Dayton-Area Nursing Home Ratings by County: What CMS Data Shows in 2026

How are the six counties' nursing homes rated overall?

CMS's Care Compare file dated October 1, 2026 rates the certified nursing homes in Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Clark, Darke and Preble counties as follows: 13 five-star, 17 four-star, 17 three-star, 24 two-star and 8 one-star homes. By county:

Medians hide a lot. Every county has both strong and weak homes, so a parent's best option is usually a specific building near the family, not a county.

What do the four CMS ratings measure?

The overall rating combines three parts. Health inspection stars come from the last three cycles of state surveys and complaint visits, weighted toward the most recent, and compare each home with others in Ohio. Staffing stars come from payroll records and count registered nurse hours heavily. Quality measure stars come from resident assessments and Medicare claims, such as falls with injury, hospital readmissions and pressure ulcers.

Because the inspection stars compare Ohio homes only with each other, a four-star inspection score in Dayton means better than most Ohio homes, not better than most in the country.

Which number should a family look at first?

For a short rehab stay after a hospital admission, look first at the short-stay quality measures and the rate of residents sent back to the hospital, then at therapy availability on weekends.

For a long stay, look at total nurse hours per resident per day (the six-county median is 3.61), registered nurse hours, staff turnover (median 50.8%) and the inspection history. A home with average stars but stable, well-staffed nights is often a better long-term home than a five-star building with high turnover.

What do inspection counts tell you?

The median certified home in our six counties had 10 health deficiencies in its latest standard survey cycle. Counts above the median are worth asking about, but read the statement of deficiencies: a cluster of documentation problems is different from failure to prevent a fall. CMS also flags homes with an abuse icon and lists fines and payment denials from the past three years.

A note on homes without stars or with recent changes

A few licensed homes in any region have no overall rating, usually because they are new, recently changed ownership or lack enough data. CMS also flags a change of ownership in the past year, and new operators sometimes bring new staffing patterns, good or bad. For these homes the inspection detail and a visit carry more weight than usual. Ask who the new operator is, what other homes it runs and how those homes are rated, which you can check on Care Compare by searching the chain name.

Also remember that ratings lag. The staffing data covers a recent quarter and inspection stars weigh surveys up to three years old, so a home that hired a strong director of nursing six months ago may be better than its stars, and one that lost its long-time administrator may be worse. Ask how long the administrator, director of nursing and night charge nurses have been in place. Stability in those three roles is one of the best predictors of steady care that no star captures directly.

Bottom line

Use the stars to narrow the list, the staffing and turnover figures to rank it, and an evening visit to decide. A nursing home near the family with steady staff is usually the right choice for a long stay.

How should you use this on a visit?

Write down three numbers before you go: the home's nurse hours, its turnover and its latest deficiency count. Ask the administrator about each. Then visit in the evening or on a weekend, when staffing is thinnest, and see whether call lights are answered. Our nursing home pages set every home's figures against the six-county median, so the preparation takes minutes.