Page 12 of Best Assisted Living in Iowa

Affiliated with the Jaybird Senior Living group, Sunset Park Place is a senior living community in Dubuque, Iowa, offering assisted living, memory care, and respite care. Christian Jordan serves as the administrator. The two-story community has 101 beds. It has been serving residents for 24 years and is located about 3.6 miles from downtown Dubuque.

Residents can choose from one-bedroom and two-bedroom floor plans ranging from about 500 to nearly 1,000 square feet. The community currently has an occupancy rate of about 47%, giving families more room availability than communities operating closer to full capacity. The area has a Walk Score of 36, which is somewhat walkable. A few nearby errands can be completed on foot, but most trips require a car.

Residents have access to an on-site dining room, a full-service salon and barbershop, indoor lounges, and outdoor common areas. Transportation services, fitness and recreation programs, and organized activities are also offered here. The community welcomes pets, allowing residents to keep a companion animal during their stay. Residents in memory care receive support from caregivers with specialized training as part of the community’s dedicated memory care program.

The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing conducts regular unannounced inspections of the community. Inspection reviews have covered routine compliance and procedures for incident reporting, documentation, and resident safety. More recent inspections found no concerns in these areas. Families considering Sunset Park Place may ask how these protocols are managed daily.

Overview of Bickford of Davenport

A beautiful senior living community that offers exquisite living options such as for residents of assisted living and memory care. Regardless of what kind of living option you are in, management and staff are guaranteed to provide resort-like accommodations with exceptional hospitality. The cozy home offers an environment where the holistic wellness of seniors is met. Bickford of Davenport strives to provide a comfortable lifestyle of everyday living for its assisted living seniors, making it an ideal place to call a new home. 

An assisted living with memory care community, expect that Bickford’s management promotes independence for its residents while receiving full daily support, housekeeping, transportation, and medication management.

Overview of Valley View Village

Valley View Village 2571 is a high-standard nursing home in Des Moines, IA, that offers a wide range of care options, from independent living to rehabilitation. Promoting a welcoming environment, the community strives to maintain connections for older adults’ happiness and wellness. Delicious dining, recreational activities, and pet-friendly spaces are among the community’s unique features that make it an ideal retirement destination. With its dedication to residents’ welfare, personalized care plans are crafted to meet their healthcare needs and lifestyle preferences.

Hobby groups, fun excursions, and spiritual activities are just some of the activities that residents can join for leisure and wellness. The community also features a variety of amenities, including a library, well-maintained gardens, and walking paths, dedicated to enriching residents’ living experiences. As a community of its own, Valley View Village has all the local amenities needed for residents’ needs and leisure. This retirement community is one of Iowa’s finest choices for senior living, especially for its wide range of care options and extensive amenities.

The Summit at Bettendorf is a well-regarded retirement community in Bettendorf, IA, that offers a wide range of care options, including independent living, assisted living, memory care, long-term care, and rehabilitation. The community also features a variety of thoughtfully furnished floor plans in a nurturing and home-like environment, ensuring older adults can feel at home during their stay. With chef-prepared meals, 24-hour care, and wellness programs, residents can maintain their independence with ease. Dedicated to improving residents’ quality of life, the community provides exceptional care tailored to their needs and preferences.

Lectures, light physical activities, and resident clubs help residents have fun and continue learning. Residents can also interact with friends and lounge, as state-of-the-art amenities, like the rooftop bar, salon, and walking paths, are available. Set in the quiet neighborhood of Bettendorf, the community guarantees accessibility and convenience. With its exceptional quality of care, this retirement community is a great choice for senior living in Iowa.

Overview of Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Center

Dedicated to serving residents with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Center is a one-story memory care community in Urbandale, Iowa. The home at 8525 Urbandale Avenue sits in an average walkable neighborhood, scoring 66 for walkability, making it accessible for visiting families who can run some errands on foot while having easy access to nearby services.

Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Center offers flexibility in housing with private and shared suite options, letting families pick the living arrangement that best suits their loved one’s comfort level and care needs. Such memory care communities typically provide a structured, secure environment with specialized programming designed for occupants experiencing cognitive decline. The one-story layout bolsters safety and ease of movement for residents with memory impairment, eliminating the confusion that multiple floors or complex building layouts entail.

For families examining memory care options, Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Center offers an opportunity to tour it and observe how the physical design, daily routines, and staff interactions support occupants with Alzheimer’s. An on-site visit lets you assess the security features, activity programming, and overall atmosphere to determine if the home’s approach matches your loved one’s needs and your family’s priorities for specialized memory care.

Prairie Gate is a 36-bed nursing home, independent living, and memory care community in Council Bluffs, Iowa, offering independent living, memory care, enriched living, long-term care, and transitional care. The facility opened in September 2020 and is operated by Benjamin Eddy under nonprofit ownership. It accepts Medicare, Medicaid, and private pay.

Since opening, Prairie Gate has undergone 19 inspections and recorded 36 deficiencies — roughly 33% above the Iowa average of 27 — with no federal fines or license actions in that period. Two complaint investigations in 2025 were substantiated, both involving allegations of physical abuse or rough handling of residents, and a third substantiated a failure to report suspected abuse within required timeframes. Earlier inspections cited recurring deficiencies in accident prevention, dignity of care, infection control, and food safety. The facility has accepted multiple plans of correction, and the most recent annual survey in July 2025 cited two deficiencies — a resident fall during a wheelchair transfer and an infection-control lapse.

On staffing, registered nurse hours average 1 hour and 1 minute per resident per day, about 39% above the Iowa average, and certified nursing aide hours are similarly elevated at 3 hours and 18 minutes per resident per day. That staffing investment stands alongside some weak short-stay outcome measures: the rate of falls causing major injury among short-stay residents is 6.1%, compared with an Iowa average of 0.8%, and only 34.6% of residents met expected self-care ability at discharge, compared with a state benchmark of 53.7%.

The facility’s occupancy rate is 94% — well above Iowa’s 75% average — with 34 of 36 beds filled, reflecting strong local demand for the facility’s capacity. The payer mix is Medicare-dominant, accounting for 84% of new admissions, with an average stay of 5 days.

Prairie Gate’s care model and payer structure are best suited for residents seeking short-term post-acute rehabilitation stays in the Council Bluffs area, with care types also available for memory care and independent living residents. However, families should review the facility’s findings on abuse-related complaints and short-stay measures before making a placement decision.

Overview of Bickford of Urbandale

Bickford of Urbandale is an assisted living with memory care community, located in Urbandale, IA. It can be found east of Brookview Park, and below Beaver Creek. This senior living community prides itself with their Higher Path approach to caring for their residents. This approach aims to help seniors live healthier, happier, and longer, and they do this by providing services such as; 24/7 access to primary care, daily activity assistance from certified caregivers, medication management, wander management, security, and intelligent fall detection among other things. The rooms, whether studio or one bedroom units, are also equipped with strategically located pull cords, for assistance requests any time it’s needed.

At Bickford of Urbandale, assisted living costs wouldn’t be something to worry abouts as they also offer assistance for choosing Medicare Health Plans for their residents. This helps ensure that residents receive the proper care they need, while living a high quality of life, without breaking their banks.

Overview of Arlington Place of Grundy Center

Arlington Place of Grundy Center is an elegant home that is built based on the convenience and comfort of its residents. The services provided and designed in the community call on its residents to expand their vibrant social lives.  Management aims to raise the standard for assisted living, memory care, and respite care in Iowa. Edencrest is one of the trusted homes in the city that many families have gone to. 
Arlington Place’s a service based on convenience and flexibility; they want their residents to do more and think less at the same time– do more of what they love, and think less of the small stressful activities like housekeeping and laundry.

Overview of Bickford of Marion

At 46 beds, Bickford of Marion is a smaller community, and that scale is part of its identity. The two-story building on Linden Dr, part of the Bickford Senior Living Group network, offers assisted living and memory care in Marion’s Hickory Haven Estates neighborhood, 1.4 miles from the city center. Misty Cottrell serves as Executive Director.

The Montessori Memory Care program is the facility’s most distinctive offering. It’s a named, structured approach to cognitive care rather than a generic memory unit, and it’s the clearest signal of what the community is built around. Licensed nurses and CNAs staff the building, transportation is available, there’s a fitness area on-site, and the community is pet-friendly.

Occupancy sits at 76%, with 35 of 46 beds filled, in a building that has been operating for 27 years. The neighborhood is moderately walkable (Walk Score 69), with some day-to-day destinations reachable on foot. State inspections have tended to center on medication management, care planning and documentation, and food service, which are common operational focus areas rather than indicators of direct care concerns.

Bickford of Marion is a practical fit for families prioritizing a structured memory care approach within a mid-sized regional network, in a community small enough that residents are unlikely to get lost in the shuffle.

Located on Coconino Road in Ames, Iowa, The Rose of Ames is an assisted living community that offers personal care. The community has been in operation for 21 years and is currently administered by Jami Kaufman. With a 112-bed capacity, it also offers one- and two-bedroom apartments within a three-story setting.

Outdoor spaces include a front porch with seating, a rear patio with raised garden beds, and a walking path that surrounds the community. A whirlpool bath, theater, chapel with internet access, and a guest suite for visiting family members are among the indoor amenities available. Moreover, 24-hour monitoring is provided, and pets are welcome.

Care services extend beyond housing through Open Arms, an on-site home care program that provides skilled nursing, therapy, and personal care services. Medicare, Medicaid, and the Elderly Waiver program also provide coverage, with Medicare directly accepted. Transportation services, fitness programs, recreational activities, and shared dining opportunities are also available. Local amenities and errands can also be reached on foot, as it is set in a relatively walkable neighborhood with a Walk Score of 51.

Service plan documentation, follow-up procedures related to changes in resident conditions, food handling practices, and staffing credential records are among the areas of concern identified through state inspections. Additionally, a complaint investigation was completed with no deficiencies identified.