What Dayton Assisted Living Residents Told the State: The 2025-26 Satisfaction Survey

What is the Resident Satisfaction Survey?

The Ohio Department of Aging has trained interviewers talk with residents of assisted living face to face about seven areas of daily life: care and services, caregivers, environment, facility culture, meals and dining, moving in, and spending time. Scores run to 100. The 2025-26 round was collected from August 2025 through January 2026, and each facility's report is posted as a PDF linked from the state's consumer guide.

How Miami Valley buildings scored

Here are the six-county medians for each area, among RCFs with a posted report, against the statewide assisted living averages:

Overall scores in our area ranged from 66.6 to 93.8. Like the state as a whole, residents here rate the physical environment highly and activities, the “spending time” area, lowest.

How to read a single facility's report

Check the number of completed interviews first. A score built on six interviews moves a lot with one unhappy resident; a score from 40 is more stable. Then look at the gap between the facility and the state average in each area, not just the overall number. A building with a high overall score but a weak caregivers score tells you exactly what to probe on a visit.

Using the scores on a tour

If meals scored low, eat lunch there. If spending time scored low, ask for the activity calendar and then see whether the 2 p.m. activity is actually happening at 2 p.m. If moving in scored low, ask how the first week is handled and who checks on a new resident at night. Residents' own words are the best guide to what living there feels like, and Ohio is one of the few states that collects them.

What the survey does not measure

The satisfaction survey captures how residents feel about daily life. It does not measure clinical outcomes such as falls, hospital transfers or medication errors, and it cannot interview residents who are unable to answer questions, which often includes many people in memory care. A building can score well with independent residents while struggling with residents who need the most help.

That is why the survey works best alongside the inspection record. Read both: the four years of ODH surveys tell you whether the building meets the rules and how it handles complaints, while the satisfaction survey tells you whether people who live there like it. When the two point in the same direction, you can be fairly confident. When they point in different directions, for example glowing satisfaction but repeated supervision citations, ask the administrator to explain the gap.

Finally, remember the survey is a snapshot from late 2025 and early 2026. Leadership and staffing can change quickly in assisted living, so ask how long the current administrator has been there.

Turning the scores into a short list

Use the survey to narrow, not to decide. Start with the buildings near the family, drop any with a recent pattern of serious citations, then look at the satisfaction reports for the rest. A building scoring well above the state average in caregivers and care and services deserves a visit even if its environment score is ordinary; residents are telling you the people are good. A building with a beautiful environment score but weak caregiver scores deserves careful questions about staffing and turnover.

When you visit, mention what you read. Administrators know their survey results and usually have an explanation, sometimes a fair one such as a staffing change since the interviews. The conversation itself tells you a lot about how the building listens to residents.

What a missing report means

Not every building has a posted report for the current round. A missing score is not a warning sign by itself; it means you have to do the listening yourself. Ask to speak with two or three residents or their families without staff present, and visit at a meal.