SafelyYou, the AI leader in senior living, has released the 2026 Cost of Senior Care report. The landmark research was commissioned by SafelyYou and conducted by independent research firm Merrill Research across 175 senior living leaders. The report, building off the Cost of Falls report conducted by the company in 2022, delivers one of the most comprehensive looks at the real operational and financial costs facing assisted living and memory care operators today, and maps a clear path toward earlier visibility, reduced risk, and stronger community performance.
Shirley Nickels, COO at SafelyYou, adds, “Senior living leaders have always understood the human cost of rising acuity, falls, and workforce strain. What hasn’t been as visible is how those challenges compound financially across an entire community. This research puts numbers behind that reality—and, more importantly, helps operators see where they have the greatest opportunity to intervene earlier, reduce risk, and improve both resident and business outcomes.”
The report is available now for download.
The Numbers Behind What Every Operator Already Knows
Senior living operators have been navigating rising acuity, persistent staffing strain, and growing financial exposure. This report puts figures behind this reality.
- Fall costs have nearly doubled in three years: Senior living leaders now estimate per-incident fall costs at an average of $10,900 in assisted living and $9,300 in memory care, up from the $5,267 that was cited in the Cost of Falls report. The combined toll of falls across staff time, documentation, clinical follow-up, and resident transition can reach an average of $380,000 per community per year.
- Staffing turnover is compounding the cost: SafelyYou found 36-38% annual turnover for both frontline and clinical staff. Replacing a frontline caregiver costs around $7,160; replacing a clinical leader costs $20,450–$21,660.
- Care tasks are falling behind: 38% of assisted living leaders and 45% of memory care leaders report care tasks frequently fall behind schedule, a signal of strained capacity that compounds visibility gaps and safety risk downstream.
SafelyYou’s Director of Analytics and Insights, Lana Peck, says, “When acuity outpaces care capabilities, care becomes less predictable and more reactive. Staff are forced to make more decisions in the moment, escalate more frequently, and rely on workarounds to meet residents’ needs. That’s when costs begin to compound—not as a single, identifiable expense, but through the cumulative impact of a system operating under strain.”
Visibility Is The Lever Operators Have Been Looking For
The report highlights a persistent challenge across senior care: operators face mounting financial pressure while working to improve resident safety and workforce stability. Meaningful change is needed to reduce costs, extend resident length of stay, and lower turnover.
The 2026 Cost of Senior Care report is built to be actionable. Senior living leaders can use the report to:
- Identify where visibility gaps are costing the most: Communities are absorbing significant costs from incidents they can’t track. Only 15% of leaders said their safety technologies were integrated with EHR systems.
- Set a smarter technology strategy: 83% of operators already use AI-enabled tools, but nearly half report their systems are poorly integrated. The report helps give operators the tools to identify risk faster and reduce the need to respond in the first place.
- Benchmark against peers: Having cited 175 leaders across assisted living and memory care, the research gives operators a detailed look at how their peers are performing on staffing, care planning, technology adoption, and financial exposure.
Get The Report
The 2026 Cost of Senior Care report is available now, free of charge, for any senior living leader wanting to explore where the opportunity to improve their operations to reduce their cost of care lies.
Download the 2026 Cost of Senior Care report.
For more information or to speak with a SafelyYou expert about how these findings apply to your communities, email contact@safely-you.com.
About SafelyYou
Originating in 2015 as the doctoral research of CEO George Netscher—and inspired by his own family’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease—SafelyYou was spun out of UC Berkeley’s Artificial Intelligence Research Lab, one of the top five AI research groups in the world. The company’s passionate mission is to empower safer, more person-centered care across senior living through world-leading AI, industry-changing hardware, and remote expert clinicians.
SafelyYou is solving critical challenges in senior living, from reducing resident falls and ER visits to increasing staff retention, LOS, and NOI. All while helping ensure that communities reach both their clinical and financial goals.
To learn more about SafelyYou, visit: https://safely-you.com/
Connect with SafelyYou on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/safelyyou/
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260827964389/en/
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