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The baby boomers are at the industry’s doorstep, and operators have their work cut out for them meeting that demand. But in 2025, they also should be thinking about the generation that comes after the boomers.
Earlier this week, I covered how the senior living industry is preparing for Gen X, commonly defined as people born between 1965 and 1985. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that a majority of operators surveyed by Senior Housing News (83.3%) said they are not currently thinking about marketing for Gen X adults.
While operators no doubt have their work cut out of them this year, I think it’s a mistake to overlook the generation immediately following the boomers. In 2025, the oldest Gen Xers are turning 60 – still far too early to move into senior living communities, but not so early that operators shouldn’t start thinking about them. Gen X is right now about where the boomers were in 2005 in terms of age.
It’s not just about preparing for another wave of demand ahead, either. Thinking about Gen X can also help prime operators to better cater to adult children who are often the decisionmakers in their parents’ senior living journeys.
“Educating the Gen X cohort about modern senior living is a long game, but the industry needs to start now to change outdated perceptions,” Claiborne Senior Living Marketing Director Brooke Saxon-Spencer told me.
In this week’s members-only, SHN+ Update, I analyze recent data and conversations regarding Gen X and offer the following takeaways:
- What data can tell us about Gen X and their future in the industry
- Why senior living operators must pivot from conventional marketing tactics
- How catering to Gen X can help the industry shift from “fear-based marketing”
Data shows what Gen X might want from senior living
In the recent SHN survey a majority of operators, 83%, acknowledged that today’s senior living communities will “not adequately serve” Gen X in the future.
I think some in the industry are already feeling the urgency to better understand the generation of older adults after the baby boomers.
For example, Evanston, Illinois-based Mather has launched a multi-year research effort aimed at understanding the consumer preferences and desires of Gen X adults. That coincided with the company opening its latest life plan community in Tysons, Virginia that’s crafted around wellness in all aspects.
According to the Mather survey, researchers examined how the cohort views various wellness practices, along with the cohort experiencing a higher level of stress compared to boomers. The recently updated study also found that Gen X adults identified on average as 6.5 years younger than their actual age, while boomers felt on average 11 years younger than their age, among other findings.
“I see our communities as being residential wellness communities,” Mather CEO Mary Leary told me. “So I am proposing that the industry can start calling itself wellness communities to help eliminate the stigma associated with marketing communities.”
This shift in mind-set is something I believe the industry must push harder on, but the path ahead remains challenging as affordability remains a top concern for Gen X residents.
While two-thirds of Gen X respondents to the Mather Institute Gen X study said they use wellness technology to monitor their health, barriers including “cost, lack of interest and concerns about data privacy” pose future hurdles for operators attempting to shift their operating models to a wellness-driven footing.
A total of 48% of Gen X adults when asked about what they would like to change about their current home responded a need to “lower housing costs,” making Gen X “significantly more likely” to be motivated to consider a move if they can find an affordable option. That’s in contrast with just 25.7% of those 65 and older seeking to downsize due to lower housing costs.
That’s according to data collected by Roobrik by Aline of over 6,100 Gen X respondents as part of the company’s longitudinal “Is It Time To Downsize” survey that launched in the third quarter of 2021. The survey garnered over 31,000 responses from people who were both younger and older than 65.
But this affordability challenge is something that I believe will continue to hurt the industry’s chances of being able to capitalize on the full extent of the incoming demand for senior living well into the future. Operating costs across the traditional senior living continuum remain elevated, harming operators’ ability to reduce the cost of their rates for residents.
According to the 2024 Planning and Progress Study by Northwestern Mutual, fewer than half of baby boomers (49%) and Gen X (48%) “believe they will be financially prepared when the time comes.” Just 44% of Gen Xers said they “have a plan to address healthcare costs in retirement,” according to the survey.
Senior living operators must have clear marketing messages that communicate the financial benefits of downsizing, Roobrik by Aline Head of Marketing Craig Simons told me. Supported by the company’s findings on Gen X, he noted that operators should consider creating resources or tools, like affordability calculators, that can guide prospects through the process.
Roobrik by Aline data on Gen X also shows that 47.8% of respondents are “excited” about the prospect of downsizing, compared to 28.1% of those over 65 that responded to the survey.
I also think it’s still early to land on what Gen X will want out of senior living down the road. According to the Planning and Progress study, a little more than a third of Gen X respondents said they “have a plan to address long-term care needs in retirement,” which tells me that many are just not yet thinking about their retirement.
But I think that is normal. After all, did the baby boomers know in 2005 they would one day desire middle-market living options, high-tech connectivity and wellness-centered amenities and services? I suspect those wants and needs developed over time.
Still, the bottom line to me is that there is already valuable information that senior living operators can use to determine their future growth trajectories. Although it’s not a secret that there’s a huge and growing need for the middle-market, to me this data shows affordability will potentially be an even bigger focus for the generation that follows the boomers.
I think the data reveals important nuances in how Gen X might respond to the communities operators are gearing to the boomers now in 2025.
Reaching Gen X means shifting from ‘fear-based marketing’
Conventional knowledge surrounding Gen X shows they’re “savvy, skeptical and self-reliant,” according to the Pew Research Center.
To me, this means senior living operators have to think differently about the ways they can reach this cohort. Saxon-Spencer told me that, overall, the industry must move from “fear-based marketing to lifestyle driven marketing,” while moving from reactive to proactive messaging.
“While traditional marketing leans on health scares or burdens of aging, we need to transition to highlighting convenience, personalization and future-proofing [communities],” she told me.
But I don’t think this pivot can be done through marketing changes alone. There must be an emphasis on personalization, or as one operator put it in response to the SHN Gen X survey, “self-determined life paths not dictated by calendar events.”
That must be paired with “true lifestyle amenities like bars, game rooms, arcades, multiple dining rooms and workout spaces,” the operator wrote. Another operator commented on how providers must have “a lot more flexibility with service plans,” with emphasis on customization rather than a one-size-fits-all model for meals, housekeeping and recreation.
Reaching this younger demographic will also influence which avenues operators take in their future marketing spending habits.
As Gen X increasingly interacts with streaming services, Heritage Communities buys video ads to viewers online known as “over the top ads” bypassing traditional broadcast media platforms.
This, Heritage Communities Chief Marketing Officer Lacy Jungman told me, is in direct response to the Gen X cohort tending to stream on TV rather than smartphones or tablets like younger generations including Millennials and Generation Z, she told me.
But going forward, it will be important for senior living operators to continue to improve services and operations—not just pivot marketing tactics.
While this isn’t a short-term play to improve occupancy or revenue, this long-term gameplan is one that I believe the industry must adopt if operators expect to resonate with prospective older adults sooner—if at all in the event current misconceptions remain.
