Mirador Living ranked all 50 US states using four care-access indicators: Alzheimer’s prevalence growth, nursing home availability, geriatric clinician access, and caregiving workforce availability. The index highlights where families may find stronger support when navigating memory care decisions.
The report compares broad state-level indicators. Families should still compare local communities, costs, staffing, reviews, services, and current availability before choosing care.
The index does not measure memory-care bed availability, facility quality, costs, insurance coverage, wait times, occupancy, or individual patient outcomes.
The highest-ranked states tended to combine lower Alzheimer’s prevalence growth with stronger care-access and workforce indicators. Missouri led the list, while Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Indiana, and Minnesota completed the top five.
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 paid care workers per 1,000 older adults.
That balance placed Missouri ahead of states that performed well on one measure but had less consistent results across the full index.
Had the lowest 10-year Alzheimer’s prevalence increase in the index at 14.29%.
Led all states in the index for nursing home availability, with 5.82 homes per 10,000 older adults.
Had the highest geriatric clinician rate, with 73.7 clinicians per 100,000 older adults.
These states scored highest across the four equally weighted measures. Ranks are calculated using the underlying composite scores, while displayed scores are rounded to two decimals.
Use the Overall ranking tab to compare the composite index. Metric tabs re-rank states by that individual measure and show only the relevant statistic.
The Care score is an equally weighted composite across all four measures. The Overall ranking tab uses that score; metric tabs show the state’s rank within the selected measure only.
Mirador Living ranked all 50 US states using a composite index of four care-access measures. Each measure was weighted equally. For each metric, states were converted to percentile ranks, with higher percentiles indicating stronger access conditions after Alzheimer’s prevalence growth was inverted. Final scores reflect the average of the four percentile ranks.
10-year increase from 2016 to 2025 using Alzheimer’s Association figures. Because slower growth indicates less demand pressure in this index, lower growth receives a higher score.
Nursing homes per 10,000 older adults, using CMS Care Compare and older adult population data. This does not measure bed availability, occupancy, memory-care specialization, quality, or cost.
Geriatric clinicians per 100,000 older adults, using America’s Health Rankings and CMS NPPES underlying data. Counts include board-certified geriatricians and geriatric-certified nurse practitioners.
Paid care workers per 1,000 older adults, using Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2024 data. This measure does not refer to unpaid family caregivers.
Mirador Living helps families compare pricing, reviews, services, and expert guidance as they look for senior living and memory care options.
