Where the data comes from

The places we list come from official, public records. We don’t copy data from other directories. Each listing shows where each piece of data comes from and its date.

Three types of information

• Official records: data from CMS (Medicare) or from the state licensing agency: name, address, phone number, license, beds, ratings and inspections.
• Information from the provider: what the place itself enters in its portal (services, languages, price, availability). We review it before publishing and show it with its date.
• Third-party information: what the provider’s website says when the provider has not completed its listing yet. We label it “according to its website,” with the date we checked, and we don’t treat it as verified.

What each label means

• Medicare / Medicaid certified: the nursing home is listed as a certified provider with CMS. This does not guarantee that it has a Medicaid bed available.
• Stars: the CMS overall star rating (1 to 5), which combines health inspections, staffing and quality measures.
• Medicare inspections: every nursing home listing has a section with the public summary of its inspections (date, findings, fines and CMS follow-up indicators), with context. It is official information to give you the full picture, not our judgment.
• State license: assisted living, board and care homes and adult day centers are licensed by each state. We only list the ones the state records show with an active license.
• Spanish spoken: only when the provider itself reports it or its website says so (and we note which one).

Coverage by state

Nursing homes: nationwide (14,690, CMS, September 30, 2026).

Assisted living and residential care (44,706), with a current state license: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Adult day centers (3,257): Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

In the other states, the licensing agency does not currently publish a list that we can download and verify while respecting its terms of use: some only have search tools with a CAPTCHA or prohibit automated access, and others publish outdated data. We don’t fill the gaps with unofficial sources. For small family homes (for example, adult family homes or adult foster homes), when the record uses the name of the person who holds the license, we show a generic name with the license number.

How we process the data

• We standardize names, phone numbers and addresses, and give each place a stable ID based on its official number (CMS CCN or license number).
• We detect duplicates across sources by address, name and phone number. Uncertain matches are not merged automatically: a person reviews them.
• We locate each address with the coordinates in the record or with the Census Bureau geocoder, and we check that the point is near its ZIP code. If it can’t be located, we mark it as “approximate location.”
• If a provider no longer appears with an active license, its listing is removed in the next update.
• When a state record has not been updated in more than 12 months, the listing says so and suggests that you call to confirm the place is still open.

The summary on each listing and the context we add

• Summary: we build it automatically from that place’s official data (type, location, beds or spots, certification, special units reported to Medicare, nearest hospital). It does not add opinions or data that are not in the source.
• What the license means: our own explanation of each type of state license, with a link to the rule or the agency that defines it.
• Who to call: the long-term care ombudsman, Medicare counseling (SHIP), Medicaid and the licensing agency in each state, verified on their official websites.
• Reference costs: state medians from CareScout (Genworth), Cost of Care Survey 2025, and caregiver wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). They are not the prices of each place.

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