Nursing Homes: How the 50 States Rank

Delaware came in first under the federal government's new rating system

By Avery Comarow , Megan Johnson

Posted: December 18, 2008

Today the federal government rolled out a revamped approach to make things easier for families in search of a nursing home. Like the system used to rate Medicare health and drug plans, the Nursing Home Compare site gives nursing homes from 1 to 5 stars in each of three key areas—10 quality measures, such as the percentage of residents with urinary tract infections; performance in the three most recent health inspections; and adequacy of staffing.

Each facility also gets from 1 to 5 stars overall. The following list shows how the 50 states ranked according to their percentage of nursing homes with the highest possible overall rating on Nursing Home Compare of 5 stars.

State Total Number of
Nursing Homes
% With 5 Stars
1. Delaware 43 30.2 percent
2. Alaska 15 26.7 percent
3. New Hampshire 78 24.4 percent
4. Hawaii 46 23.9 percent
5. Maine 112 23.2 percent
6. Alabama 230 20.0 percent
7. North Dakota 83 19.3 percent
8. Connecticut 241 18.3 percent
9. Vermont 40 17.5 percent
10. District of Columbia 18 16.7 percent
11. Massachusetts 433 16.6 percent
12. Minnesota 389 16.2 percent
13. South Dakota 110 15.5 percent
14. Montana 91 15.4 percent
14. Wyoming 39 15.4 percent
16. Nebraska 221 14.9 percent
16. Wisconsin 388 14.9 percent
18. Kansas 338 14.8 percent
19. Nevada 48 14.6 percent
20. Oregon 138 14.5 percent
21. Arizona 132 14.4 percent
22. Rhode Island 85 14.1 percent
23. South Carolina 175 13.7 percent
24. North Carolina 419 13.6 percent
25. Mississippi 200 13.5 percent
25. New York 650 13.5 percent
25. Washington 237 13.5 percent
28. Idaho 75 13.3 percent
28. Iowa 444 13.3 percent
30. Maryland 229 13.1 percent
31. Florida 678 12.7 percent
31. Michigan 417 12.7 percent
31. New Jersey 361 12.7 percent
34. Colorado 210 12.4 percent
35. Arkansas 230 12.2 percent
36. California 1,247 11.9 percent
37. Virginia 275 11.6 percent
38. Pennsylvania 705 11.2 percent
39. Illinois 784 10.5 percent
40. New Mexico 69 10.1 percent
41. Indiana 505 9.9 percent
41. Texas 1,108 9.9 percent
43. Kentucky 287 9.8 percent
44. Ohio 945 9.5 percent
45. Missouri 511 9.2 percent
45. West Virginia 130 9.2 percent
47. Utah 90 7.8 percent
48. Oklahoma 318 7.2 percent
49. Tennessee 317 6.9 percent
50. Georgia 358 5.0 percent
51. Louisiana 283 2.8 percent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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