The guide
A good occupancy rate for a UK care home is broadly 85% or above, with strong private homes running closer to 90%. The two national benchmarks worth knowing are the Care Quality Commission's figure of 84% of care home beds occupied in England in 2024/25, up from 78% in 2021/22, and Knight Frank's survey figure of 88.7% nationwide occupancy in 2025, up from 88.3% the year before.
Updated August 2026
Two national figures are both correct, and the gap between them is the most useful thing here. In brief:
The benchmarks
Around 84% across all registered homes in England, and around 88.7% among private operators who report into the annual trading survey.
84%
The Care Quality Commission's State of Care report for 2024/25 records bed occupancy in England at 84%, continuing a steady climb from 78% in 2021/22.
88.7%
Knight Frank's 2025 Healthcare Trading Performance Survey, whose respondents account for more than 100,000 beds across 781 UK towns and cities, records 88.7%, up slightly on 88.3% in 2024.
Rising
Occupancy fell hard in 2020 and has been climbing back every year since, which means a home that has not moved with the market has quietly lost ground even if its own number looks unchanged.
Why they differ
Because they count different homes. Which one you should measure against depends on what kind of home you run.
What the all-homes benchmark covers
The CQC figure covers every registered care home in England, including smaller homes, homes weighted heavily toward commissioned placements, and homes in difficulty. Comparing a well-run private home to the all-homes average is the single most common way owners talk themselves out of a problem that is real.
Which one to use
| Benchmark | What it covers | 2024/25 to 2025 figure | Best used by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CQC State of Care | All registered care homes in England | 84% occupied | Understanding the national picture and the direction of travel |
| Knight Frank trading survey | Private operators submitting trading data, 100,000+ beds | 88.7% nationwide | Privately owned homes judging their own competitiveness |
| Your region's average | Local demand, supply and demographics | Varies widely | Any realistic target-setting |
| Your own 12-month trend | Your home only | Varies | The number that actually tells you something |
By region
Yes, and enough that a national average alone is close to useless for target-setting. In CQC's 2024/25 data, London recorded the highest bed occupancy in England at 87%. The previous year's report showed the same pattern with more detail: London averaging nearly 86% while the Midlands sat lowest at just over 82%.
A home in a low-occupancy region running at 85% may be outperforming everyone around it. A home in a tight London market running at 85% may be losing enquiries to a competitor two streets away. Before you set a target, find out what homes of your size and standard nearby are actually running at.
Viability
There is no honest national break-even figure, and anyone quoting you one has guessed. Viability depends on your bed count, staffing model, fee mix, property costs and debt, and those vary too much between homes to average.
What the sector data does say is that outright loss-making is now uncommon. Knight Frank recorded 3% of homes as loss-making in 2025, down from 5% in 2024, alongside improving margins across the sector. The useful reading of that is not reassurance, it is contrast: if most homes are trading well and yours is not filling, the cause is more likely to be visibility and enquiry handling than market conditions.
Setting the target
Set a number from four inputs, not one, in this order of usefulness.
Direction matters more than the absolute figure. A home moving from 82% to 87% is in a healthier position than one drifting from 92% to 88%.
Compare against homes of similar size and standard within a realistic travel distance for families, not against a national average.
Work out, with your finance person, the occupancy at which the home covers its costs comfortably rather than narrowly. That is your floor, not your target.
For a privately owned home for older people, treat roughly 88 to 90% as the competitive standard rather than an ambition.
Once you have your target, the next question is how to close the gap. Start with the practical routes to lifting occupancy.
The limits of the number
When it is stable but your enquiry flow is not, and when it hides which beds are empty. Occupancy is a lagging indicator: it reports decisions families made weeks or months ago. A home sitting comfortably at 90% on the strength of long-staying residents can be one difficult quarter away from a problem if no new enquiries are arriving. Two better questions to ask alongside it: how many genuine enquiries did we receive last month, and how many of those became move-ins?
It is also worth remembering what sits behind every point of occupancy. In Care England and Log my Care's national study of 1,000 people arranging care, 97% said they found the process difficult, and only 19% used inspection reports during their research. Reputation was the biggest factor in the final decision. Occupancy is the score at the end of that process. The work that moves it happens much earlier, while a family is still deciding whether your home feels right for their mum, which is often a question of whether families are finding your home at all.
Common questions
There are two credible national figures and they measure different things. The Care Quality Commission's State of Care 2024/25 puts care home bed occupancy in England at 84%, up from 78% in 2021/22. Knight Frank's 2025 Healthcare Trading Performance Survey, drawn from operators accounting for more than 100,000 beds, puts nationwide occupancy at 88.7%, up from 88.3% in 2024. The CQC number covers all registered homes; the Knight Frank number reflects private operators who take part in a trading survey.
Yes, 90% sits comfortably above both national benchmarks and is a healthy position for most homes. The more useful question at that level is which beds are empty and how long they stay empty, because a home at 90% with a slow, unreliable enquiry flow is more fragile than a home at 87% with a steady one.
There is no single national break-even figure, because it depends on your size, staffing model, fee mix and property costs. What the sector data does show is that loss-making homes are now a small minority: Knight Frank recorded 3% of homes as loss-making in 2025, down from 5% the year before. Your own break-even point is a finance question for your home, not a benchmark you can borrow.
Yes, and the spread is wide enough to matter. In CQC's 2024/25 data, London had the highest bed occupancy in England at 87%. In the previous year's report the Midlands sat lowest at just over 82%, against a London average of nearly 86%. Judging your home against a national average without adjusting for your region will flatter or punish you unfairly.
Faster than most owners expect, but not instantly. The realistic sequence is weeks to improve enquiry response and how the home presents online, then a few months for those enquiries to convert into move-ins. Occupancy is a lagging number: it reports the results of decisions families made weeks earlier.
Keep reading
Where families actually decide, which channels reach them, and how to turn interest into move-ins.
Why families are not finding youThe visibility gaps that keep good homes below the local average without anyone noticing.
Attracting self-funding residentsHow private-pay families choose a home directly, and what reaches them earliest.
