The number of nursing homes is dropping nationwide, continuing a trend that started even before the onset of the pandemic and that hasn't slowed since then, according to an analysis published by The Wall Street Journal, based on data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Compared with six years ago, there are about 600 fewer facilities.

There are about 15,000 U.S. nursing homes, with 1.2 million residents.

So far this year through the end of July, there are 97 fewer nursing homes nationwide than at the beginning of the year. Last year, more than 125 facilities closed. The last time a net positive number of nursing homes opened in the U.S. was 2015, when about 25 opened, the WSJ notes.

The broader spectrum of senior housing is experiencing headwinds as well. Senior housing occupancy came in at 83.7% in the second quarter of 2023, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care, up 0.6% from the first quarter, but still considerably below pre-pandemic occupancies. The current occupancy level is 3.4% below Q1 2020, just before the pandemic.

Units under construction in the sector currently total 4.9% of existing senior housing inventory, down 2.8% from the high of 7.7% Q4 2019. The current rate of construction is the lowest level since 2014, NIC reports.

The nursing home contraction is due to a number of factors, and is taking place despite a growing aging population in the U.S., with the number of Americans over 65 expected to be 80 million or so by 2040, up from 54 million in 2020.

Aging in place, or remaining at home and receiving care there if necessary, is increasingly popular, a trend accelerated by the pandemic. The virus hit nursing home populations particularly hard, killing an estimated 201,000 people including residents and staff members, KFF reports.

Since the worst of the pandemic, staffing levels at nursing homes have not recovered. More than 80% of U.S. nursing homes reported staffing shortages in early 2023, Yahoo News reports.