We asked older adults who live in their own home without a caregiver what they’d want to do if they could no longer do so.

Most (60%) say they’d want to stay in their home and have someone care for them. Much smaller shares say they’d want to:

• Move into an assisted living facility (18%)
• Move in with a family member (11%)
• Move into a nursing home (1%)
• Have some other arrangement (8%)

We surveyed 8,750 adults from Sept. 2 to 8, 2025, including 2,582 adults ages 65 and older. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel. The survey represents the views of all U.S. adults.

Here are our survey questions, the detailed responses and the survey methodology.