Best Senior Living & Senior Care – Caring Stars

In determining Caring Stars 2026 winners, Caring used reviews attributes of greatest importance to care seekers and that are aligned with reviews best practices. To be eligible for the Caring Stars 2026 award…

Senior care agencies and senior living communities with a resident capacity of 31 or higher had:

• At least 15 published reviews on their Caring.com listing by the October 15, 2025 deadline
• Across published reviews, an overall average rating of 4.5 stars or higher by 10/15/25

• A minimum of 5 reviews since October 15 of the previous year (5 published reviews between 10/15/24 – 10/15/25)

• One or more 5-star published reviews with dates in 2025 (at least one 5-star published review dated on or between 1/1/25 – 10/15/25)

• At least one published review response, and a response published on every 1-star and 2-star review across all time

For smaller senior living communities and residential care homes having 30 or fewer resident capacity: The qualification criteria are similar, with different thresholds for review volume and recent reviews. The care home still needed to have a 4.5 stars overall average rating or higher, with one or more 5-star reviews in 2025 by 10/15/25. They also needed to have at least 1 published review response and responses to every negative (1-star or 2-star) review on their Caring.com profile. However, their total review volume requirement was at least 7 reviews, with 3 in the recent year qualification time frame (10/15/24 - 10/15/25). 

Caring also screened finalist communities using licensing information on state agency websites (where applicable and data publicly available), including analysis of two years of regulatory inspection reports (2024-2025). Furthermore, Caring conducted an extensive audit of every review on each community finalist’s reviews page to uphold review publication validity and award integrity. 

Caring hosts the longest-running, highest-integrity senior living reviews program on the web. Our annual Caring Stars award helps seniors and their families rapidly find top-rated senior living communities, nursing homes, and senior care agencies in the United States. 

Originally launched in 2012 as the first of its kind in the senior living industry and expanded to include senior care in 2017, Caring Stars is now a leading go-to guide for seniors and their families nationwide. Caring Stars winner data was included in Fortune’s “Best Places to Live for Families” (2024, 2023 and 2022), and the program has also been recognized in the National Mature Media Awards (2024, 2023 and 2013).

Any senior living community or senior care agency with an exceptional reviews profile on Caring.com is eligible for Caring Stars. Communities are selected based on merit, without needing to apply, partner, or advertise with Caring.com. Also, Caring doesn't charge fees for review surveys, promotional licensing of the Caring Stars badge, or other reviews services it offers (including an award-winning reviews-by-phone service manned by highly-trained, experienced review-collection agents). Families and seniors can trust that this award reflects a rigorous, transparent process rooted in genuine consumer feedback and well-established quality standards.