Every residential aged care home in Australia carries a Star Rating from 1 to 5. Families see the overall number and stop there. The useful information is one level down, in the four sub-ratings, and in the raw figures underneath them. This is how to read all of it.
In this guide
01What the Star Ratings are
Star Ratings were introduced in December 2022 as a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. They are published by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing on My Aged Care and updated quarterly, with a full data extract released each time. Every government-funded residential home is rated. Home care services are not.
02How the overall star is calculated
The overall rating combines four sub-ratings with fixed weights: Residents' Experience 33%, Compliance 30%, Staffing 22% and Quality Measures 15%. Two rules override the maths. A home with a Compliance rating of 1 cannot score more than 2 overall, and a home with a Compliance rating of 2 cannot score more than 3, because a home under serious regulatory action should not look good on paper.
03Residents' Experience
Each year, an independent team interviews at least 10% of residents in every home, or a minimum of 20 people, asking twelve questions about food, safety, respect, staff competence, whether they feel at home and whether they have a say. Answers run from "Always" to "Never" and are converted to a score.
Food scores lowest across the country. In the August 2026 data, 57.3% of homes hold 4 or 5 stars for Residents' Experience, and only 1.4% hold 2 stars. The interview year is shown in the data, so check the rating is recent.
04Compliance
Compliance reflects current regulatory action by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. Five stars means no current decision against the home. Four means a non-compliance finding; three means a notice to remedy; two means a sanction or similar; one means the home's approval is at risk. Decisions expire, so the rating can recover within months.
05Staffing
Staffing measures the care minutes each home delivers per resident per day against its own targets. Every home has been required to average 215 total minutes, including 44 minutes from a registered nurse, since October 2024, with a registered nurse on site around the clock. Targets vary slightly by the mix of residents. Since 1 October 2025 a home must meet both its total and registered nurse targets to score 3 stars or more.
Government-run homes average 247 total minutes, not-for-profits 222 and for-profits 218. Ask any home for its latest quarter's figures.
06Quality Measures
Quality Measures come from clinical data every home reports each quarter: pressure injuries, restrictive practices, unplanned weight loss, falls and major injury, and medication management, including polypharmacy and antipsychotic use. Homes are scored against national benchmarks.
| Measure | National rate, Jan–Mar 2026 |
|---|---|
| Falls (any) | 31.1% |
| Falls with major injury | 1.6% |
| Pressure injuries | 4.8% |
| Restrictive practices | 20.7% |
| Polypharmacy (9+ medications) | 35.3% |
| Antipsychotic medication | 17.8% |
| Significant unplanned weight loss | 7.4% |
In August 2026, 26.8% of homes hold 4 or 5 stars for Quality Measures and 23.9% hold 1 or 2. It is the sub-rating where homes vary most, and a home can hold a 4-star overall rating with a 1-star Quality Measures score.
07How homes are distributed
| Overall rating | Share of rated homes |
|---|---|
| 5 stars | 6.5% |
| 4 stars | 69.4% |
| 3 stars | 24.1% |
| 2 stars | 0% |
| 1 star | 0% |
Two things follow. First, 4 stars is the norm, not a distinction. Second, because no home currently holds 1 or 2 stars overall, a 3-star home is in the bottom quarter of the country, which is not how most people read a "3 out of 5". In December 2023 only 54% of homes held 4 or 5 stars; the sector has improved, partly because the rules for the Staffing rating tightened and homes responded.
08How to read a rating properly
- Start with Staffing and Quality Measures, the two ratings least influenced by how a home presents itself.
- Open the data extract or the My Aged Care page and look at the numbers behind the stars: delivered care minutes, the falls rate, restrictive practices, antipsychotic use.
- Check the Residents' Experience interview year and the Compliance decision dates.
- Compare against the national rates above, and against other homes on your shortlist, not against 5 stars.
- Take the rating with you on the visit and ask the manager about anything below 4.
Questions to ask
- What were your care minutes last quarter against target?
- Why is your Quality Measures rating what it is, and what are you doing about it?
- When were residents last interviewed, and what did they say about the food?
09What the ratings do not tell you
Star Ratings do not measure kindness, culture, or whether the home suits a particular person. They are backward-looking by a quarter or more, so a change of management or a staffing crisis will not show for months. They cover residential care only, not home care. And they are self-reported in part, particularly the quality measures and care minutes, though the Department audits samples.
Use them to build a shortlist and to arm yourself with questions. Then visit, twice, and talk to the residents. Our guide on what to consider before choosing a nursing home covers the rest.
Sources: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Star Ratings quarterly data extract, August 2026, and Star Ratings methodology; Quarterly Financial Snapshot of the Aged Care Sector, Q3 2025–26; AIHW GEN, Residential Aged Care Quality Indicators, January to March 2026; Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. Distribution figures are our tabulation of the August 2026 extract. Full figures on our statistics page.