The senior living industry has a problem: too many older adults think that it is unaffordable.
Part of the problem is that it simply is unaffordable for many older adults. The senior living industry still hasn’t built a solution at scale for the millions of people who will want and need senior living services in the years to come without a way to afford it. But beyond the “Forgotten Middle” problem, even older adult prospects of more market-rate communities believe that senior living is too pricey, at least according to recent survey data.
Almost 59% of respondents to a 2025 survey from Whittington Consulting said they thought senior living communities are not affordable to them. Just under half said they think senior living would cost them “much more” than aging in their own homes.
Data shows that senior living is not cheap and that costs for residents are growing every year. And the uncomfortable truth is that senior living providers “need to begin accepting that our product is not affordable,” according to Agemark Co-CEO Michael Pittore.
“Realistically, there is only less expensive and more expensive,” Pittore told Senior Housing News.
Rather than denying senior living is expensive, Agemark and many other operators – including 12 Oaks Senior Living, Priority Life Care, Health Dimensions Group, EverTrue, 2Life Communities and WesleyLife – are grappling with not only the actual cost of senior living but its perceived cost among residents.
In response, those companies have pivoted to strategies that show the value of what residents are buying versus staying at home. They also have doubled and tripled down on models that boost affordability in monthly rates.
From ‘selling units to explaining outcomes’
If senior living operators can’t always bring resident rates below a certain threshold, that doesn’t mean their services aren’t affordable relative to what older adults are already paying while living at home.
Prospects and their families are also already likely thinking about costs before they contact operators. Of the older adults surveyed by Whittington Consulting, 45% of respondents said they didn’t believe they have “saved enough money to cover healthcare needs as I get older.”
When taken together, costs of living like food, utilities, entertainment, health care are often not far from senior living rates. As such, many operators come prepared to show residents how much senior living actually costs relative to other expenses.
The senior living industry must “shift from selling units to explaining outcomes” in order to show the benefits of congregate living, despite the cost, according to Priority Life Care CEO Sevy Petras.
Senior living providers can show prospective residents and their families the math of living in a community translated through reduced hospitalizations and improved safety, Petras said. There is also the importance of social connection and better mental health, two benefits of senior living that residents don’t always take into account but no doubt factor into their costs.
All of this hinges on predictable monthly expenses that give prospects the chance to weigh their options, Petras said. And indeed, almost 79% of the surveyed older adults said they prefer a predictable monthly rent over other cost structures, like an entrance fee.
12 Oaks Senior Living maintains more affordable properties built in the 1980s and 1990s that include basic services and lower unit prices ranging between $1,500 to $2,200 per month for independent living options with minimal care services.
A majority of older adults don’t think senior living is affordable and a large number of older adults are postponing a move to senior living until their care needs change. Both represent problems for the industry, according to 12 Oaks COO Aaron Catoe.
“This is a big picture of resistance to the model, affordability and consumer education that are all intertwined, so it’s hard to look at just one of those individually,” Catoe said.
Minneapolis-based Health Dimensions Group (HDG) is working on a cost comparison tool that compares costs for older adults in home ownership versus what services and amenities are included in senior living, Executive Vice President of Consulting, Sales & Marketing Leah Lindgren said.
“One of the most important ways we can present our value proposition is to equip our sales leaders with compelling, beautiful, and inspiring stories about the improved quality of life that residents experience in our senior living communities,” Lindgren said.
While senior living demand remains “undeniable” in the years ahead, Petras said it’s up to the broader industry to evolve fast enough to meet affordability pressures in 2026 and beyond.
“We see affordability not as a constraint, but as an opportunity—to lead, to innovate, and to serve the segment of seniors who need us most,” Petras added.
Making services more affordable
Perhaps the most obvious way to combat perceptions of unaffordability is to actually make services more affordable. Senior living expenses in 2026 are a balancing act and operators are being pulled in multiple directions, from staffing to the cost of care, with maintaining healthy margins also on their mind.
Priority Life Care communities are working to tackle staffing turnover, an area that is “one of the biggest hidden costs” all operators face, Petras said.
“Affordability improves when operations are stable, teams are engaged, and residents stay longer—all of which are interconnected,” Petras said.
By improving data collection and data analysis on resident health outcomes, Pittore said the industry can present the tangible benefits of senior living to “help unlock pathways” for insurance companies, health providers and governments to “assist in subsidizing the cost” for a certain subset of customers.
“Outside of some unforeseen economic or geo-political shock, there is no easy or direct solution, and it will continue to get worse before it gets better,” Pittore said.
Some senior living providers with experience blending private-pay options and reimbursement models through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are testing new strategies to keep a portion of units affordable, though only in limited cases.
Across its higher-end and middle market properties, HDG now identifies a select handful of apartment types that have had “less demand interest” and reduced rents in those layouts, according to HDG Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Julie Flaig Smith.
“This allows people who may not have considered our community an option to move in at a lower rate,” Flaig Smith said. “This also allows current residents whose financial situation may have changed an opportunity to stay and move within the community, reduce their overall expenses, and better manage their financial resources.”
Assisted living and memory care properties managed by HDG also have a “higher proportion” of CMS waivers to help older adults afford increased care services, and the company is in the process of reducing select independent living and assisted living apartment rents with multiple levels of care to add more affordable options.
To improve the perception of affordability in senior living, operators must think differently about pricing strategies, while also better articulating the value proposition of senior living, according to Lindgren. Sharing rental rates and increased price transparency online is an important step HDG took in demystifying the cost of senior living.
To get staff involved in reducing the stigma of senior living, sales and marketing directors at HDG are trained on messaging and resources that are available to help make senior living more affordable for prospects.
Nonprofit senior living providers are taking steps to address affordability within their senior living portfolios, including by adding home and community-based services to extend their clinical care capabilities beyond their communities.
St. Louis-based EverTrue has consistently grown its Anywhere Care programs and services in a way that supports the independence, dignity and long-term sustainability of older adults living at home, according to CEO Adam Marles.
EverTrue also oversees a portfolio of 15 affordable senior living communities serving over 1,000 residents, through low income housing tax credit and subsidized units through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In March, EverTrue will open EverTrue Crossroads at Bevo Mill, a community in St. Louis with 64 subsidized units.
“Our goal is to serve older adults at all income levels to ensure that everyone has access to safe and quality housing, while offering supportive programming and services that have served as enhancements to our residents,” Marles said.
WesleyLife, the largest nonprofit senior living provider operating in Iowa, sets aside 15% of available units in its independent living properties for older adults that fall into the middle market or below segments, according to incoming CEO Allison Pendroy. In some instances, WesleyLife’s philanthropic wing is also able to provide funds for older adults that may have outlived their life savings.
“We do that because we want to help them to continue to age in place with us and not be displaced and we’re really proud of these efforts,” Pendroy said.
2Life Communities has seen success on affordability in recent years through the launch of its Opus model, a 172-unit continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Newton, Massachusetts, to help older adults afford senior living through a combination of services and volunteerism.
Retiring 2Life CEO Amy Schectman said that the industry must look at the affordability of senior living through the lens of “lifetime affordability,” meaning that providers must consider all steps of an older adult’s journey in senior living, rather than focusing on making one care type affordable. By using subsidies and more accurately billing for care services instead of charging flat rates, Schectman said strides in affordability will come.
“That’s why it’s really important to have a model that economically keeps people able to afford everything their whole lives,” Schectman said.
Keeping senior living rates affordable will require “both macro and micro solutions,” Lindgren said.
“We must continue to improve our operational efficiencies through improved processes, investments in technology and AI, enhanced quality of care and strong staff training programs,” Lindgren added.
