Aging in place research and data

Fall data. The figures reported by NCOA from CDC sources: roughly 14 million falls a year among adults 65 and older, about 3 million emergency department visits and 38,000 deaths in 2021, non-fatal fall costs of about $80 billion annually based on 2020 data with a projection of $101 billion by 2030, an average of about $18,658 per inpatient hospital visit and $1,112 per emergency department visit, and payment split roughly 67% Medicare, 4% Medicaid and 29% private or out of pocket. The most decision-relevant single fact is that falling once roughly doubles the risk of falling again.

Care cost benchmarks. The 2025 CareScout Cost of Care Survey - the successor to the long-running Genworth survey - reports national medians of $35 an hour for a non-medical in-home caregiver ($80,080 a year at 44 hours a week, up 3%), $95 a day for adult day health care (down 5%), $6,200 a month for assisted living ($74,400 a year, up 5%), $315 a day for a semi-private nursing home room ($114,975 a year, up 2%), and $355 a day for a private room ($129,575 a year, up 1%). These are national medians and local variation is large, so treat them as the frame, not the forecast.

Modification cost data. This Old House's 2026 figures: bathroom remodels at $6,456-$24,715 with an average of $15,586, walk-in shower installations at $4,000-$20,000 averaging about $12,000, and accessibility retrofits generally starting around $10,000 over four to eight days. Fixr's walk-in shower data puts a curbless configuration around $6,000 and permit costs at $100-$500. NCOA puts straight stair lifts at $2,500-$5,000 installed and curved at $8,000-$12,000. Medical alert monitoring runs $20-$60 a month with fall detection adding $10-$11.

How to read all of this. National averages hide the variables that will actually determine your number: local labor rates, what's behind your walls, and whether the house cooperates. What the data is genuinely good for is sanity-checking a bid, understanding the scale of the alternative, and making the case to a reluctant parent or a skeptical sibling that this spending is proportionate to the risk. It is not good for budgeting a specific project, and nobody should treat a national median as a quote.