Assisted Living Magazine Ranking Methodology
How Assisted Living Magazine Evaluates & Scores Nursing Homes
Assisted Living Magazine ranks nursing homes using a rigorous, data-driven scoring model built specifically for skilled nursing. Because this care level is regulated, clinical outcomes and compliance carry significantly more weight than transparency or digital presence. Each community receives a ranking based on the factors below, weighted according to their importance in predicting resident safety, care quality, and long-term stability.
Update cadence: Reviewed quarterly, with prompt updates when new reviews, reports, or complaints are filed.
1. Clinical Quality & Regulatory Performance
45% Weight
These indicators reflect the actual care delivered in the facility and its compliance with federal/state standards.
What’s Included:
- Overall Rating
- Volume of reviews
- Quality Measure (QM) Rating
- Long-Stay QM Rating
- Short-Stay QM Rating
- Staffing Rating
- Nurse-to-Resident Ratio
- Staff-to-Resident Ratio
- Accreditations
- Positive Local News Mentions
- Number of Health Deficiencies
Why it carries the most weight:
These factors directly measure resident outcomes, safety, medical consistency, and regulatory standing — making them the foundation of our ranking system.
2. Operational Stability & Resident Support
35% Weight
These clues help us understand staffing consistency, administrative quality, and the facility’s operational strength.
What’s included:
- Average Length of Stay
- Nurse Hours Per Patient Per Day
- Occupancy %
- Walk Score
- Violations per Year (relative to state norms)
- Number of Extreme Violations
- Number of Lawsuits
- Cleanliness & Maintenance Citations
- If Part of a Chain: Ownership Group Size
- History of License Suspensions, Probation, or Revocations
- Years Licensed
- Social Media Presence & Engagement
- Overall Revenue
- Profitability
- Risk-Standardized Readmission Rate
- Physical Therapist Staffing Hours per Resident Per Day
- Registered Nurse Turnover
Why it matters:
These measures assess how well-run, stable, and adequately staffed a home is — major predictors of resident well-being and consistency of care.
3. Environmental & Financial Context
20% Weight
These factors provide contextual insights into a community’s environment and investment level, but do not override clinical quality.
What’s included:
- Potentially Preventable Readmissions
- Penalties & Fines Received
- Year Built / Last Renovated
- Revenue Per Bed
- Administrator Tenure
Why it carries a lighter weight:
These factors contribute to a fuller understanding of the facility’s environment and investment level, but they are not primary care-quality indicators.
Final Score Calculation
Each senior living community receives a composite score using the weighting system below:
- Clinical Quality & Regulatory Performance: 45%
- Operational Stability & Resident Support: 35%
- Environmental & Financial Context: 20%
This scoring system ensures facilities with strong clinical outcomes, stable operations, and positive regulatory histories consistently rise to the top.
How We Score & Rank Senior Living Communities
At Assisted Living Magazine, our rankings are designed to help families compare senior living communities with clarity and confidence. Each community is evaluated and ranked based on reputation, transparency, digital trust, and on-site quality signals. Below is the full explanation of every factor and the exact weight it contributes to the final score.
Update cadence: Reviewed quarterly, with prompt updates when new reviews, reports, or complaints are filed.
1. Resident & Family Experience
40% Weight
This is the single most important part of our ranking system. We aggregate online reputation signals from multiple review sources to understand resident satisfaction and care consistency.
What’s Included:
- Average review sentiment
- Volume of reviews
- Long-term consistency of feedback
This factor carries the largest weight because it most directly reflects real-world care experiences.
2. Visual Media & Transparency
15% Weight
Communities that provide high-quality visuals help families preview the environment and amenities before touring.
What We Evaluate:
- Presence of video tours
- Matterport or other virtual walkthroughs
- Quantity and quality of photos
Communities with little or no imagery receive a negative transparency signal.
3. Website Quality & Digital Trust
15% Weight
A community’s website is often the first touchpoint for families. We score each site based on usability, clarity, and trustworthiness.
Included Factors:
- Quality of website content
- Ease of navigation and mobile usability
- Website performance
- Digital authority indicators (including domain trust metrics)
4. Community Scale & Stability
15% Weight
We assess structural and operational indicators that reflect the size, popularity, and capacity of the community.
What’s Measured:
- Number of bedrooms or units (more = stronger signal)
- Occupancy rate (higher occupancy = higher stability)
These factors help families understand community demand and operational quality.
5. Property Value, Local Access & Pricing
15% Weight
These elements matter but carry less influence because they do not directly measure care quality.
Included:
- Estimated property value (public real-estate data)
- Walkability (Walk Score adjusted for the town/city context)
- Pricing (higher pricing can indicate more amenities but is not a primary quality driver)
These help provide context about environment, investment level, and accessibility.
Final Score Calculation
Each senior living community receives a composite score using the weighting system below:
- Online Reputation: 40%
- Visual Media & Transparency: 15%
- Website Quality & Digital Trust: 15%
- Community Scale & Stability: 15%
- Property Value, Local Access & Pricing: 15%
This blended scoring model ensures that high-quality care, strong resident sentiment, and community transparency remain at the center of our rankings while still accounting for important contextual factors.
