Pew Survey Reveals Most Older Adults Prefer to Age in Place

WASHINGTON—A new research survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found a large number of adults want to age in place but aren’t certain they’ll be able to. 

According to the results, the vast majority of adults in the United States age 65 and older (93%) say they currently live in their own home or apartment. Within this group, 9% say someone provides care for them in their home.

Small shares of older adults say they live in the home of an adult child (2%) or another family member (1%), live in an assisted living facility (1%) or have some other arrangement (3%).

On the topic of where these older adults would like to live, the results found most (60%) say they’d want to stay in their home and have someone care for them. Smaller groups of seniors said they would rather live somewhere else such as:

• Move into an assisted living facility (18%)
• Move in with a family member (11%)
• Move into a nursing home (1%)
• Have some other arrangement (8%)

The survey also found upper-income older adults are the most likely to say they’d prefer to move to assisted living. About three-in-ten (28%) say this, compared with 19% of those with middle incomes and 13% of those with lower incomes.

Among those who say they’d want to stay in their home with a caregiver, 37% say this is extremely or very likely to happen. Another 18% say it’s not too or not at all likely. Those who say they’d rather move to assisted living answered similarly: 35% say this is highly likely to happen, while 16% say it’s not likely. Older adults who say they’d like to move in with family are more optimistic: 58% say this is highly likely, while 9% say it’s not likely.

Some of the uncertainty surrounding future living arrangements may be related to cost, especially for options like in-home care and assisted living. The survey found that only 21% of adults ages 65 and older have long-term care insurance that would help cover the expense of ongoing living assistance.