New Report Links ‘feeling At Home’ To Senior Living Resident Satisfaction, Better Financial Performance

New data is underscoring the important link among senior living residents’ sense of “feeling at home,” their satisfaction and an operator’s financial success.

That’s according to the 2025 Independent and Assisted Living Feel at Home Report by the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) in partnership with the ProMatura Group. The study profiled over 4,500 residents in independent and assisted living communities, and updates research conducted in 2013 and 2015.

Creating a sense of home for residents and their families can help operators elevate resident happiness or satisfaction while also improving operating performance over time, according to the report.

A total of 83% of independent living residents reported feeling at home “all or most of the time,” while assisted living residents reported a similar feeling almost three-quarters (73%) of the time. The strongest predictor of resident satisfaction and whether they will recommend their community to a friend is whether they feel “at home.”

Factors that contributed to independent living residents’ sense of “feeling at home” included relationships with friends, family and other residents, along with a caring staff that knows them by name. In assisted living, residents reported “feeling at home” most through satisfaction with their private residence and its interior decoration, along with a strong sense of camaraderie with other residents and a belief that they would select the same community again.

The report notes that the industry has made progress towards improving senior living environments that promote emotional comfort and well-being, specifically as wellness and lifestyle trends have become more commonplace and health care services have become more personalized. Along with those aspects, 86% of independent living residents and 76% of assisted living residents said that a community having “state-of-the-art technology” is “essential or desirable” as more operators invest in technology to improve operations and care.

ASHA and ProMatura found that the average age of independent living residents was 80.6 years-old and 83.8 years-old in assisted living, while average length of stay for independent living was 4.8 years and 3.5 years in assisted living.

Other reports in the past have highlighted the positive impact senior living can have on older adults, and this is vitally important as living alone is the norm for older adults, according to the latest ASHA report. Almost two-thirds of independent living (65%) residents and 83% of assisted living residents reported living alone.

In a news release accompanying the report, ASHA CEO and President David Schless calls the report “game-changing,” as the report has publicly for the first time made a direct correlation between emotional comfort and community success.

“This seminal research is truly game-changing for owners and operators as it clearly connects the importance of `feeling at home’ by residents to high levels of resident satisfaction and to financially successful senior living communities for the first time ever,” Schless said. “While there are myriad factors in operating high performing seniors housing, the importance of fostering a strong sense of feeling at home among residents is paramount.”

The most recent At Home Report also shows an improved sentiment over time between 2013 and 2024, with residents who identified themselves as being in the “I’m Home” group increased from 25% to 30% in independent living and 24% to 30% in assisted living in that time period. The assisted living and memory care resident segment also saw improved sentiment over time, increasing from 20% to 42%, the report shows.

The 2025 Independent Living and Assisted Living Feel at Home Report is available at the bookstore on ASHA’s website.

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