Senior Living Average Occupancy Nears 90% As Demand Continues To Outpace Growth

Nearly half of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care primary markets have exceeded 90% occupancy, and more are continuing to climb.

Demand is continuing to outpace new supply, with nationwide average occupancy rates reaching 89.9% in the second quarter, according to NIC MAP’s latest occupancy figures, released Thursday. This marks the 20th consecutive quarter of occupancy growth and a 0.4% increase from the previous quarter. Now, 15 of 31 primary markets exceed 90%.

Average senior living occupancy grew 0.4% with around 16,000 units under construction in the second quarter of 2026. The number of occupied units increased by nearly 3,700 to 639,650, compared to 635,962 in the previous quarter.

Boston, San Francisco and Baltimore led the primary markets in average occupancy rates at 93.3%, 92.7% and 91.8% respectively. Miami, Atlanta and San Antonio had the lowest at 86.2%, 86.5% and 87%, but the report notes these are still climbing. Miami is 1.7 percentage points higher than the previous lowest market, Las Vegas, last year.

NIC’s experts expect the industry will hit the 90% average occupancy high-water mark by the end of the year.

“This clearly speaks to the demand and the need for more inventory,” Lisa McCracken, NIC’s head of research and analytics, told Senior Housing News. “When you have more than the historical high-performing markets at such high levels of occupied units, this shows that our sector is not building at the rate that is needed.

She added: “We need to figure out how to expand our inventory before this is the narrative across all markets and our penetration declines.”

Active adult occupancy has been on the rise over the past quarter, reaching 92.6%, a 0.3 percentage point increase over the previous quarter. The report states 1,000 new active adult units have been added in 2026, bringing the total up to 130,000 across 880 properties.

Across 15 active adult markets, Los Angeles and Virginia Beach are tied at 96.2% average occupancy, followed by Buffalo at 95.4%. Austin and Phoenix report the lowest occupancy at 88% and 88.1% respectively, but each saw a 1.1 and three percentage point increase from the previous quarter.

Looking ahead, these levels of occupancy are expected to be the norm, according to McCracken.

“We are likely going to be in this high-occupancy environment for the foreseeable future. That is obviously a positive state to be in, but it also means a different type of operations, marketing strategies and even approach to revenue growth outside of simply increases in rent,” McCracken said. “I would encourage operators to take a strategic look at what their plan is for continued growth and expansion in a highly occupied marketplace.”

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