Strong Demand for Senior Living in Q4 2025 Meets Limited New Inventory
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The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care reported senior housing occupancy ended 2025 at 89.1%. That’s an increase of 0.4 percentage points from Q3 and marked the 18th consecutive quarter of occupancy rate increases.
Broken down by sector, independent living occupancy was above 90% and assisted living occupancy was 87.7%. Active adult occupancy was at nearly 92%.
By numbers, occupied senior housing units increased from 630,000 in Q3 to 635,000 in Q4.
But, growth in inventory was below 1% for the quarter, with only 1,900 new units coming online. That’s the third straight quarter where inventory was below 1%.
“With the first Baby Boomers turning 80 in 2026, we anticipate that the demand for housing and services will continue to grow. The rising occupancies and low inventory growth is going to lead to some real-life challenges for older adults and their families in certain markets,” said Lisa McCracken, NIC’s head of research and analytics. “The reality is, if there are limited options available, others may step in to provide alternatives if the senior housing supply is constrained.”
Some markets are tighter than others. Boston has 93.1% occupancy, and San Francisco and Baltimore at 91.9%.
Only five markets had occupancy below 87%. The lowest were Miami (85.4%), Atlanta (85.5%) and San Jose (86.1%).
NIC used newly released data from NIC MAP for the analysis.
