Senior Living Industry Must Focus on Long-Term Realignment of Staffing as Demand Increases
The healthcare labor shortage in the United States continues to grow and is felt most in the senior care specialty. According to a 2025 study from Columbia University, nearly half of America’s states are on the brink of a caregiving emergency, which extends heavily to the senior care industry.
To counter this staff shortage, the senior care sector “will need to capture a larger share of a tight labor market, especially for care aids and nursing assistants, roles that now make the majority of new job[s]”, said Omar Zahraoui, Senior Principal of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC).
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the problem surrounding the workforce shortage in the senior care sector and what solutions industry leaders are moving toward – including how Incite Workforce Solutions powered by SnapCare can make a difference.
The Problem
The staffing shortage is complex, which is one of the reasons why NIC Senior Principal Omar Zahraoui said that the senior living industry must put a “long-term realignment” strategy into place.
The labor shortage is growing across healthcare. However, the senior living and care sector is more severe, with skilled nursing facility employment levels dropping 7.6% from 2016 - 2024, according to JAMA.
While pay has been cited as a reason for the staffing challenges faced by the industry, there is more at play here.
Many factors are contributing to the caregiving crisis, such as:
The rapid aging of the American population compared to overall population growth
Declining functional capacity in nursing homes
The older generations have complex medical conditions
Exodus from bedside
The Greying of America
A significant factor contributing to the staffing challenge faced by the senior care industry is the fact that the American population is rapidly aging. In 2026, the oldest Baby Boomers turn 80, an inflection point many long-term care leaders see as the start of a “silver tsunami” in demand. Moreover, the U.S. population is projected to grow 4% by 2033. During that same time, the 75 and older population in the U.S. is expected to grow by 49%.
According to NIC data, the industry will need to add 660,000 workers by 2033 to keep up with the demand the aging population will impose. And the need will continue to grow. According to Argentum’s 2023 workforce projections, by 2040 senior living will need 3 million workers.
Due to staffing shortages and high demands, staffing ratios can be a lot lower in skilled nursing facilities. Nursing assistants had an average ratio of 22:100 patients. Care aids have an average ratio of about 11:100 patients. For LPNs and LVNs, they had an average ratio of 8:100 patients. And for nurses, they had an average ratio of 6:100 patients.
Diminished Nursing Home Capacity and Functional Constraints
Even when demand rises, access to long-term care is increasingly limited by how many beds can be safely staffed and operated. As reported by CIDRAP, nursing home “operating capacity” declined 5.0% from 2019 to 2024, while licensed SNF beds fell 2.5% over the same period, which suggests that staffing and operational realities are shrinking the number of beds that can actually be used.
CIDRAP also notes that capacity reductions were not evenly distributed. In total, 25% of facilities experienced operating capacity reductions of 15.1% or more, with rural counties seeing some of the largest declines.
This “functional capacity” issue creates a compounding effect across the care continuum. When fewer SNF beds are available in practice, hospitals can face longer discharge delays for patients who need post-acute placement, while families encounter fewer viable options and longer wait times. Diminished nursing home capacity can slow hospital release and limit access to long-term care.
For operators, this is not just a census issue. It becomes a workforce stability issue because limited staffing can force admissions throttling, increase workload intensity for remaining staff, and intensify burnout risk.
Seniors and Complex Medical Conditions
Another piece of the puzzle is not just that the U.S. population is aging quickly, but they are also presenting with more complex medical conditions that require a higher level of care. “We’re not just talking about more people here,” says Zahraoui. “We’re talking about more people who are older, more medically complex, and more likely to need care support.” Senior care can be very taxing on caregivers when they have high-acuity patients and low staff-to-patient ratios.
The quickly aging population will require more services as they continue to develop chronic conditions. This will put strain on caregivers at every skill level and care setting, from assisted living to skilled nursing facilities and memory care.
Exodus From Bedside
Not only is America greying, but so is the nursing population. According to the 2022 National Nursing Workforce Survey, the median age of the nursing population is currently 46 years old with a quarter of nurses reporting they plan to leave nursing or retire in the next five years.
Many nurses cite experiencing burnout at bedside, with nearly half of nurses saying it’s their top reason for planning to exit their role, according to Strategic Education’s 2025 Healthcare Workforce Survey. According to the same survey, 8 in 10 nurses feel taken advantage of. At the same time, 33% of nurses leave the profession before completing their second year of practice, according to the 2024 OJIN report.
With many nurses leaving nursing shortly after staying, there are not enough nurses entering the profession to replace the retiring workforce.
What 2026 Data Signals About Demand and Operations
The near-term data shows why “long-term realignment” is becoming an operational necessity. Occupancy is rising again, but staffing is still the limiter. As Plante Moran’s 2026 Skilled Nursing Facility Medicare Benchmarking Report notes, the national average occupancy increased from 76% in 2023 to 78% in 2024, and PBJ-based reporting shows a national average of 79% as of March 31, 2025.
At the same time, wage pressure continues to rise. Nursing wage rates increased 3% to 4% from 2023 to 2024, including RNs rising from $42.69 to $44.18, LPNs from $34.04 to $35.31, and CNAs from $21.17 to $21.95.
Managed care dynamics are also changing the workforce equation because they affect margin, census mix, and administrative workload. As of September 2025, there were approximately 35.5 million Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, and Medicare Advantage penetration by state averaged 52% nationally.
Taken together, the picture is clear. Demand is rising, labor costs are rising, and reimbursement and utilization are becoming more complex. That is exactly why providers are shifting from “coverage mode” to building more resilient staffing models.
The Next Chapter of the Senior Care Workforce
So where do we go from here? As discussed, workforce challenges in senior living go far beyond simple staffing shortages. Problems with this level of complexity require multifaceted solutions.
Providers are working toward creating what the future of senior care will look like in hopes of kicking off a new chapter for the industry. Zahraoui noted that the industry will need to rely on more than just wage increases to attract new talent. To ensure future success, providers will have to demonstrate true “long-term value” to both job seekers and existing employees alike.
Zahraoui said that the opportunity lies in not just competing for talent, but in the opportunity to redefine what it means to build and belong to the senior care workforce.
There are a few strategies working toward a solution in motion:
In-house training, focusing on upskilling
Attracting new demographics
Creating new opportunities for education
Organization-level optimization and planning
In-house Training
To better prepare their staff for the influx of older Americans with more acute care needs, some institutions have begun in-house training with a focus on upskilling. Allowing workers to improve their skills in-house helps better equip existing staff to better care for their patients with a higher level of need, such as memory care.
However, according to Strategic Education, only 1 in 5 healthcare employees feel their employer is invested in their long-term career growth while 8 in 10 believe their employers should be investing in in-house education. Organizations should consider finding ways to provide in-house education to their employees to retain talent, reduce staff turnover, and improve workplace morale.
Attracting New Demographics
Nursing leaders are struggling to recruit and keep nurses at bedside. 69% of Chief Nursing Officers rank staff recruitment and retention as a challenge, according to a survey from the American Organization for nursing leadership (AONL).
While nursing remains a stable and expanding career, many nurses report burnout and job dissatisfaction – which does little to attract younger demographics who prioritize work-life balance. According to Strategic Education, the talent pipeline is leaking fastest among Gen Z and Millennials, a demographic that is crucial to fulfilling the industry's needs for healthcare workers. Identifying ways to improve working conditions and work-life balance for nurses is imperative to attract younger demographics to the profession.
Additionally, more can be done to attract men to nursing. While men hold about half of management positions in the senior living industry, they aren’t often seen at the bedside. NIC data shows that currently nearly 90% of caregiving and support roles in senior living are held by women.
Attracting more men to the profession could help with staffing issues. To do so, Zahraoui says that the industry must create more “intention roles and pathways” for men seeking “purpose, stability, and growth”.
Creating New Opportunities for Education
Some institutions are working with educators to encourage and offer training to a new generation. Since 2020, one life plan community in Tulsa has partnered with two high schools offering training, paid internships, and staff mentors to students. The goal of the program is to help these students earn their certified nursing assistant certification and encourage them to enter the senior-care industry.
Other operators are even starting their own schools. One skilled nursing organization in Alabama also runs a private nursing assistant school. They are graduating with as many as 1,000 CNAs annually.
Employers know that a lack of advancement and educational opportunities is a major reason employees leave the profession or their organization. According to Strategic Education, only 47% of employers use tuition assistance or education benefits as a retention strategy. Creating opportunities for existing workers to access education is an important tactic to retain talent, especially those early in their career.
Organization-Level Optimization and Planning
On an organizational level, much can be done through thoughtful assessment and planning. Institutions have found success in bringing in outside tools that help mitigate the specific issues faced by their facilities.
For instance, Incite Workforce Solutions powered by SnapCare (IWS) was developed to address these persistent and complex challenges the senior care industry is facing. The platform brings together a suite of tools designed to improve visibility, streamline processes, and enable more thoughtful workforce assessment and planning.
IWS combines four different technological components to help institutions overcome their staffing challenges.
Credentialing software: Lessens administrative burden by enabling automatic verification and tracking to ensure all clinicians are compliant. Organizations can store, access in real-time, and manage all credentialing documents from the software as well. The platform includes mobile upload capabilities, so healthcare professionals can easily upload documents from anywhere, ensuring credentials are current and compliant.
Open Shift Management: Reduces fragmentation by allowing providers to manage all open shifts from one centralized system. Schedulers can create shifts, assign or invite internal staff, and publish openings to specific teams, all internal workers, or supplier partners.
Smart Scheduling: Leverages the power of AI to reduce ad-hoc shift requests and build compliant schedules. Using predicted census and organizational rules, smart scheduling automatically assigns and distributes shifts to internal staff, then escalates to approved contingent suppliers if needed. This tool automates the process while ensuring schedules align with staff preferences and meet compliance standards, while maintaining quality of care.
Vendor Management System: Allows facilities to regain control over costs, compliance, and fulfillment rates by coordinating with multiple staffing agencies through a single platform. This includes shift requests, rate controls, performance monitoring, and agency credential tracking.
While IWS is designed to be flexible, it is ultimately focused on helping organizations stabilize their workforce. The platform supports long-term workforce sustainability by simultaneously promoting pathways to permanent hiring while facilitating access to contingent staff. According to one case study, facilities that adopted the IWS platform successfully reduced contract labor headcount by 39%, reduced scheduler administrative time by 32%, achieved a total annualized workforce savings of $2.6 million, and outperformed peers and national averages in 9 CMS-reported quality metrics.
Transform Your Workforce
It will take a lot of effort from across the industry to accomplish the long-term realignment of staffing in the senior-care sector. While folks are working across government and education, there is plenty you can do to transform your workforce at an organizational level.
Focusing on in-house training and thoughtful workforce assessment by leveraging tools like IWS can help make a measurable operational impact.
Get started today and unlock the IWS advantage.