Long-Term Care Statistics

Fast Facts

Pennsylvania’s Aging Population

  • Pennsylvania has almost 2 million citizens age 65 and older.1
  • Pennsylvania ranks fourth in the U.S. by percentage of the population age 65 and older (behind Florida, West Virginia and Maine), and 1 in 5 Pennsylvanians are 60 or older.2 Pennsylvania also ranks fourth in the U.S. by number and percent of population age 85 and older, those who are the most intensive users of nursing home care.3
  • By 2020, Pennsylvania’s 60 and older population is expected to be 25% of the total population — more than 3 million people.4 By 2020, the number of people age 85 or older is expected to grow to more than 360,000 residents.5

Long-term care statistics

  • Nearly 70 percent of those turning 65 this year eventually will require long-term care in their lifetimes.6

Pennsylvania’s Personal Care and Assisted Living Homes

  • Pennsylvania has over 1,200 licensed personal care homes serving approximately 47,000 residents. “Assisted Living” homes and personal care homes were one and the same in Pennsylvania prior to 2011.7
  • In January 2011 the Pennsylvania Office of Long Term Living began to license Assisted Living Residences (ALR). As of December 2012 there are only 22 licensed ALRs spanning 12 counties. They differ from personal care homes in several ways.8
  • The median cost of a personal care or assisted living home in Pennsylvania is $3,251 a month for a one-bedroom unit, reflecting an average annual cost of $39,015. This is slightly lower than the national cost of $39,600. 9

Impact of Long Term Care in PA

  • Long term care facilities (including nursing homes, personal care homes, assisted living residences and other residential care facilities) have approximately 193,000 employees in PA and support a total of nearly 283,000 total jobs.10 They generate $11.8 billion in economic activity in the Commonwealth and support or induce another $11.7 billion in other sectors of the economy.10

End Notes

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2010
  2. U.S. Census Bureau, Demographic Profiles: Census 2010
  3. U.S. Census Bureau, Demographic Profiles: Census 2010
  4. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Interim State Population Projections, 2005
  5. Legislative Budget and Finance Committee April 2005 “Long-Term Care for the Elderly in Pennsylvania”
  6. 2006 Congressional Quarterly Report
  7. PA Department of Health website, Nursing Care Facility Locator Page, Dec. 20, 2012
  8. PA Department of Aging website, Directory of Assisted Living Residences by County, December, 2012
  9. Genworth Financial 2012 Cost of Care Survey
  10. American Health Care Association, January 2011 economic impact analysis using IMPLAN model and 2009 data