Best Senior Communities in California
One of the go-to destinations for retirees in the US, California offers fabulous weather all year round and exciting recreational opportunities to match its vibrant setting. Older residents here thrive with convenient access to top-notch hospitals, retirement benefits, and age-friendly amenities. The California Department of Aging also provides special resources to make retirees’ lives easier, such as community nutrition centers and home-delivered meals. California is also home to plenty of senior communities that offer specialized environments, services, and amenities tailored to help retirees enjoy a worry-free retirement experience.
Comparison Chart
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
24/7 care needed
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
24/7 care needed
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
24/7 care needed
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
Specialized care for those with Memory Loss, Alzheimer's, or dementia, ensuring safety and support.
24/7 care needed
24/7 care needed
For seniors needing help with daily tasks but not full-time nursing.
For self-sufficient seniors seeking community and minimal assistance.
Soleil Hospice
Soleil Hospice, a premier hospice care provider is located in sunny San Jose, California. This organization is dedicated to providing the proper care at the right time, ensuring a dignified and top-of-the-line experience for patients and their families. Soleil Hospice promises superior care, clear communication, and constant support, answering every need and concern with warmth and expertise.
With Soleil Hospice, individuals are provided personalized programs and services tailored to address patients’ and their families’ physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Skilled hospice nurses provide pain management and comfort care, while aides offer personal hygiene assistance and companionship. Social workers coordinate logistics and provide emotional support, chaplains offer spiritual guidance, and volunteers offer companionship and assistance. When you choose Soleil Hospice, patients and families can expect a caring and dedicated team committed to providing the best hospice care possible.
Type of Care Available
Salus Home Care
Nestled in the heart of San Diego, California, Salus Home Care is not just a senior living community but a haven where personalized care and unwavering support create an environment of dignity and comfort. Salus Home Care caters to the diverse needs and preferences of its cherished residents, offering a comprehensive range of services, including hospice care, palliative care, and home health care. Salus Home Care of San Diego’s commitment goes beyond mere caregiving. It is about enriching the quality of life and promoting the overall well-being of each resident. Salus Home Care’s professional and compassionate team ensures that residents receive the care they deserve, all delivered with deep respect.
Salus Home Care of San Diego is where every resident’s journey is met with personalized care, fostering comfort, dignity, and a truly fulfilling senior living experience. This vibrant community prioritizes care and cultivates a sense of belonging and camaraderie among its residents. With various amenities and engaging activities, Salus Home Care becomes more than just a place to live; it transforms into a warm and supportive community where seniors can relish their golden years with peace of mind.
Home Instead – Los Angeles
Home Instead, located in Los Angeles, CA, is a home care service provider offering memory care, arthritis care, diabetes care, and nursing care to its patients. Aimed to provide quality home care, part of the services they provide is personal care where residents are given assistance with daily living activities. This includes bathing, grooming, toileting, as well as mobility support, as needed. Additionally they may also assist residents with medication management, offering overnight services to ensure that medicine is administered or taken in a timely manner.
Home Instead also understands that the aging community is the one of the largest chunk of the population to suffer from memory loss, which is why part of their offering includes Alzheimer’s and dementia care. With this care option, residents are assisted in establishing a stable routine, in order to help support their memory related challenges and maintain a high quality of life, lived as independently as they can.
Type of Care Available
Home Helpers Home Care – San Jose
Home Helpers Home Care, situated in San Jose, California, offers quality in-home care services that ensure your loved ones are treated the way you would like. They understand the importance of living in the comfort of your home, so they have created a comprehensive plan to address your loved one’s needs. At Home Helpers, they offer compassionate personal care and companionship that’s customizable to each individual. These include meal preparation, navigating the stairs, mobility assistance, and bathing.
The caregivers from Home Helpers have the exceptional ability to connect with their clients, helping brighten their days. Aside from these home care services, they offer specialized support for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care and Support for Stroke Recovery. Additionally, their assistance encompasses Wellness Calls, 24-hour Monitoring, and Meals and Nutrition Planning. Home Helpers create a safe environment for older adults, treating them like an extended family in their care.
Visiting Angels Home Care – San Jose
Visiting Angels is a locally owned home care service agency proudly serving families in San Jose, California. They are dedicated to providing compassionate care to elderly and disabled adults, offering tailored services to meet individual needs. Their flexible, affordable hourly care allows families to choose the level of support that suits their schedules and budgets.
They have a meticulous caregiver selection process through the Select Your Caregiver program, which sets them apart, ensuring the perfect match for your loved one. Skilled professionals are thoroughly vetted and committed to treating seniors with respect and dignity. Whether it’s transitional assistance, companionship, personal care, or medication reminders, they support seniors in maintaining their independence and quality of life. Visiting Angels home care services can provide your loved one the assistance and companionship they deserve while staying comfortably home.
Comfort Keepers – San Jose
Comfort Keepers is a well-known home care service provider in San Jose, California, dedicated to offering compassionate in-home care to seniors in the comfort of their homes. Comfort Keepers understands the emotional and physical challenges they have daily. They comprehensively address the family’s care needs by having their team of dedicated professionals provide essential care for your loved one and offer unwavering emotional and moral support to the family during this time.
Comfort Keepers home care experts ensure your loved one’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs are satisfied and met with the utmost attention and sensitivity. They offer services like bathing, dressing, toileting assistance, laundry, and food preparation, focusing on enhancing your loved one’s comfort and dignity during their day-to-day life. Even after a loved one’s passing, Comfort Keepers remains committed to supporting and assisting families as they navigate the grieving process. With Comfort Keepers, you can find solace and comfort during this challenging journey, making the most of your time together.
Visiting Angels Home Care – San Diego
Visiting Angels is a locally owned home care service agency proudly serving families in San Diego, California. They are dedicated to providing compassionate care to elderly and disabled adults, offering tailored services to meet individual needs. Their flexible, affordable hourly care allows families to choose the level of support that suits their schedules and budgets.
They have a meticulous caregiver selection process through the Select Your Caregiver program, which sets them apart, ensuring the perfect match for your loved one. Skilled professionals are thoroughly vetted and committed to treating seniors with respect and dignity. Whether it’s transitional assistance, companionship, personal care, or medication reminders, Visiting Angels supports seniors in maintaining their independence and quality of life. Visiting Angels home care services can provide your loved one the assistance and companionship they deserve while staying comfortably home.
Comfort Keepers – San Diego
Comfort Keepers is a well-known home care service provider in San Diego, California, dedicated to offering compassionate in-home care to seniors in the comfort of their homes. Comfort Keepers understands the emotional and physical challenges they have daily. They comprehensively address the family’s care needs. Their team of dedicated professionals provides essential care for your loved one and offers unwavering emotional and moral support to the family during this time.
Comfort Keepers home care experts ensure your loved one’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs are satisfied and met with the utmost attention and sensitivity. They offer services like bathing, dressing, toileting assistance, laundry, and food preparation, focusing on enhancing your loved one’s comfort and dignity during their day-to-day life. Even after a loved one’s passing, Comfort Keepers remains committed to supporting and assisting families as they navigate the grieving process. With Comfort Keepers, you can find solace and comfort during this challenging journey, making the most of your time together.
AALL Care In-Home Services – San Diego
AALL Care, located in San Diego, California, is a testament to providing quality care for over 30 years. They offer in-home support for seniors who want to live in their homes, providing comfort, safety, and dignity essential to their mental and physical health. At AALL Care, they understand that the client’s need for familiarity and non-medical services for their day-to-day lives are crucial, and they have highly trained professionals ready to help.
They offer a wide range of services, such as safety supervision, bathing, companionship, laundry, and linen change. They ensure that their caregivers are registered California Home Care Aides available to answer all your queries. Their first objective is to help older adults live independently within their homes while providing relief and peace of mind to them and their families.
San Diego Home Caregivers
San Diego Home Caregivers is an exceptional San Diego, California facility that offers home caregivers you can count on. They provide help with physical activities and emotional support that help better their clients’ lives. They offer a wide range of non-medical senior care services delivered by experienced at-home caregivers who work closely with each client, family, and care team to develop a customized care plan that meets the client’s unique needs.
Some of their services include companionship and life enrichment activities, shopping, errands, and outings in the community: Housekeeping and laundry services, meal planning, preparation, and clean-up. Aside from home care, they provide specialized care such as Alzheimer’s and Hospice Services. Whether you need home care for yourself or a loved one, San Diego Home Caregivers is here to help.
Assisted Living Magazine Ranking Methodology
View Full Ranking MethodologyHow Assisted Living Magazine Evaluates & Scores Nursing Homes
Assisted Living Magazine ranks nursing homes using a rigorous, data-driven scoring model built specifically for skilled nursing.
Because this care level is regulated, clinical outcomes and compliance carry significantly more weight than transparency or digital presence.
Each community receives a ranking based on the factors below, weighted according to their importance in predicting resident safety, care quality, and long-term stability.
Update cadence: Reviewed quarterly, with prompt updates when new reviews, reports, or complaints are filed.
What We Prioritize MostThe largest share of every nursing home’s score — 45% of the total weighting — comes from clinical and regulatory indicators, including:
- Overall, staffing, and inspection ratings
- Long-stay and short-stay quality measures
- Nurse-to-resident and staff-to-resident ratios
- Health deficiencies and regulatory history
- Accreditations and positive local news reporting
These factors directly reflect resident safety, care quality, and compliance.
Operational Stability & Resident SupportAnother 35% of the score comes from operational and stability signals, such as:
- Nurse hours per patient per day
- Occupancy levels and cleanliness citations
- Administrative stability and ownership quality
- Readmission rates and registered-nurse turnover
The remaining 20% of the score includes contextual elements such as:
- Year built or renovated
- Penalties, fines, and preventable readmissions
- Revenue per bed
- Administrator tenure
These factors help round out the overall picture but carry less weight because our methodology prioritizes clinical outcomes and regulatory consistency above all else.
The result is a clear, data-driven ranking system that elevates nursing homes delivering exceptional care and long-term resident safety.
Your Senior Care Partner, Every Step of the Way
We help families find affordable senior communities and unlock same day discounts, Medicaid, and Medicare options tailored to your needs.
Contact us Today
Frequently Asked Questions
Several government programs offer financial assistance for senior housing in various countries, focusing on the United States for a broad overview:
- Medicaid: Medicaid is a state and federally funded program that can cover the costs of nursing home care for those who meet eligibility criteria, including income and asset limits. Some states also offer Medicaid waivers that help pay for home and community-based services to prevent or delay nursing home placement.
- Medicare: Medicare, primarily a health insurance program for people aged 65 and over, does not cover long-term housing costs. However, it can cover short-term stays in a skilled nursing facility under specific conditions following a hospital stay.
- Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program: This program provides housing for low-income seniors. It offers rental assistance and access to supportive services, such as cleaning, cooking, and transportation.
- Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Properties: While not a direct subsidy, LIHTC encourages developers to create affordable housing. Seniors with low incomes can find reduced-rent apartments through this program.
- State and Local Programs: Many states, counties, and cities offer their own programs to assist seniors with housing costs. These can include property tax relief programs, rental assistance programs, and programs that offer affordable senior housing options.
- Veterans Affairs (VA): The VA offers several programs for veterans, including the Aid and Attendance benefit, which provides monthly payments to veterans who require the aid of another person, or are housebound, to help cover the cost of care in homes, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.
- Social Security: While Social Security primarily provides retirement income, for many seniors, these benefits are a crucial part of their budget, including housing costs.
Before recommending homes, we conduct a thorough evaluation on crucial factors that define a senior home such as the quality of care they provide, the reputation of the organization, and a comprehensive review of community testimonials as well. Every detail is assessed to assure that seniors are offered not just senior care options, but trustworthy homes where they can experience the care that they deserve.
Yes. Assisting families who need Medicaid is important to us as it plays a crucial role in offering financial support to seniors confronting economic challenges. We would like to keep essential healthcare services accessible to all community members, irrespective of one’s financial circumstances.
We extend our services at no cost, ensuring that families and seniors can benefit from tailored assistance in their search for care and home options. Our ability to offer personalized guidance without charge to families and seniors is made possible through the support and funding from the communities with which we team up.
- Finding and ranking the best assisted living facilities
- Finding and ranking the best nursing homes
- Finding and ranking the best memory care facilities
- Our concierge service helps seniors move into the perfect home for them
- Helping seniors use medicare, medicaid, and other government programs to pay for their homes
- Helping seniors avoid senior homes that have bad service or fraud
- Helping seniors avoid senior homes that have bad service or fraud
- Autobiography & Family History Writing + Research
- Senior-focused concierge medicine
- Senior-focused nutritionist
- Senior-focused personal training
- Memory care specialists
- Custom wheelchairs at all price points.
- Custom hearing aids
- Cosmetic skincare + dermatology
- Companionship: We offer in-person and virtual companionship services. Someone engaging to hang out with or talk to on video chat.
- Senior housing concierge. Our service finds the best senior living options based on your needs, income, and personality.
Check out our resident interviews
Check out our cost guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Several government programs offer financial assistance for senior housing in various countries, focusing on the United States for a broad overview:
- Medicaid: Medicaid is a state and federally funded program that can cover the costs of nursing home care for those who meet eligibility criteria, including income and asset limits. Some states also offer Medicaid waivers that help pay for home and community-based services to prevent or delay nursing home placement.
- Medicare: Medicare, primarily a health insurance program for people aged 65 and over, does not cover long-term housing costs. However, it can cover short-term stays in a skilled nursing facility under specific conditions following a hospital stay.
- Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program: This program provides housing for low-income seniors. It offers rental assistance and access to supportive services, such as cleaning, cooking, and transportation.
- Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Properties: While not a direct subsidy, LIHTC encourages developers to create affordable housing. Seniors with low incomes can find reduced-rent apartments through this program.
- State and Local Programs: Many states, counties, and cities offer their own programs to assist seniors with housing costs. These can include property tax relief programs, rental assistance programs, and programs that offer affordable senior housing options.
- Veterans Affairs (VA): The VA offers several programs for veterans, including the Aid and Attendance benefit, which provides monthly payments to veterans who require the aid of another person, or are housebound, to help cover the cost of care in homes, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.
- Social Security: While Social Security primarily provides retirement income, for many seniors, these benefits are a crucial part of their budget, including housing costs.
Before recommending homes, we conduct a thorough evaluation on crucial factors that define a senior home such as the quality of care they provide, the reputation of the organization, and a comprehensive review of community testimonials as well. Every detail is assessed to assure that seniors are offered not just senior care options, but trustworthy homes where they can experience the care that they deserve.
Yes. Assisting families who need Medicaid is important to us as it plays a crucial role in offering financial support to seniors confronting economic challenges. We would like to keep essential healthcare services accessible to all community members, irrespective of one’s financial circumstances.
Check out our cost guide.
We extend our services at no cost, ensuring that families and seniors can benefit from tailored assistance in their search for care and home options. Our ability to offer personalized guidance without charge to families and seniors is made possible through the support and funding from the communities with which we team up.
- Finding and ranking the best assisted living facilities
- Finding and ranking the best nursing homes
- Finding and ranking the best memory care facilities
- Our concierge service helps seniors move into the perfect home for them
- Helping seniors use medicare, medicaid, and other government programs to pay for their homes
- Helping seniors avoid senior homes that have bad service or fraud
- Helping seniors avoid senior homes that have bad service or fraud
- Autobiography & Family History Writing + Research
- Senior-focused concierge medicine
- Senior-focused nutritionist
- Senior-focused personal training
- Memory care specialists
- Custom wheelchairs at all price points.
- Custom hearing aids
- Cosmetic skincare + dermatology
- Companionship: We offer in-person and virtual companionship services. Someone engaging to hang out with or talk to on video chat.
- Senior housing concierge. Our service finds the best senior living options based on your needs, income, and personality.
Check out our resident interviews
