How we compare

Every figure on this site comes from a disclosure statement that a continuing care retirement community filed with its state, and each one links to the PDF page it came from. This page explains which documents, how they are read, and where the method stops.

The documents

114 disclosure statements (18,930 pages) covering 117 communities, downloaded from the state regulators’ own sites:

• North Carolina: Department of Insurance (N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 58, art. 64A).
• Virginia: State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Insurance (Va. Code §§ 38.2-4900 to 38.2-4932).

Statements are filed once a year, usually months after the fiscal year they report. Each community page names its statement’s filing year and the fiscal year of its finances, and every figure carries its year, so an older filing reads as older. Data as of 2026-10-15.

How each statement is read

1. The PDF’s text is extracted page by page. Pages that are pictures of paper, which is common for fee tables and audits, are run through text recognition so they can be searched.
2. Each figure is copied with the PDF page it sits on. Figures on scanned pages are read off the page image, because text recognition swaps commas and decimal points.
3. Tables are copied as printed, including figures that look inconsistent with their neighbours; those are noted for checking, never corrected by us.
4. A second pass checks every figure against its cited page. All 117 community records have been through that pass.

Projections and pro forma statements are left out. Only reported results are used.

What “Not disclosed” means

The filing does not state the figure, or states it in a form we do not convert (a fee history in dollars where the table shows percentages, for example). We never estimate a missing figure, and a blank never means zero. The one conversion we do make is a yearly fee increase calculated from two dollar amounts the filing gives; those rows say “calculated from the dollar amounts”.

Contract types

Contracts are classed by how the filing says later care is priced, not by the name the community uses. Where the two differ, the community page says so.

• Type A (life care): Moving to assisted living or nursing leaves your monthly fee essentially unchanged.
• Type B (modified): A set number of care days is included, or care is charged at a stated discount.
• Type C (fee for service): Care is charged at market rates when you need it.
• Rental: No entrance fee and no promise of future care.
• Equity: You buy your unit.

Days cash on hand, when we calculate it

When a filing reports days cash on hand, we show its figure. When it gives only the audited statements, we calculate it with the standard formula and label it “calculated”:

(cash + unrestricted investments) ÷ ((total operating expenses − depreciation − amortisation) ÷ 365)

22 of the 117 communities’ figures are calculated this way. Ratios a filing marks as interim are labelled “interim, unaudited”.

Finances reported for a group

Many communities are financed together with others run by the same organisation, and file one set of accounts. When the figures cover more than one campus, or a parent company, the page says whose figures they are next to the numbers. 55 of the 117 communities belong to such a group.

The context beside each figure

We give no scores, grades or verdicts. Beside a ratio we show two yardsticks set by someone else: first the community’s own lenders’ minimum (its bond covenant), when the filing states it; second a published industry median, the Ziegler median for fiscal 2022, 132 bond-financed not-for-profit entrance-fee CCRCs. Medians move from year to year, and a community can sit below one for sound reasons; the trend over several filings says more.

The refund calculator

It applies a plan’s recorded terms (administrative fee, monthly decline, floor) to a fee and a length of stay, rounding a part month up. It does not know about charges owed, care paid for from the fee, or the wait before payment, all of which the contract governs.

Other sources

Nursing-home star ratings, fines and inspection counts are the federal government’s, from CMS Care Compare, shown with the date of CMS’s data and linked to its page. CARF accreditation is shown only as a yes, with a link to CARF.

What we never do

• Take money from communities, operators or their marketing agencies, for anything.
• Collect leads, pass on contact details or earn referral fees.
• Show advertising or affiliate links.
• Rank communities as “best”, or label one safe or risky.

Found a figure that does not match its page? Send a correction; it is checked against the filing and fixed at the next update.