Assisted living and residential care homes

This site lists nursing homes only. Nursing homes are federally certified to take part in Medicare or Medicaid, and CMS publishes data on them. Assisted living is licensed by each state under its own rules, so it needs a different source. Our guide to nursing homes vs. assisted living explains the difference.

Our sister site for assisted living

Hospice for Choices is a directory of licensed assisted living and residential care homes. It's run by the same team as Hospice & Senior Care Finder, so to be clear: it's our own site, not an outside recommendation.

It currently covers California only. It lists Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs) licensed by the California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division.

What you can do there

You can search by city, county or ZIP code. Listings come from state licensing records, and each one shows the home's license status, its number of beds and a phone number. The site also asks you to confirm the current license status with the state's own facility search. Do that before you sign anything.

Search California care homes on Hospice for Choices

If your parent lives outside California

Contact the state agency that licenses assisted living in your parent's state. It's the official source for whether a home holds a current license.

If it turns out your parent needs nursing home care after all, you can browse nursing homes by state or read our guide on how to choose a nursing home.