Five Workforce Trends and Their Impact on Senior Care in 2026
Senior care, assisted living, and healthcare have spent several years under heavy pressure, and the field is still reshaping itself. Here are five workforce trends worth watching right now, based on the latest available data, and what each one could mean for your team.
1. Turnover is easing, but it is still high
Turnover in nursing homes declined overall in 2025. CNAs still have the highest turnover of any role at 42.34%, down from 44.16% the year before, while RN turnover came in at 36.53% and LPN turnover at 35.29%. Top-level executive turnover fell the most, from 31.97% to 22.12% . That is real progress, and it suggests employer efforts to listen to and retain staff are paying off. But more than a third of nursing and nursing assistant staff still turn over in a year, so retention strategy cannot ease up.
2. Hiring still takes a long time
Even outside senior care, filling nursing roles is slow. In NSI’s 2026 retention survey of acute care hospitals, the national RN vacancy rate was 8.6%, and it took 78 days to recruit an experienced RN. Those hospitals draw on much of the same pool of nurses as your community. In senior care, a position that sits open too long puts extra strain on current staff and can affect resident care, so a streamlined process and a clear case for why a candidate should choose you matter more than ever.
3. Pay growth is cooling and sign-on bonuses are fading
Employers across healthcare are planning raises close to 3.5% for 2026, after an actual 3.3% in 2025. In nursing homes specifically, CNA wages grew 2.53% and LPN wages 2.47% in 2025, roughly half their 2024 growth rates, and the share of nursing homes offering sign-on bonuses dropped from 65.44% to 55.61%. With cash incentives shrinking, flexibility, culture, and growth opportunities carry more of the weight in attracting and keeping people.
4. Staying is not the same as being engaged
Quits in health care and social assistance have settled to an annual average rate of 2.0% in 2025, down from 2.6% in 2022. Fewer people leaving is welcome, but it does not tell you how many of those who stayed feel connected to their work. Watching for disengagement is as important as tracking resignations.
5. Your workforce is diverse and juggling family demands
The direct care workforce is 85% women and 64% people of color, and immigrants make up 28% of workers. Nearly a third, 31%, are parents of children under 18. That has practical implications. Inclusive policies, predictable scheduling, and real support for working parents are not extras. They are retention tools for the people who make up most of your team.
The staffing context behind all five trends
These trends play out against a tough staffing backdrop. In Q1 2026, about 88% of U.S. nursing homes provided less staffing than their residents’ clinical needs called for, and the average facility ran roughly 24.6% below expected levels. When teams are stretched that thin, every resignation, slow hire, and disengaged employee has an outsized effect on the people left carrying the load.
A quick self-check for leaders
Ask yourself four questions. Do you know your own turnover by role, and how it compares to the figures above? How many days does it take you to fill a key position? Does your pay and benefits package give candidates a reason to choose you now that sign-on bonuses are less common? And do your managers know what would keep your most engaged people from drifting away? Honest answers show you where to focus first.
What to do with this
Rather than a return-to-office debate, which matters little in a field where most work is already on site, focus on what you can control: adequate staffing, supportive team culture, reliable coverage, and flexibility wherever possible. Your staff, and your clients in turn, will feel the difference.
If you want help turning these trends into a hiring plan, Aspen’s team can help.