Data report
Type A citations in California assisted living, by community size and city (2026)
Published September 5, 2026 · Figures refreshed September 5, 2026 · By Senior Places
Of the 6,664 licensed California assisted living communities on Senior Places with state inspection records, 985 (14.8%) received at least one Type A citation, the state's most serious kind, on a complaint investigation in the past three years, and 3,555 (53.3%) have at least one Type A citation on record over the life of their license. The share rises with size: 9% of homes licensed for six or fewer residents had a recent Type A citation, against 48.3% of communities licensed for 100 or more. Per licensed bed the pattern reverses: small homes drew 3.08 recent Type A citations per 100 beds, the largest communities 0.94.
Key findings
- 14.8% of communities had at least one Type A citation on a complaint report in the past three years; 53.3% have had one at some point.
- Bigger communities are cited far more often per facility. 9% of homes with six or fewer residents had a recent Type A citation, versus 48.3% of communities licensed for 100 or more. A larger building has more residents, more staff and more complaint investigations, so this is the expected direction.
- Per bed, small homes are cited more. Homes with six or fewer residents drew 3.08 recent Type A citations per 100 licensed beds; communities of 100 or more drew 0.94. One citation in a six-bed home is a much larger share of its residents than one in a 120-bed community.
- Cities differ widely. Among cities with at least 25 communities on record, the share with a recent Type A citation runs from 0% (Vista) to 48.1% (Pasadena).
Share of communities with a recent Type A citation, by licensed size
Recent Type A citations per 100 licensed beds, by size
| Licensed size | Communities | Licensed beds | With recent Type A | Share | Type A citations | Per 100 beds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–6 residents | 5,330 | 31,355 | 479 | 9% | 967 | 3.08 |
| 7–15 residents | 289 | 3,451 | 52 | 18% | 97 | 2.81 |
| 16–49 residents | 239 | 7,924 | 69 | 28.9% | 189 | 2.39 |
| 50–99 residents | 282 | 21,490 | 132 | 46.8% | 505 | 2.35 |
| 100+ residents | 524 | 91,177 | 253 | 48.3% | 861 | 0.94 |
By city
Cities with at least 25 communities on record, highest share first. Each city links to its listings, where every community’s own inspection history is on its profile. The CSV includes every city with at least 10 communities on record.
| City | Communities | With recent Type A | Share | Type A citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pasadena | 27 | 13 | 48.1% | 50 |
| San Jose | 127 | 32 | 25.2% | 102 |
| North Hills | 28 | 7 | 25% | 20 |
| San Rafael | 25 | 6 | 24% | 17 |
| Vacaville | 25 | 6 | 24% | 36 |
| San Francisco | 42 | 10 | 23.8% | 21 |
| Glendale | 26 | 6 | 23.1% | 22 |
| Fullerton | 36 | 8 | 22.2% | 20 |
| Redding | 37 | 8 | 21.6% | 31 |
| Sacramento | 168 | 36 | 21.4% | 134 |
| Elk Grove | 76 | 16 | 21.1% | 38 |
| Anaheim | 72 | 15 | 20.8% | 37 |
| Palmdale | 34 | 7 | 20.6% | 9 |
| Oceanside | 35 | 7 | 20% | 11 |
| Simi Valley | 51 | 10 | 19.6% | 18 |
| Bakersfield | 103 | 20 | 19.4% | 41 |
| Rocklin | 31 | 6 | 19.4% | 9 |
| Loma Linda | 27 | 5 | 18.5% | 7 |
| Valencia | 27 | 5 | 18.5% | 8 |
| North Hollywood | 38 | 7 | 18.4% | 12 |
| Santa Rosa | 82 | 15 | 18.3% | 48 |
| Hayward | 28 | 5 | 17.9% | 10 |
| Fair Oaks | 45 | 8 | 17.8% | 20 |
| Santa Barbara | 30 | 5 | 16.7% | 26 |
| Stockton | 49 | 8 | 16.3% | 19 |
| Napa | 25 | 4 | 16% | 10 |
| Fountain Valley | 38 | 6 | 15.8% | 10 |
| Lancaster | 45 | 7 | 15.6% | 24 |
| Camarillo | 32 | 5 | 15.6% | 14 |
| Orangevale | 39 | 6 | 15.4% | 8 |
| Santa Maria | 40 | 6 | 15% | 7 |
| Los Angeles | 124 | 18 | 14.5% | 56 |
| Claremont | 28 | 4 | 14.3% | 8 |
| Reseda | 28 | 4 | 14.3% | 6 |
| Vallejo | 51 | 7 | 13.7% | 10 |
| Orange | 52 | 7 | 13.5% | 31 |
| Fairfield | 37 | 5 | 13.5% | 26 |
| Corona | 45 | 6 | 13.3% | 12 |
| Van Nuys | 45 | 6 | 13.3% | 11 |
| Brentwood | 30 | 4 | 13.3% | 11 |
| West Hills | 30 | 4 | 13.3% | 7 |
| Northridge | 61 | 8 | 13.1% | 23 |
| Riverside | 69 | 9 | 13% | 16 |
| San Diego | 142 | 18 | 12.7% | 29 |
| Fremont | 25 | 3 | 12% | 7 |
| Citrus Heights | 69 | 8 | 11.6% | 17 |
| Huntington Beach | 61 | 7 | 11.5% | 13 |
| Folsom | 26 | 3 | 11.5% | 11 |
| Redwood City | 26 | 3 | 11.5% | 10 |
| Long Beach | 44 | 5 | 11.4% | 46 |
| Costa Mesa | 35 | 4 | 11.4% | 8 |
| Carlsbad | 27 | 3 | 11.1% | 4 |
| Concord | 83 | 9 | 10.8% | 15 |
| Granada Hills | 56 | 6 | 10.7% | 10 |
| Poway | 28 | 3 | 10.7% | 5 |
| South San Francisco | 29 | 3 | 10.3% | 3 |
| Modesto | 59 | 6 | 10.2% | 21 |
| Roseville | 112 | 11 | 9.8% | 24 |
| Garden Grove | 33 | 3 | 9.1% | 3 |
| Moreno Valley | 33 | 3 | 9.1% | 3 |
| Yorba Linda | 33 | 3 | 9.1% | 5 |
| Fresno | 124 | 11 | 8.9% | 23 |
| Antioch | 48 | 4 | 8.3% | 5 |
| Carmichael | 73 | 6 | 8.2% | 21 |
| Rancho Palos Verdes | 25 | 2 | 8% | 3 |
| Thousand Oaks | 67 | 5 | 7.5% | 20 |
| Murrieta | 41 | 3 | 7.3% | 11 |
| Lake Forest | 42 | 3 | 7.1% | 6 |
| Woodland Hills | 28 | 2 | 7.1% | 7 |
| Mission Viejo | 139 | 9 | 6.5% | 16 |
| Clovis | 77 | 5 | 6.5% | 5 |
| Santa Ana | 31 | 2 | 6.5% | 5 |
| Placentia | 32 | 2 | 6.3% | 2 |
| Escondido | 70 | 4 | 5.7% | 6 |
| San Mateo | 54 | 3 | 5.6% | 9 |
| Torrance | 74 | 4 | 5.4% | 8 |
| Livermore | 25 | 1 | 4% | 2 |
| Buena Park | 26 | 1 | 3.8% | 6 |
| Walnut Creek | 60 | 2 | 3.3% | 3 |
| Laguna Niguel | 36 | 1 | 2.8% | 3 |
| Laguna Hills | 39 | 0 | 0% | 0 |
| Vista | 28 | 0 | 0% | 0 |
What a Type A citation is
California licenses assisted living and memory care as Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs), inspected by the Department of Social Services. When an inspection or complaint investigation finds a deficiency, the state issues a citation. A Type A citation is the more serious class: a condition that poses an immediate or substantial risk to residents’ health, safety or personal rights. A Type B citation covers lesser deficiencies, such as record-keeping. A citation on a community’s record is a specific thing to ask about on a tour (what happened, what changed, whether it was corrected on the follow-up visit), not on its own a reason to rule a community out.
Method and limitations
- Population. The published California communities on Senior Places on September 5, 2026: the same set a visitor can browse. Communities we hold but have not published (unverified addresses, closed licenses, duplicates) are excluded.
- “Recent” Type A citations are the Type A citations the state attaches to dated complaint reports in the trailing three years. The state’s facility search does not date citations from routine inspection visits, so those appear only in the all-time count. The recent figures therefore undercount, consistently across every size band and city.
- Only communities with at least one inspection visit on file are counted (6,664 of 7,458). Size bands use the licensed capacity on the state record; communities without a capacity on file are excluded from the size analysis. Cities with fewer than 10 such communities are excluded from the CSV and cities with fewer than 25 from the table above.
- Per-facility and per-bed rates answer different questions. The share of communities with a citation says how likely a given community is to have one; citations per 100 beds normalises for the number of residents a citation affects. Neither is a quality score.
- Refresh. Figures recompute daily from the live directory; the published date is when the report first appeared. State records are re-collected on a rolling basis.
Sources
- California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing facility search (inspection visits, complaints, Type A and Type B citations), collected per facility between June and September 2026.
- Senior Places community records: licensed capacity and city, for published communities only.
CSV columns
- city
- City of the community (as licensed)
- communities_with_records
- Published communities in the city with at least one state inspection visit on file
- with_type_a_past_3_years
- Of those, communities with at least one Type A citation on a dated complaint report in the trailing three years
- share_with_type_a
- with_type_a_past_3_years divided by communities_with_records, as a percentage
- type_a_citations_past_3_years
- Total Type A citations on dated complaint reports in the trailing three years across those communities
- licensed_beds
- Sum of licensed capacity across those communities
Questions about the data, or a correction? Contact us. Related: how matching works and the assisted living guide.