Senior Living + College
I worked in senior living for over a decade, and I covered from Pennsylvania to Florida. Then Colorado. I have seen more than a few nursing homes and spoken to more than a few families in transition.
When I hear the statistic that 3% of Americans reside in senior living facilities, that does not ring true to what I feel — that senior living is actually a much larger part of our lived experience as Americans.
This 3% number perplexed me for a long time. For one, it is questionably even the right number because we humans throw statistics around, we don’t measure all senior living facilities the same due to varying government regulations, and we don’t have a good handle on senior living verbiage — in my experience both internal and external to the industy. The term “nursing home” in particular is incredibly imprecise and used to identify a broad range of very different housing and medical assistance settings. If we’re measuring long-term care specifically, for example, the number is actually less than 2%.
However you slice it, the numbers I hear in conversation are frequently accompanied with a minimizing qualifier that makes them sound even smaller — “only 3%, less than 2%” — intentionally or unintentionally emphasizing the insignificance of senior living settings in our lives. I was close to deciding that this statistic felt wrong to only me, personally, because of my anecdotal bias. I prepared to carry on with the message that a person’s a person no matter how small of a percentage of those persons live in senior living — but here’s the rub.
2-3% of Americans may reside in senior living facilities at any given time, but this is not a fixed 2–3%. People come and go from these facilities — skilled nursing, assisted living, long-term care, memory care, residental assisted living, independent living, and this is not a definitive list — arguably spending around of 3–5 years at a time in any of those institutions.
“Senior living” loosely describes some kind of institutional housing and lifestyle option tied to a general age group. We, as Americans, do recognize at least one other institutional housing and lifestyle option tied to a general age group — and it’s called college. When I compare what is essentially consumer count data between senior living and college living, THAT is what rings true for me.
~35% of Americans can expect to spend time in senior living at some point in their lives.
THIS IS THE EXACT SAME NUMBER
We don’t all know someone currently in college.
We don’t all know someone currently in senior living.
But the data tells us that each of these institutions is just as likely as the other to be relevant at some point in our lives.
Americans are statistically as likely to go to college as they are to spend time in some level of senior living.
Knowing this, now, tell me:
Have you ever been on a college tour? Did you take your children or grandchildren? Did you go for yourself? Was it joyful? Was it on your terms?
Have you ever toured a senior living facility? Did you take your children or your parents? Did you go for yourself? Was it joyful? Was it on your terms?
One of the many benefits of Age-Friendly communities is how they naturally foster intergenerational connections, elevating awareness of needs and opportunities across the lifespan. If we can prepare for college dorm living then we can prepare to age-in-community, whatever that looks like for us. In an Age-Friendly community, we are more likely to witness and understand the housing and lifestyle transitions of others, becoming better prepared ourselves for our own transitions down the road.
When I think about how important the story of the college transition is in my family and how silent we are about senior living, this is a blind spot I would like to correct for my family and my patients and their families. And your family. The narrative that a measly 3% of Americans live in a nursing home does not inspire that correction. It’s time to change that narrative.