The Highest Paying Jobs in Assisted Living for 2014

As assisted living gets a face-lift with innovative and more affordable models coming into the space, providers’ management teams are also seeing some changes — namely, in their salaries. 

The top positions at assisted living communities nationwide saw pay increases ranging between 1% and 3% in 2014 compared to 2013, according to the latest “Assisted Living Salary & Benefits Report” published by Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service (HCS) in cooperation with nonprofit industry trade group LeadingAge and the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL). 

Surveys were sent to about 9,000 assisted living facilities throughout the country and more than 1,600 responses were gathered. Of the participants, 110, or 6.61%, indicated that they were not-for-profit. The rest, or 93.39% of the facilities, indicated that they were for-profit.

Advertisement

The highest-paying positions reported by respondents include chief financial officer (with an average salary of $128,969), CEO/president ($120,082), assisted living administrator ($80,830), director of human resources ($67,966) and director of nurses ($63,958). 

From 2013 to 2014, the salaries for those positions increased 1.62%, 2.34%, 2.13%, 2.74% and 2.24%, respectively. In comparison, the year before, those top positions saw salary increases of 2.72%, 1.52%, 2.79%, 1.85% and 2.37%.

“That general range of increases under 3% is not significantly different than what we’ve seen in the past,” says LeadingAge Director of Residential Communities Steve Maag. 

Advertisement

However, the increases in assisted living salaries have declined slightly since 2011, says Rosanne Zabka, director of reports at HCS. Additionally, she notes that salaries for certain assisted living positions can differ largely from the salaries for those same positions at nursing homes. 

“As would be expected, CEO, CFO, Director of HR and DON in nursing homes are more highly compensated than those at ALFs,” she says. “For example, DONs in nursing homes receive about 30% more than those in ALFs, where the population is in need of far less skilled care.” 

Still, the assisted living resident demographic has begun to shift toward higher age and acuity, pushing senior living providers to adjust to accommodate emerging needs.

“The assisted living sector is undergoing some restructuring and repositioning largely because the consumers that are coming along are demanding different kinds of services,” Maag says. “And it’s just the general nature of any sector — as it ages, it looks at repositioning.”  

Written by Emily Study

Companies featured in this article:

,