# About Assisted Living Guides

Canonical: https://assistedlivingguides.com/about/

Assisted Living Guides is an independent directory of assisted living communities in the United States. Every community can have a free Basic listing. An optional paid [Verified upgrade](/verified-listings/) is coming soon: we will check the community's state license, the community will confirm its details, and the listing will be labeled Verified and shown first in its lists. We do not sell leads and we do not publish ratings.

Alongside the directory we publish plain-language [guides](/guides/) and printable [checklists](/checklists/) for each stage of choosing care, from wondering whether it is time to the first weeks after a move. If you are not sure where to begin, try [Start here](/start-here/).

## How the guides are written

- Every statement about a program or rule (Medicare, Medicaid, VA benefits, state licensing) is checked against an official or nonprofit source, and those sources are listed at the end of the guide.
- Every guide and checklist shows the date it was last updated.
- We do not publish statistics, averages or prices we cannot source, and we do not give legal, medical or financial advice. Where a decision needs a professional, the guide says so.
- Rules, costs and services vary by state and by community, so the guides help you prepare questions rather than give final answers.

## Where listings come from

- State licensing records, which give each community's license, licensed capacity and address.
- The community's own website and published price lists.
- Updates sent by owners and staff through the [add your business](/add-your-business/) form.

We never publish reviews, ratings or prices a community has not published itself, and payment never changes the facts on a listing. When we do not know something, the listing says "Not known".

## How listings are checked

Every listing shows the date its facts were last checked, against the state license record or with the community. This is separate from the Verified label we plan to offer as a paid upgrade. Communities that close are marked closed and removed from lists.

## Corrections

If something is wrong, use the "Is this your business? Update it" link on the listing, or the [add your business](/add-your-business/) form.