Safe AND Affordable Cities in the U.S. for Senior Living

Both safety and affordability are deciding factors when families are looking for a suitable city for senior living. Nobody wants to be in a situation where they have to give up the comfort of a safe neighborhood for senior living, or conversely, pay an exorbitant amount of money for senior care because it is located in a safer area. Because many families are rushed into making senior living decisions, understanding the local market helps ensure people are not sacrificing safety for affordable senior housing.

To help families navigate the senior living decision process and better understand options both locally and nationally, A Place for Mom – the nation’s largest senior-living referral service – conducted a study examining the top and bottom places in the country to find safe and affordable senior housing. This study is part of an ongoing research program designed by APFM to provide information and tools to families that allow them to better plan for the future.

Understanding the Findings

In order to come up with the rankings, APFM analyzed national senior living prices in conjunction with FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data to compute percentile ranks for violent crime, property crime and median senior housing costs for more than 380 cities. By examining the information, APFM’s data scientist Ben Hanowell was able to determine 1) the cities with the best balance of safety and senior housing affordability; 2) the most affordable low-crime cities for senior housing; and 3) the least affordable high-crime cities for senior housing. Based on the findings, APFM was also able to produce an interactive map to help people find the safest cities with the best senior housing costs.

So which cities rank highest and lowest for senior living affordability relative to local crime rates? Below are the top and bottom 10:

The findings show that cities with low crime rates and low senior housing costs tend to be in smaller, less densely populated cities, especially in the South and Midwest. The cities with both high crime rates and high senior housing costs tend to be in densely populated urban areas, especially on the West Coast. That being said, it should be noted that just because crime rates are higher in big cities, it doesn’t necessarily make them undesirable for seniors. Bigger cities tend to have higher crime rates in general due to larger populations, so in comparison crime may be higher, but relatively speaking the city could still be considered safe. Larger cities also offer access to a host of amenities that many smaller cities cannot provide, which is an important factor for many people when searching for senior care.

To help inform families about the research, APFM – with the support of Communiqué PR – embarked on a media outreach campaign targeting local markets in which the top cities for affordable and safe senior living are located. Outlets from across the country reported on the study, with a few highlights including:

• Northwest Florida Daily News: Fort Walton Beach ranked in top 10 of safest cities for seniors
• Kingman Daily Minor: Kingman ranks second in nation in senior living
• Havasu News: Havasu ranks high in senior care

Congratulations to APFM for another successful campaign created to help families better plan for senior living and care. Be sure to also check out the full report hosted on the APFM webpage, where visitors can review the research in more detail and access tools designed to find reasonably priced senior living in a safe city close to home.

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