Star Ratings for residential aged care are a simple way of showing the quality of care at an aged care home and how they compare to others. Aged care homes are given a rating between 1 and 5 stars to indicate their quality of care. These are based on 4 key areas of performance. Outcomes in these 4 sub-categories inform the Overall Star Rating.
This page shows how the Overall Star Ratings and ratings across the 4 sub-categories are calculated.
On this page
Overall Star Rating
When you use the Find a provider tool to check an aged care home’s Star Ratings, you'll see an Overall Star Rating between 1 and 5 stars. More stars mean an aged care home is delivering higher-quality care.
The Overall Star Rating is calculated on a home's performance across 4 sub-categories. Each sub-category has a weighting that determines the size of its contribution to the Overall Star Rating:
- Residents' Experience – 33% towards the Overall Star Rating
- Compliance – 30% towards the Overall Star Rating
- Staffing – 22% towards the Overall Star Rating
- Quality Measures – 15% towards the Overall Star Rating.
Note: if an aged care home receives a Compliance rating of 1 or 2 stars, the Overall Star Rating will be capped at that number of stars.
Residents' Experience rating
As a prospective aged care resident, you may have questions about what life is like in a particular aged care home. You may want to know how existing residents feel about the level and quality of care, the living environment, and how providers support their residents' quality of life.
The Residents’ Experience rating is based on an aged care home's results in the annual Residents’ Experience Survey. An aged care home's Residents’ Experience rating is updated annually, following finalisation of the home’s Residents’ Experience Survey for that year. An independent team surveys at least 20% of all residents every year about the care they get at their home.
Read more about the Residents’ Experience survey.
The Residents’ Experience Survey includes 12 questions that inform the Residents’ Experience rating. The survey asks for responses to each of the 12 questions on a scale ranging from 'Always' to 'Never'.
Points are allocated for each question based on the response that each resident provides. The table below displays the points that each response receives.
| Response | Points |
| Never | 1 |
| Some of the time | 2 |
| Most of the time | 3 |
| Always | 4 |
| Response Points | |
| Never 1 | |
| Some of the time 2 | |
| Most of the time 3 | |
| Always 4 |
The points are multiplied by the percentage of residents who gave that particular response. These are calculated for each question. The total points for all 12 questions will determine a home’s Residents’ Experience rating.
The table below displays the different rating levels, what they mean and the percentage of homes nationwide that currently have each rating.
| Residents' Experience rating | Points received for the Residents’ Experience Survey | How many homes in Australia have this rating? * | |
 | Excellent | Between 45 and 48 points | 5% |
 | Good | Between 41 and less than 45 points | 49% |
 | Acceptable | Between 36 and less than 41 points | 43% |
 | Improvement needed | Between 30 and less than 36 points | 1% |
 | Significant improvement needed | Between 12 and less than 30 points | 1% |
| Residents' Experience rating Points received for the Residents’ Experience Survey How many homes in Australia have this rating? * | |||
Excellent Between 45 and 48 points 5% | |||
Good Between 41 and less than 45 points 49% | |||
Acceptable Between 36 and less than 41 points 43% | |||
Improvement needed Between 30 and less than 36 points 1% | |||
Significant improvement needed Between 12 and less than 30 points 1% |
* Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding.
Compliance rating
The Compliance rating is based on how well a home is providing safe, quality care and services.
From 1 November 2025, the Compliance rating for an aged care home is calculated based on:
- graded assessment against the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards (strengthened Quality Standards)
- new regulatory decisions by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (Commission) and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, as the System Governor, in relation to providers’ obligations and requirements.
Graded assessment against the strengthened Quality Standards
Aged care homes will be assessed against the strengthened Quality Standards by the Commission at the time of the provider’s registration renewal. The graded assessment findings will impact an aged care home’s Compliance rating.
The graded assessment findings are:
- major non-conformance
- minor non-conformance
- conformance
The Commission may consider giving an exceeding rating when an aged care home conforms with all 7 strengthened Quality Standards and meets the exceeding rating criteria. If a provider wishes for its home to be considered for an exceeding rating, the Commission will ask them to respond to the following extra 3 criteria:
- excelling in active partnerships with older people and workers for better outcomes
- excelling in governance and clinical governance systems
- excelling in the dining experience.
All 3 criteria must be met to be considered for an exceeding rating. The exceeding rating recognises performance at a level above conformance with the strengthened Quality Standards.
Regulatory decisions
Regulatory decisions will impact the Compliance rating based on the type and severity of the regulatory decisions. Aged care homes with regulatory decisions resulting in a 1- or 2- star Compliance rating will have a capped Overall Star Rating of 1 or 2 stars.
Regulatory decisions will impact the Compliance rating of a specific aged care home or aged care homes, or all residential aged care homes owned by a provider, based on evidence of whether non-compliance is related to specific aged care home/s.
Learn more about the types of regulatory decisions.
How the rating is calculated
The Compliance rating is calculated according to the lowest rating the aged care home qualifies for, across both regulatory decision and graded assessment as shown in the table below.
Compliance rating
| Number of stars | Regulatory decision* | Graded assessment |
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* Regulatory decision against the registered provider of an aged care home impacts the Compliance rating of the aged care home if it relates to the delivery of funded aged care services by the registered provider in the aged care home.
** The exceeding grade is awarded by the Commission following a separate process after the completion of an aged care home’s graded assessment against the strengthened Quality Standards, and only if the aged care home has achieved full conformance with all of the strengthened Quality Standards. If an aged care home has a 5 star Compliance rating and receives a regulatory decision, the exceeding grade is removed from publication on the My Aged Care website.
The Compliance rating is updated daily once information is received from the decision maker in response to:
- regulatory decisions, and
- graded assessment against the strengthened Quality Standards.
Until the provider’s first assessment against the strengthened Quality Standards, the aged care home’s Compliance rating will be determined by:
- the presence of any regulatory decisions
- the period since a regulatory decision was resolved i.e. 1-3 years
- the period of ownership of the home by the provider.
The table below displays the different rating levels and the percentage of aged care homes nationwide that have received each rating.
| Compliance rating | What percentage of homes in Australia currently have this rating? * | |
| Excellent | 81% |
| Good | 19% |
| Acceptable | 0% |
| Improvement needed | 0% |
| Significant improvement needed | 0% |
| Compliance rating What percentage of homes in Australia currently have this rating? * | ||
Excellent 81% | ||
Good 19% | ||
Acceptable 0% | ||
Improvement needed 0% | ||
Significant improvement needed 0% |
* Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding.
Learn more about Compliance and the changes to the rating.
Staffing rating
The Staffing rating is based on an aged care home's reporting on the following care minute targets:
- the total amount of nursing and personal care time from registered nurses, enrolled nurses, personal care workers and assistants in nursing, and
- the care time a resident receives from a registered nurse which may include up to 10% of registered nurse target with care time provided by enrolled nurses.
Providers need to report the amount of care delivered in relation to these 2 measures quarterly. Meeting or exceeding these targets means a home will have a better Staffing rating.
The Staffing rating is updated quarterly using care minutes information reported by the aged care home.
Since 1 October 2024, across all aged care homes, the nationwide average is currently:
- 215 minutes of personal and nursing care per resident per day (from a registered nurse, enrolled nurse, or personal care worker/assistants in nursing) and
- 44 minutes of nursing care (from a registered nurse) per resident per day. This may include up to 10% of nursing care provided by enrolled nurses.
The average minimum care targets for each aged care home varies depending on the specific care needs of their residents. An independent assessment under the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding model determines resident care needs.
The tables below display the different rating levels and what they mean.
| Staffing rating | |
| Excellent |
| Good |
| Acceptable |
| Improvement needed |
| Significant improvement needed |
| Staffing rating | |
Excellent | |
Good | |
Acceptable | |
Improvement needed | |
Significant improvement needed | |
Staffing rating and rules-based matrix
The Staffing rating is based on whether aged care homes meet or exceed their care minute targets.
From 1 October 2025, the way the Staffing rating is calculated changed.
Aged care homes now need to meet both of their care minutes targets to achieve a Staffing rating of 3 stars or more. The thresholds for ratings have also changed. Thresholds determine a provider's Staffing rating based on how well they met both care minute targets using percentages.
This change was reflected in Star Ratings published from May 2026 quarterly update on Find a provider.
The Staffing rating uses a rules-based matrix incorporating the total care minutes and registered nurse care minutes separately to determine the rating (see table below).
Staffing rating and rules-based matrix for care delivered from 1 October 2025
| Overall Care Minutes Target | |||||
| Well below target (<90%) | Below target (90-<100%) | Meets target (100-<105%) | Above target (105-<110%) | Well above target (>110%) | |
| Registered Nurse Care Minutes Target | |||||
| Well below target (<90%) | | | | | |
| Below target (90-<100%) | | | | | |
| Meets target (100-<105%) | | | | | |
| Above target (105-<110%) | | | | | |
| Well above target (>110%) | | | | | |
| Overall Care Minutes Target | |||||
| Well below target (<90%) Below target (90-<100%) Meets target (100-<105%) Above target (105-<110%) Well above target (>110%) | |||||
| Registered Nurse Care Minutes Target | |||||
| Well below target (<90%) | |||||
| Below target (90-<100%) | |||||
| Meets target (100-<105%) | |||||
| Above target (105-<110%) | |||||
| Well above target (>110%) | |||||
Learn more about nursing and personal care in aged care homes.
Quality Measures rating
The Quality Measures rating is based on an aged care home's quality care performance across 5 important areas of care.
The 5 Quality Indicators that contribute to Star Ratings are:
- pressure injuries
- restrictive practices
- unplanned weight loss
- falls and major injury
- medication management
Learn more about each of these Quality Measures.
Aged care homes are given a rating between 1 and 5 stars based on their performance in each of the 5 Quality Measures. They receive points in each area based on how they compare to other homes, with the best performing getting fewer points. Their total score is used to rank their overall performance and split them into 5 equal groups. Those with the fewest points overall receive 5 stars and those with most points get 1 star.
Scores for pressure injuries, falls and major injury and unplanned weight loss are adjusted to account for differing levels of resident needs and to allow fair comparison between aged care homes.
The table below shows the different rating levels.
| Quality Measures rating | Quality Measures performance | |
| Excellent | Very low percentage of residents with the quality indicator outcomes (5 to less than 10 points). |
| Good | Low percentage of residents with the quality indicator outcomes (10 to less than 12 points). |
| Acceptable | Average percentage of residents with the quality indicator outcomes (12 to less than 16 points) |
| Needs improvement | High percentage of residents with the quality indicator outcomes (16 to less than 18 points). |
| Significant improvement needed | Very high percentage of residents with the quality indicator outcomes (more than 18 points). |
| Quality Measures rating Quality Measures performance | ||
Excellent Very low percentage of residents with the quality indicator outcomes (5 to less than 10 points). | ||
Good Low percentage of residents with the quality indicator outcomes (10 to less than 12 points). | ||
Acceptable Average percentage of residents with the quality indicator outcomes (12 to less than 16 points) | ||
Needs improvement High percentage of residents with the quality indicator outcomes (16 to less than 18 points). | ||
Significant improvement needed Very high percentage of residents with the quality indicator outcomes (more than 18 points). | ||
What if I can’t see a rating?
In some cases, there may not be a Star Rating for a provider. There are many reasons why a provider may display a ‘No rating’ label. Learn more about why a rating may not be displayed.