Nursing Home Staffing by State
If a family is comparing nursing homes, staffing is one of the first numbers they should want to understand. The hard part is that staffing data is easy to misuse. A single average does not tell the whole story, and the best state-level page should help families slow down before they assume a ranking equals a decision.
CMS maintains multiple nursing-home datasets that families can use together. The Provider Information file covers currently active nursing homes, including staffing and Five-Star inputs, while the State US Averages dataset provides state and national averages for staffing, deficiencies, fines, and quality measures. Public search listings for the current CMS catalog show that these nursing-home datasets cover more than 15,000 facilities nationwide and are released on a regular schedule.
Current CMS release cadence in public listings: the nursing-home topic page shows February 25, 2026 releases with another planned update on March 25, 2026 for key datasets.
What staffing numbers usually include
CMS explains that the staffing rating is built from multiple measures, not just one. Those measures include RN hours per resident day, total nurse staffing hours per resident day, weekend staffing hours, turnover measures, and administrator turnover. A facility can also be forced into a one-star staffing rating if it does not have an RN onsite every day or fails to submit verifiable staffing data.
How families should use state averages
State averages are best used as context. They help you understand whether a market tends to run lean or better staffed, but they do not replace the facility-level view. The smarter move is to look at the state average, then compare the exact nursing home you are considering against the broader state picture.