Alzheimer's Report

The states best positioned for Alzheimer’s care

Mirador Living compared all 50 US states across Alzheimer’s prevalence growth, nursing home availability, geriatric clinician access, and caregiver availability to identify where elder care conditions look strongest for families navigating memory care decisions.

Key findings

Strong results came from balance, not one standout metric.

The highest-ranked states tended to combine slower Alzheimer’s prevalence growth with stronger care infrastructure. Missouri led the list, while Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Indiana, and Minnesota completed the top five.

Why Missouri ranked first

Missouri’s leading score reflects a broad, balanced performance. The state had relatively low Alzheimer’s prevalence growth at 18.18%, 3.63 nursing homes per 10,000 older adults, 43.7 geriatric clinicians per 100,000 older adults, and 68.34 caregivers per 1,000 older adults.

That mix placed Missouri ahead of larger states that performed strongly in one area but had more uneven care conditions across the full index.

Lowest growthNorth Dakota

Had the lowest 10-year Alzheimer’s prevalence increase in the index at 14.29%.

Most nursing homesIowa

Led the country for nursing home availability, with 5.82 homes per 10,000 older adults.

Most cliniciansRhode Island

Had the highest geriatric clinician rate, with 73.7 clinicians per 100,000 older adults.

Top 10 states

Where elder care conditions ranked strongest.

These states scored highest across the four equally weighted measures. Ties are kept as shown in the dataset.

Full data table

Search all 50 states.

Use the search box or quick sort buttons to compare state rankings, scores, and the underlying metrics used in the report.

Rank State 10-year Alzheimer’s increase Nursing homes per 10K older adults Geriatric clinicians per 100K older adults Caregivers per 1K older adults Elderly care score
Methodology

How the index was calculated.

Mirador Living ranked all 50 US states using a composite scoring system based on four core metrics. Each metric was equally weighted. Final scores are the average of each state’s percentile ranks across all four measures.

Alzheimer’s prevalence growth

10-year increase from 2016 to 2025 using Alzheimer’s Association figures. This metric was inverted so lower growth produced a higher percentile score.

Nursing home availability

Nursing homes per 10,000 older adults, using CMS Care Compare and older adult population data.

Geriatric clinician access

Geriatric clinicians per 100,000 older adults, using America’s Health Rankings and CMS NPPES underlying data.

Caregiver availability

Caregivers per 1,000 older adults, using Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2024 data.

Source note: Geriatric clinician counts include board-certified geriatricians and geriatric-certified nurse practitioners. States with broader nurse practitioner scope-of-practice laws may score higher on this measure.

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