Group home license lookup: how to verify a license by state

Last updated 2026-07-25

what is a group home license lookup and why would you need one

A group home license lookup is the process of searching a state agency's public database to confirm whether a specific facility holds an active license, what type of care it's approved to provide, and whether it has any citations or complaints on file. Every state that licenses group homes, adult foster care, or residential assisted living (RAL) keeps some version of this database, though the name, searchability, and level of detail vary a lot from state to state. Families use these lookups to vet a home before moving in a parent or adult child. Operators use them to check a competitor's status, confirm their own license is current, or track a pending application. Lenders and landlords sometimes require a printed verification before closing a loan or lease. If you're building out a new home, a lookup is also how you confirm that an existing address isn't already licensed for a conflicting use. The practical problem is that there's no federal portal. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) tracks nursing home data nationally through Care Compare, but assisted living and group homes are licensed and regulated entirely at the state level, so you have to go agency by agency. If you're setting up shop in more than one state, budget real time for this; the search tools range from a clean statewide database with license numbers and inspection PDFs to a static PDF list somebody uploads twice a year.

where do i actually go to look up a group home license by state

Start with your state's licensing agency, not a generic search engine. Most fall under a Department of Health, Department of Social Services, Department of Aging, or a combined Health and Human Services agency, and most publish either a searchable facility locator or a downloadable list of licensed providers. A few examples of how differently this is structured: California's Community Care Licensing Division runs a public online search where you enter a facility name, license number, or address to pull up license status, capacity, and citation history. Texas Health and Human Services maintains a similar searchable tool for assisted living facilities and other regulated providers under its Provider Search system. Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration runs FloridaHealthFinder, which lets you search licensed facilities including assisted living facilities and adult family care homes, and pulls up survey and inspection reports ^[1]. If your state doesn't have a live search tool, call the licensing division directly and ask for written verification of a license number; most agencies will confirm status over the phone or by email, and many require this kind of verification as a routine part of doing business (banks and referral agencies ask for it constantly). Because these tools change names and URLs periodically, the reliable long-term move is to bookmark the specific agency page, not a search engine result, and to confirm with your state licensing agency whenever you're not sure you're looking at the current tool.

what is a group home

A group home is a licensed residential setting where a small number of unrelated people, usually people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, mental illness, or substance use recovery needs, live together and receive some level of support staff, supervision, or care. Capacity is usually capped low, often somewhere between 4 and 15 residents depending on the state and license type, because most states define anything larger as an institutional setting subject to a different regulatory category. Group homes differ from assisted living primarily in population and funding source. A group home license typically falls under a state's developmental disabilities agency or department of social services, and funding often comes through Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers rather than private pay ^[2]. Staffing ratios, physical plant rules, and required training (like CPR, medication administration, and behavioral intervention certification) are usually spelled out in the same state code that defines the license category itself. The term gets used loosely in everyday conversation to cover adult foster care homes, community residences, and small assisted living homes, but each of those is its own license type with its own rulebook. When you're doing a lookup, search using the exact license category your state uses (check your assisted living facility guide or state code) rather than the generic phrase 'group home,' or you may miss the facility entirely.

what is assisted living

Assisted living is a licensed residential care option for people, usually older adults, who need help with daily activities like bathing, dressing, medication management, and meals but don't need the round-the-clock skilled nursing care a nursing home provides. Assisted living residents typically live in private or semi-private apartments or rooms and have access to staff on site, but they are not under constant medical supervision. Each state licenses assisted living under its own name and rule set: 'residential care facility,' 'personal care home,' 'assisted living facility,' or similar. The National Center for Assisted Living reports the median assisted living community in the U.S. has around 33 licensed beds, though this varies widely by state and by whether you're looking at a large corporate community or a small residential assisted living (RAL) home carved out of a single-family house ^[3]. Because assisted living is licensed at the state level and not federally, the specific services a facility must provide, staffing ratios, and inspection frequency are all governed by state code, not a national standard. That's also why a senior assisted living facilities near me search pulls up such different-looking properties from state to state; the underlying license requirements aren't the same everywhere.

what is an assisted living facility (and how is it different from a group home)

An assisted living facility is the licensed building or program itself, the physical place and its state-approved operating license, as opposed to 'assisted living' the general concept of the service model. When you do a license lookup, you're pulling the record tied to this specific facility license, its address, licensed capacity, administrator of record, and inspection history. The core difference between an assisted living facility and a group home is who they're licensed to serve and what agency oversees them. Assisted living facilities are generally licensed to serve older adults or adults needing help with daily living, often under an aging or health services division. Group homes are more often licensed to serve people with intellectual/developmental disabilities or behavioral health needs, under a developmental disabilities or social services division, and frequently operate under Medicaid HCBS waiver funding rather than a mix of private pay and long-term care insurance ^[2]. In practice a lot of small residential homes blur this line, especially in states that allow a single small-facility license type to serve multiple populations. If you're not sure which category a specific home falls under, the license lookup itself will usually tell you: the license type field on the record is the fastest way to confirm it, faster than trying to infer it from the building or the marketing language on a website. See our assisted living facilities guide for how states categorize these differently.

what is the difference between assisted living and a nursing home

Regulator	State licensing agency	State agency + CMS federal certification
Care level	Help with daily activities, some medication support	24-hour skilled nursing, rehab, clinical care
Typical staffing	Aides, medication techs, on-call nurse	RNs, LPNs, CNAs on rotating shifts
Public database	State agency locator	CMS Care Compare
Funding	Mostly private pay, some Medicaid waiver states	Medicare (short-term), Medicaid (long-term)

Assisted living provides help with daily living activities and some medication support in a residential, home-like setting, while a nursing home (skilled nursing facility) provides 24-hour skilled nursing care for people with more serious medical needs, recovering from surgery, or requiring rehabilitation. The regulatory difference matters as much as the care difference: nursing homes are certified under federal Medicare/Medicaid rules in addition to state licensing, and they show up in CMS's Care Compare database with star ratings, staffing data, and inspection results. Assisted living facilities are not federally certified and don't appear in Care Compare at all; you can only find them through your state's own licensing database. A nursing home resident typically needs a physician's order and often has an active medical condition requiring daily clinical oversight, sometimes with a registered nurse on site around the clock. Assisted living residents are more mobile and independent, needing help rather than clinical treatment. That distinction is exactly why CMS regulates one and states alone regulate the other, and it's why a license lookup for a nursing home (via Care Compare) looks completely different from a license lookup for an assisted living facility (via a state agency database). | Feature | Assisted living facility | Nursing home (skilled nursing) |

does medicare cover assisted living facilities

No. Medicare does not cover the cost of room and board at an assisted living facility. CMS states plainly that Medicare does not pay for 'custodial care,' which is the non-medical help with daily activities that makes up most of what assisted living provides ^[4]. Medicare Part A can cover a short-term stay in a skilled nursing facility after a qualifying hospital stay, and Medicare may pay for specific medical services delivered to someone who happens to live in assisted living (a doctor's visit, physical therapy, durable medical equipment), but it will not pay the facility's monthly rate. Medicaid is a different story, and this is where the confusion usually starts. Many states offer Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waivers that can help cover some assisted living or group home costs for eligible low-income residents, but the waiver covers services, not room and board, and availability, waitlists, and covered services vary enormously by state ^[2]. This is also the primary funding pathway for most group homes serving IDD and behavioral health populations, so a facility's Medicaid waiver enrollment status is a separate thing to verify from its basic operating license, and it usually lives in a different database (your state Medicaid agency, not the licensing agency). If you're budgeting a move or planning a facility's payer mix, don't assume Medicare will fill any gap. It won't, for room and board, full stop.

how to start a group home

Starting a group home means working through five overlapping tracks at once: business formation, property/zoning approval, state licensing, staffing and training, and, if you plan to accept Medicaid waiver residents, a separate provider enrollment process. None of these can really be done in isolation; your zoning approval affects what license category you can apply for, and your license category affects what staffing ratios you need to hire against. The rough sequence most states expect looks like this: 1. Form your business entity and get an EIN. 2. Identify the license category that matches your intended population (IDD group home, adult foster care, assisted living, mental health residential, etc.) by checking your [state licensing agency's] specific code. 3. Confirm the property is zoned for group residential use and check local occupancy/fire code requirements before signing a lease. 4. Submit your license application, which typically includes a policy and procedures manual, staffing plan, floor plan, background check clearances for owners/staff, and proof of financial capacity. 5. Schedule and pass a pre-licensing inspection (fire marshal, health department, and the licensing agency itself may all inspect separately). 6. If applicable, enroll as a Medicaid provider through your state Medicaid agency, a separate process from the operating license. Most states require detailed written policies before they'll even review your application: medication management procedures, emergency and evacuation plans, resident rights, grievance procedures, and staff training schedules. Building these from scratch typically takes weeks, which is part of why some operators start from a structured State Group Home Licensing Kit template rather than drafting a policy manual from a blank page; either way, expect your state's specific checklist, not a generic one, to be the final word on what's required.

how do i start a group home (the paperwork sequence, step by step)

If you already know your population and location, the paperwork sequence is where most first-time operators lose weeks. Here's the order that tends to avoid rework: First, pull your state's actual application packet from the licensing agency's website (not a third-party summary) and read the full checklist before you sign a lease. Many states will reject an application if the property doesn't already meet occupancy and fire code for the license type you're seeking, so property comes before or alongside the application, not after. Second, draft or adapt your core policy documents: admissions and discharge criteria, medication administration policy, incident reporting, staff training plan, emergency preparedness plan, and resident rights notice. Reviewers check these against specific code citations, so generic templates that don't reference your state's actual statute numbers tend to bounce back with correction requests, adding weeks to your timeline. Third, complete background checks for every owner, administrator, and direct care staff member; nearly every state requires a criminal history check and many require a check against a state abuse/neglect registry before anyone can work in a licensed home. Fourth, submit the application with your fee (this varies enormously by state and license type, so confirm the current fee with your state licensing agency rather than relying on an old figure). Fifth, prepare for the pre-licensing inspection. This usually covers life safety (fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, egress), sanitation, and a walkthrough of your policy binder to confirm what's on paper matches what's on the wall. Once your license issues, your ongoing obligations don't stop: annual or biennial renewal, incident reporting, and unannounced inspections are all part of staying licensed, more than getting licensed.

what does assisted living provide day to day

Day to day, assisted living typically provides help with activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, mobility), medication reminders or administration, three meals a day plus snacks, housekeeping and laundry, social and recreational activities, and 24-hour staff availability for assistance, though not 24-hour skilled nursing. Most states require a written service plan for each resident, reassessed periodically, that spells out exactly what level of help that individual needs. The specific list of services a facility must offer, and what it's licensed to provide, is defined by state code, so 'basic' assisted living in one state can look different from 'basic' assisted living in another. Some states carve out tiers within assisted living licensing (for example, a standard tier and a higher-acuity tier that allows two-person transfers or limited nursing tasks), and a facility can only legally provide what its specific license tier allows. This is another reason a license lookup matters beyond just confirming a facility is legitimate: the license record often specifies the service tier or level of care the facility is approved for, which tells you (or a family) whether a given resident's needs actually match what that specific facility is allowed to do, separate from what a sales brochure claims.

how do i verify staffing, inspection, and complaint history, more than license status

A basic license lookup confirms status: active, expired, suspended, or revoked. But most state databases go further if you know where to click. Florida's FloridaHealthFinder, for example, publishes actual survey and inspection reports tied to each licensed facility, letting you read the specific deficiencies cited during past inspections ^[1]. California's Community Care Licensing search similarly links to a facility's citation history. What you're looking for beyond the yes/no license question: the date of the last full inspection, any substantiated complaints, whether a facility is on a provisional or conditional license (a sign the agency found something and is watching closely), and whether ownership or administrator information matches what's advertised. A facility under new ownership sometimes still shows the prior operator's inspection history, which can be misleading if you don't check the effective date of the current license. For group homes funded through Medicaid HCBS waivers, there's a second layer worth checking separately: provider enrollment status with your state Medicaid agency, which is a different record from the basic operating license and is usually held by a different office entirely ^[2]. A facility can hold a valid operating license while its Medicaid provider agreement is suspended, or vice versa during a transition period, so if payer source matters to you, check both.

what should i do if i can't find a facility in the state database

If a facility doesn't show up in a state's public search, that's a signal worth investigating, not necessarily a dead end from your side. It can mean the facility is brand new and not yet indexed, the name in the database doesn't match the operating name (common after a sale or rebrand), the license is under a parent company name rather than the facility's public-facing name, or, less commonly, the facility isn't actually licensed at all. The fastest way to resolve it is to call the licensing agency directly and ask them to search by address instead of name; addresses don't change the way business names do, and most agency staff can pull a record that way even if the online search tool can't. Keep the license number, if you get one, in writing (email is fine) so you have a paper trail if the online listing takes time to update. If you're the operator and your own facility isn't showing up yet, don't panic before your renewal or initial licensing date has actually passed; a lot of state databases update on a batch schedule (weekly, monthly, or even quarterly in smaller states) rather than in real time.

Frequently asked questions

What is assisted living?

Assisted living is a licensed residential care setting for people who need help with daily activities like bathing, dressing, and medication management but don't need 24-hour skilled nursing care. Residents usually live in private or semi-private units with staff available around the clock for assistance, though not constant clinical supervision. It's regulated entirely at the state level, not federally.

What is a group home?

A group home is a licensed residential setting where a small number of unrelated residents, often people with intellectual/developmental disabilities, mental illness, or substance use recovery needs, live together with staff support. Capacity is usually capped low, often 4 to 15 people, and licensing typically falls under a state's social services or developmental disabilities agency rather than its aging or health division.

What is an assisted living facility?

An assisted living facility is the specific licensed building or program, as opposed to 'assisted living' the general service concept. Each facility has its own license number, licensed capacity, administrator of record, and inspection history, all searchable through your state's licensing database rather than any single national registry.

What is the difference between assisted living and a nursing home?

Assisted living provides help with daily activities in a residential setting; nursing homes provide 24-hour skilled nursing care for people with serious medical or rehabilitation needs. Nursing homes are federally certified and appear in CMS's Care Compare database with star ratings and inspection results; assisted living facilities are licensed only by the state and don't appear in Care Compare at all.

Does Medicare cover assisted living facilities?

No. Medicare does not pay for room and board at an assisted living facility because that's considered custodial, non-medical care. CMS states Medicare doesn't cover custodial care. Medicare may cover specific medical services delivered to a resident (doctor visits, therapy), but not the facility's monthly rate. Medicaid HCBS waivers, where available, can help cover services, not room and board.

How do I start a group home?

Form your business entity, identify the right license category for your population, confirm zoning and occupancy code on your property, build required policy and staffing documents, submit your license application with the required fee, pass a pre-licensing inspection, and, if applicable, enroll as a Medicaid provider. Requirements differ by state; confirm the exact checklist with your state licensing agency before signing a lease.

How do I look up a group home license?

Go directly to your state's licensing agency website (health department, social services, or developmental disabilities division) and use its facility or provider search tool. Search by facility name, license number, or address. If there's no online tool, call the agency directly and ask them to verify the license status by phone or email.

Is there one national database to check any group home's license?

No. Group homes and assisted living facilities are licensed at the state level, and there's no single federal database covering them. CMS's Care Compare only covers Medicare/Medicaid-certified nursing homes, not assisted living or group homes. You have to search each state's own agency database individually.

What does a group home license lookup actually show you?

At minimum, it shows whether the license is active, expired, suspended, or revoked, plus the licensed capacity and license category. Many states also show inspection dates, cited deficiencies, complaint history, and the administrator of record, which tells you far more than a simple active/inactive status.

Why can't I find a specific facility in my state's search tool?

It could be a new facility not yet indexed, a name mismatch after a sale or rebrand, a license held under a parent company name, or a database that updates on a batch schedule rather than in real time. Call the licensing agency and ask them to search by address instead of by name.

What's the difference between a facility's license and its Medicaid provider status?

A facility's operating license (issued by a state licensing agency) confirms it's legally allowed to operate. Medicaid provider enrollment (handled by the state Medicaid agency) is a separate approval needed to bill Medicaid HCBS waiver services. A facility can hold one without the other, especially during a transition, so check both if payer source matters to you.

How often are group homes and assisted living facilities inspected?

Inspection frequency varies by state and license type, often annually for a full survey, plus complaint-driven inspections that can happen at any time. Some states publish exact inspection reports online (Florida's FloridaHealthFinder, for example); others require a records request. Confirm the specific schedule with your state licensing agency.

Sources

1. Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, FloridaHealthFinder: Florida's facility locator publishes survey and inspection reports tied to licensed assisted living and adult family care facilities
2. Medicaid.gov, Home & Community-Based Services: Medicaid HCBS waivers can help cover services for eligible residents in assisted living or group home settings, with eligibility and covered services varying by state
3. National Center for Assisted Living, Assisted Living State Regulatory Review: The median assisted living community size and regulatory variation across states
4. Medicare.gov, What Medicare Covers / long-term care: Medicare does not cover custodial care, which is the basis for assisted living room-and-board costs not being covered
5. CDC National Center for Health Statistics: National data on residential care communities and assisted living facilities, including services provided day to day, is collected through the National Post-acute and Long-term Care Study.
6. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: Medicare does not generally cover long-term custodial care such as assisted living, clarifying what costs are and are not covered.
7. Medicaid.gov: Nursing facilities are distinguished from assisted living and group homes based on the level of skilled medical care they are licensed to provide.
8. U.S. Small Business Administration: Starting a group home requires obtaining the appropriate state and local business licenses and permits as part of the paperwork sequence.
9. Administration for Children and Families: State-by-state directories can help users locate licensing agencies when a facility cannot be found in a general state database.