Methodology
Star Ratings
Star Ratings are produced by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing for every government-funded residential aged care home. The Overall Star Rating (1 to 5) combines four sub-categories:
- Residents' Experience: an independent survey in which residents are interviewed about food, safety, care, staff, respect and more.
- Compliance: based on regulatory decisions by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
- Staffing: care minutes per resident per day delivered by registered nurses and other care staff, compared with each home's target.
- Quality Measures: clinical indicators such as pressure injuries, falls, unplanned weight loss, restrictive practices and medication use.
Star labels: 1 = Significant improvement needed, 2 = Improvement needed, 3 = Acceptable, 4 = Good, 5 = Excellent. Some homes have no Overall Star Rating, for example new homes or homes without enough data. We show these as “Not rated” and never estimate a rating.
Data releases we use
| Release | Published | Homes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 13 Oct 2026 | 2602 | health.gov.au |
| August 2026 | 7 Aug 2026 | 2600 | health.gov.au |
| May 2026 | 26 May 2026 | 2596 | health.gov.au |
| February 2026 | 3 Mar 2026 | 2582 | health.gov.au |
| October 2025 | 13 Jan 2026 | 2590 | health.gov.au |
| August 2025 | 22 Sep 2025 | 2588 | health.gov.au |
We check for new releases every week and update the site when one is published. Ratings are as at each publication date and may since have changed on My Aged Care.
Locations
Addresses, postcodes, number of places and map coordinates come from the Australian Government's Aged Care Service List (GEN Aged Care Data), published yearly. The Star Ratings data doesn't include an address, so we match each home by its name, suburb and state (or its provider and suburb if it has been renamed). If a home can't be matched, for example because it opened or was renamed after the service list date, we place it at the centre of its suburb using GeoNames postcode data (CC BY 4.0) and say the location is approximate. Postcode and suburb search also uses GeoNames.
The Star Ratings data has no unique ID for each home, so we track homes across releases by name, suburb and state. If a home is renamed, its history before the rename may appear separately. Where two homes in one suburb share a name, we don't show a trend.
How we rank homes
“Best-rated” lists are ordered by:
- Overall Star Rating (highest first). Homes without a rating go last.
- Then the total of the four sub-category ratings (highest first).
- Then alphabetically by name.
In search you can choose another order: Best rated, Nearest, Residents' Experience, Compliance, Staffing, Quality Measures, Most care minutes per resident, Largest (most places), Smallest (fewest places), Lowest daily room price, Lowest refundable deposit, Largest room. Ties are always broken using the best-rated order above. Payment, sponsorship or advertising never affects any ranking or rating.
Match Scores in paid reports
A Match Score shows how well a home fits the preferences a family gave us. It is not a quality rating, and it is calculated by our code, not by the AI.
- Each criterion scores from 0 to 1: distance from the preferred postcode, the Overall Star Rating and each sub-rating, single room, private ensuite, published price against the family's guide, specialist care (such as dementia care), allied health services, language, and confirmed availability.
- Criteria the family marked as most important count double.
- If we can't confirm something from published or provider-supplied data, it scores a neutral 0.5 and is listed under "Things we couldn't confirm". We show how much of the score is based on confirmed data.
- Availability only counts as confirmed if it was updated in the last 30 days.
- The Match Score code has no access to advertising or sponsorship information. Ties are broken by the public best-rated order.
The AI then explains the data and the calculated costs in plain English. Its output is checked automatically: it must not use dollar amounts that aren't in the data, claim a vacancy we haven't confirmed, or use words like "best", "safe" or "guaranteed". If it does, the report is rewritten or not issued (and not charged against your allowance).
Room prices and sizes
There is no official public dataset of aged care room prices. Homes publish their maximum room prices on My Aged Care, but that site's terms don't allow copying its content for commercial use, so we don't copy it. We show room prices and sizes only when a home has given them to us or published them on its own website. Each price shows its source and the date it was current. Always confirm prices with the home.
What we don't do
- We don't publish reviews or testimonials.
- We don't invent, estimate or adjust ratings, prices or locations.
- We don't let sponsors change ratings, rankings or data.
Prefer to just ask? Describe your situation in your own words
No jargon, no forms full of terms you don't know. Describe the situation like you'd tell a friend. We'll ask a couple of quick questions if something's missing, then compare homes for you using official government data.
- A shortlist with a personal Match Score and why
- What it might cost: lump sum, daily or a mix
- What we couldn't confirm, and the questions to ask
- Understood: area, room, care needs, budget
- Compared homes nearby on government Star Ratings
- Calculated costs with current government rates
- Listed what to check with each home