Most Want Care at Home. Is the Home Ready?
I hear the same sentence in almost every first conversation with a family: "I want to stay in my house." Almost nobody says the next sentence, which is what the house needs for that to work.
A new national survey puts numbers on the first sentence. Northwestern Mutual's 2026 Planning & Progress Study, conducted by The Harris Poll with 4,375 U.S. adults in January, found that 73% of Americans would prefer to receive long-term care at home. Among Boomers and older adults, that rises to 83%. Gen X is at 78%, Millennials 67%, Gen Z 61%.
What the Survey Found About Planning
The preference is strong. The preparation is not. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they are likely to need long-term care at some point. Yet 54% have not planned financially for their own care, and 60% have not planned for caring for a loved one.
One note on sourcing. Northwestern Mutual is a financial services firm, so this is industry-sponsored research, and it frames the gap as a financial-planning one. That is a fair reading. It is also an incomplete one, and I would say so even if the sponsor were a nonprofit. I have not read the full report, only the company's release and coverage of it, so I am sticking to the headline figures.
The Third Planning Gap
Families plan for the money. They rarely plan for the house.
"Care at home" quietly assumes a home that can accommodate care. A bathroom a caregiver can work in beside someone. A bedroom on a level a person can reach. Doorways that clear a walker or a wheelchair. An entry with a way in that does not depend on three steps and good weather. None of that shows up in a retirement projection.
To be clear, this is my professional reading, not something the survey measured. The study says nothing about homes. But it is the same gap I see on the job: a strong preference to stay, a financial plan in progress, and a floor plan nobody has looked at.
Where Each Professional Fits
The house question belongs to several of us. An occupational therapist can assess how a person actually moves through the space. A remodeler can scope what changing it involves. A designer can solve it so the home still feels like theirs. A real estate professional is often the first to hear that a family is weighing staying versus moving, and can raise the question before a listing decision.
None of us needs to be a financial planner. We need to be the person who says, early and calmly, "Let's look at the house too."
Starting the Conversation Early
The best time to look at a home is before there is a crisis. Three questions open it up without alarming anyone: What is hardest to do in this house right now? Where do you feel least steady? What one change would help most?
Early answers are cheap to act on. Late ones are rushed, and rushed decisions cost more and fit worse.
If clients keep telling you they want to stay home, CAPS certification training is where you learn to answer the next question: what does the home need? Current course dates are on the training page.
Fritzi Gros-Daillon, MS, CAPS, SHSS, is an NAHB Master Instructor and 2019 NAHB Educator of the Year. She teaches CAPS courses nationwide.
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