores trigger outreach to residents and families to understand concerns and improve the experience, Finley said.

At high census, operators must be especially attentive to how well dining rooms operate, how engaging and responsive life enrichment programs are and how reliably transportation and maintenance services keep up with growing needs.

Done well, this focus on satisfaction supports both occupancy preservation and margin performance, Kohler said.

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