Overall, more people think their local area is doing a good job than a poor job meeting the needs of older adults when it comes to many services, including health care, healthy food and nutrition, social activities, transportation, and in-home supports, according to a new study from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Crucially, however, it finds that non-white adults and those in lower-income households hold more negative evaluations of how well their community provides many of these services.

Looking specifically at health care services, more than half of all adults think their local area does a good job providing access to pharmacies, primary care doctors, urgent care, and dental and vision care for older adults. But, non-white people are less likely than white people to think their area does a good job.

Much of the public, though, expresses uncertainty about how well their area is meeting the needs of their community’s older adults. In particular, there is a great deal of uncertainty around the availability of health care services like mental health supports and home health aides. Uncertainty about the availability of these and other health care services is especially high among those age 18-59, and while this group might not yet need assistance related to aging, many of these adults will find themselves providing care to an aging loved one in the coming years.

Help from trusted personal networks is also critical to aging at home, and most adults report having people outside their household whom they can rely on for help when they need it, like when they are sick, for emotional support, or for other minor emergencies. However, those with lower incomes are less likely to have a large group of trusted people to turn to outside their home.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many aspects of society and continues to do so. During the current phase of the pandemic, just 53% describe their local area as mostly or completely recovered, and even fewer think places of worship, businesses, or civic organizations specifically have recovered. Non-white adults, those with lower incomes, and those living in urban areas describe lower levels of recovery in their local area. Coupled with poorer access to health care and smaller trusted networks, the study underscores the greater difficulties these groups face aging at home.

For further detail, see the full report on the AP-NORC poll here.