Why Senior Living Operators Shouldn’t Ignore Trend Of Older Adults Working Longer

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The baby boomers are working beyond the traditional retirement years of previous generations. Senior living operators should prepare now.

The number of working older adults aged 65 and up has tripled over the past 25 years, according to a June report from AARP. Based on trends and projections, the number of adults aged 75 and up in the workforce is expected to at least double by 2060.

Data from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found the average retirement age for men in 2024 was around 65, three years higher than it had been 30 years prior. The average retirement age for women has increased since the 1960s and currently sits around 63 years old.

I think the boomers’ desires to work later, coupled with the fact that many senior living operators are seeking to attract residents at a younger age, will lead to more working people living in senior housing. Already, operators on the lower end of the acuity spectrum are building in business centers and other amenities to appeal to older adults who are still working jobs, even those working only on a consulting or part-time basis.

Another trend pushing the boomers toward work in their later years are their financial profiles. An ASHA report from May found that average independent living monthly fees exceed residents’ monthly incomes by 116% and assisted living exceeds residents’ monthly incomes by 174%, meaning they must supplement their income to afford care services.

While virtually all of the residents in the report were retired and therefore not working, 1% of residents living in independent living or assisted living said they have full-time jobs, while 3% of independent living and assisted living residents have part-time jobs, according to the report. Another 1% were listed as unemployed and looking for work.

That may seem like a scant number, but even those single-digit percentages translate into thousands of senior housing residents who are still working or seeking to. It’s a lesson that some active adult operators like Treplus Communities have already taken to heart as the company’s leaders forge ahead with a model that includes clubhouses with business centers for working residents.

In this week’s SHN+ Update, I examine the employment and retirement trends in older adults and offer the following takeaways:

• Why more older adults are working longer
• Data on older adult workforce trends
• A glimpse inside one operator’s upscale model for resident coworking spaces

Residents work to fill gaps, find purpose

As the data shows, residents can’t always afford senior living services with their monthly incomes.

About one-third of U.S. older adults live in poverty or are at risk of falling into it and housing expenditures have increased 12% since 2018, according to AARP data.

“Some people are working longer because they love their job and they want to work longer. They find value in the work they do,” Debra Whitman, AARP chief public policy officer, said in conjunction with the data release. “Yet, others are working longer because they have to. They need to work in order to make ends meet.”

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed people 55 and older increased their share of the workforce from 15 percent to 23 percent between 2003 and 2023.

Older adults are working longer due to reasons rooted in both choice and necessity. The U.S. Government Accountability Office surveyed older adults and found that health coverage, social engagement, and financial needs were pushing a larger number of them to work longer. The agency’s staff interviewed older adults and found many preferred jobs that weren’t physically demanding and addressed their financial needs, provided purpose and community connection and offered medical benefits and flexible work arrangements.

Only 13% of independent living residents have a net worth exceeding $1 million, and over one-third have less than $750,000 in total savings, according to ASHA data.

The baby boomers have fewer pensions and adult children than their parents did, making their retirement math problem harder to solve. Social security payments can help fill that gap for, but for many the payments are not enough to cover their monthly costs.

According to Laura Quinby, an associate director at Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research, the trend goes back to social security reforms in the 1980s that pushed the “full retirement” age from 65 to 67.

“People really do use the Social Security full retirement age as an anchor in terms of when they should retire and claim benefits,” Quinby told CNBC. “That shift triggered a trend in people working longer.”

Bringing the view back down to ground-level, I believe these trends will continue to push older adults to work. It’s not hard to imagine more boomers working remotely on a consulting basis or part-time while living in senior housing, especially as they face the reality of paying for care and services as they age.

This isn’t to say that most residents will work, and the ASHA data clearly shows this group is a very small percentage of the people living in communities. However, the boomers are said to be all about freedom of choice, from what they eat and where they shop to where they like to travel and live. If that trends hold, I believe that they will also appreciate amenities that allow them to choose to continue working. But in my opinion, those spaces must go beyond the typical dated computer-and-fax machine rooms that many operators have inside their four walls already.

A model for working residents

Sun beams into a well-appointed office. A circle of chairs surrounds a small table. Office chairs sit parked at an open desk. This could well describe any professional WeWork or other coworking space in the country. The one difference is, this coworking space exists inside of an active adult community.

This is a glimpse inside a business center at one of Ohio-based Treplus Communities’ five properties. Treplus builds these kinds of spaces into all of its owned communities for a reason. According to CEO and Co-Founder Jane Arthur Treplus, older adults moving into the operator’s communities still “want to be part of a community.”

“They want things happening. Some of them are still working,” she told SHN earlier this year at the 2026 Spring NIC Conference.

Of course, Treplus is an active adult operator and therefore caters to an even younger crowd than independent living with an average age of 70 to 72 for its residents. At least some of today’s active adult residents will no doubt age into a higher acuity as time goes on, and I think they will bring their preferences with them.

It’s not hard to imagine a former corporate executive moving into a senior living community in their late 70s or early 80s but continuing to work a few hours a week via remote conferencing or email. Even after retiring, some older adults still hold volunteer jobs that require as much passion and time as some paid gigs do.

Many senior living communities have spaces they call “business centers,” but we here at SHN have toured more than a few properties where such spaces are glorified storage rooms with dated equipment and poor lighting. By contrast, Treplus advertises its coworking spaces as suitable for taking client meetings or in-person project discussions.

My point is that more operators should think of coworking spaces as more than a box to check on an amenity list, and consider the needs of their future residents. Given where the trends are headed, I think more older adults will use this kind of amenity in the future. And even if they don’t actually use it, I think simply having the choice to work will appeal to them in a way that current business centers do not.

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