Independent living: what it is and who it's for
Housing built for older adults who don't need daily care — an apartment or cottage, usually with meals and housekeeping available.
When it's the right level
Independent living is generally the right place to look when the issue is upkeep, isolation and safety-net worries rather than health needs. Care needs change, though, and many communities are licensed for more than one level — what happens when needs increase is the single best question to ask on any tour.
How it's licensed
This is the one category states generally don't license, because it isn't care — it's housing with services. That means no official list exists, and any directory claiming a complete one built it from marketing material. Ours is curated, and every entry names the public source we verified it against.
Where you can browse them
No state register tracks independent living, so where we list it the list is ours — every entry naming the public page it was checked against, and the date: independent living in Oregon.
Still deciding?
Here is where independent living sits against the other five. The other levels are here: assisted living, residential care, memory care, nursing homes, adult foster care.
No daily care
Hands-on help most days
Daily medical care
Memory care is a state certification added on top of a community's existing license, not a seventh box — how the six relate.