Just 18% Of Older Adults Say They Want To Move Into Assisted Living

More than half of older adults in the U.S. say they would prefer to age at home. Only 18% said they wanted to live in an assisted living community, according to a new Pew Research study.

For the survey, released Feb. 26, researchers analyzed responses from 2,582 adults age 65 and older.

More than half of those respondents, 60%, said they want to live in their own home with a caregiver if their care needs grew too great to handle alone. Fewer than a quarter of the respondents, 18%, said they want to live in an assisted living community. Another 8% of the respondents said they wanted “some other arrangement” for aging, and only 1% of respondents said they wanted to live in a nursing home.

More than a quarter of older adults in the upper-income range (28%) said they would prefer to move to assisted living. Only 19% of older adults with middle incomes and 13% of older adults with lower incomes said the same.

It’s no secret to senior living operators that many prospective senior living residents would prefer to stay at home. But the latest survey indicates that older adults still aren’t completely sure what they want in their next chapter of life.

For instance, among the respondents who said they would prefer to move to assisted living, slightly less than half, 48%, said they were “somewhat” sure of that occurring. Only slightly more than a third of them, 35% believe such a move “is highly likely to happen.” Another 16% said a move into assisted living in the future is “not likely.”

Cost may be one reason for that uncertainty, according to the survey’s authors. Slightly less than one-quarter (21%) of adults ages 65 and older have long-term care insurance that would help cover the costs of assisted living services.

The post Just 18% of Older Adults Say They Want to Move Into Assisted Living appeared first on Senior Housing News.