New Survey: Aging in Place Got Harder This Year, Not Easier. Here's What the Data Shows
I have watched this get harder for years before any survey told me so. Clients who used to manage fine on their own start needing more help sooner. Families who thought they had time find out they don't. So when a new national survey came out this month confirming that, yes, this really is getting harder, not just staying the same, I paid attention, and I think you should too.
Alignment Health, a Medicare Advantage health plan company, just released the fifth annual edition of its "Social Threats to Aging Well in America" survey, conducted with Ipsos, polling more than 2,200 U.S. adults age 65 and older. I want to be upfront that this is self-reported survey data from a health plan company, not an independent academic study, and I'll flag that distinction where it matters. But five years of asking the same questions gives you something rare in this field: a real trend line, not just a single snapshot.
What the Survey Actually Found
Ninety percent of seniors surveyed report at least one social barrier affecting their health, well-being, or access to care. The single most commonly cited barrier, at 68 percent, is difficulty remaining safely and independently in their own homes. That's up 4 percentage points from last year's edition of the same survey.
Nearly two-thirds cite healthcare access barriers, long waits, and difficulty reaching providers. Fifty-four percent cite economic instability, including 16 percent carrying medical debt and 22 percent unsure they can cover future medical expenses. Thirty-eight percent say they lack sufficient support systems, also up 4 points from last year. Fifty-seven percent report stress or anxiety in the past year. These are self-reported categories, seniors describing their own experience, not a clinical diagnosis or an outside assessment of their homes. I want to be precise about that distinction, because it matters, but it doesn't make the pattern less real.
Why the Trend Line Matters More Than the Snapshot
Here's the number that stopped me: 26 percent of respondents skipped medical care they needed in the past year, and among that group, 34 percent said aging-in-place challenges specifically were the reason. That's a 7-point jump from just last year. Read that again. A housing and independence problem is now measurably keeping a growing share of seniors from getting medical care they need. That's not a stable, unfortunate baseline. That's a problem actively getting worse, in a single year, by a wide enough margin that it shows up clearly in the data.
A single year's number can be noise. Five years of the same survey, moving in the same direction, is a trend. And a trend tells you something a snapshot can't: this isn't leveling off. It's accelerating.
What This Means for Families, Right Now
If you're a family member reading this and thinking, this matches what we're going through, you're not imagining it, and you're not behind. The data agrees with you. This is a documented, worsening national pattern, not a private failure to keep up.
That reframe matters practically, too. A family that believes their struggle is unique often waits, hoping things settle down or hoping they're overreacting. A family that understands this is a measured, widening gap nationally is more likely to act while there's still room to plan, rather than waiting for a fall or a hospitalization to force the issue. A home safety assessment is a concrete, manageable first step, and it's a much better time to have one than after a crisis.
Where This Fits Into the Work We Do
For professionals in this field, I don't think the headline number is really the story. The story is the direction. Demand for people who can actually assess a home and make it work for someone longer isn't flattening out. It's intensifying, year over year, and this survey just put a number on something most of us in this work have felt for a while.
That's exactly the gap CAPS certification training exists to close: professionals who can walk into a home, understand where the real risk points are, and make changes that actually extend how long someone can stay safely independent. The need isn't hypothetical anymore. It's measured, and it's growing.
Fritzi Gros-Daillon, MS, CAPS, SHSS, is an NAHB Master Instructor and 2019 NAHB Educator of the Year. She teaches CAPS courses nationwide and consults with builders, remodelers, designers, OTs, and real estate professionals on aging-in-place home assessment and modification.
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