Atria Senior Living Costs and Review

Types of Care

The types of residential care available at Atria vary by location, but the offerings are similar to those found at other companies, including Brookdale Senior Living. Atria’s offerings include:

• Independent living: Seniors live in a private apartment and enjoy housekeeping, linen services, access to 24-hour staff, scheduled transportation to local appointments, a full calendar of events and activities, dining with table service, maintenance services, access to all community buildings, and an emergency alert system.
• Assisted and supportive living: Residents in this care tier enjoy all the services and amenities that independent living residents do, plus help with activities of daily living (ADLs).
• Life guidance memory care: Seniors who are living with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or another form of memory impairment can live in a secure Life Guidance neighborhood. Residents receive help with ADLs and medication management services. Plus, they enjoy at least two exercise opportunities per day, other dementia-friendly activities, and individualized care. Memory displays featuring photos and mementos outside each bedroom help residents remember which apartment they live in. These secure yet home-like units enable seniors to safely spend time indoors and outdoors.
• Short-term stays: Select Atria locations permit seniors to stay for a short period of time to give their caregivers a break or to recover from an injury or illness. Short-term residents have access to the same services and amenities as long-term residents.

Services and Amenities

Atria tries to keep seniors as engaged, connected, and healthy as possible. While some services and amenities differ between communities, the majority are offered at every location. Let’s take a look at what you might expect to find:

Care services

Older adults and families can choose the specific ADLs and specialized services that their loved one needs, as well as the frequency of care. Available care services include:

• Bathing and showering
• Grooming
• Medication management
• Courtesy check-ins
• Incontinence management
• Mealtime assistance
• Transferring
• Dressing/undressing
• Getting to meals and events
• Mood and judgment
• Alzheimer’s/dementia care

Some Atria facilities also provide diabetes management, nebulizer and oxygen management, and catheter and ostomy care. If your loved one is in need of this type of specialized care, be sure to bring it up with the individual location you’re considering.

Resident activities

Atria’s Engage Life program includes a full calendar of opportunities and events seven days per week. Residents fill out a Resident Discovery Survey to help Atria understand what their residents actually enjoy doing. The activity director takes that information into account when creating the calendar of events, which is why events at one Atria location will differ from those at another. Atria also empowers residents to create, develop, and lead their own events, clubs, and activities.

Some example activities include restaurant outings, tai chi, exercise classes, dance classes, bible studies, happy hours, game nights, book clubs, bingo, shopping trips, lifelong learning events, and community service projects.

Resident apartment and living units

Atria offers a variety of apartment layout and square footage options, depending on the location. Common choices include studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and deluxe room floor plans.

Sample 1-bedroom/1-bathroom Atria layout

Community buildings and grounds

Each Atria location is unique. However, every facility offers communal gathering and activity spaces for residents. These may include:

• Movie theater
• Fitness center
• Full-service salon and spa
• Courtyard
• Walking paths
• Patio
• Dining room
• Game room
• Gardens
• Art studio
• Classrooms
• Meeting spaces
• Swimming pool
• Kids’ Zone

Outdoor pool and therapeutic hot tub at Crestavilla, an Atria Signature Residence, in Laguna Niguel, California

Dining at Atria

Many chefs in Atria kitchens were trained at Johnson & Wales, Le Cordon Bleu, or the Culinary Institute of America, so you know you’re getting quality grub. Residents enjoy meals three times per day with full table service. Choose from many different options at each meal, knowing that nearly every item on your plate is made from scratch.

Culinary offerings include international cuisine, ingredients from local vendors, and chef’s table, where you can watch your meal being prepared. Residents can share family recipes with the chef and take master cooking classes. Atria locations also host guest chefs, which may even include family members of residents, and a yearly culinary competition for the chefs called Chef Showdown.

Family-style dining room at Atria Bethlehem in Pennsylvania

Other amenities

All Atria locations take care of the tasks you normally have to do but probably don’t want to do anymore. This includes apartment maintenance, mowing and landscape work, ice and snow removal, housekeeping, and linens. They’ll even arrange scheduled transportation for any local medical appointments, errands, or group outings, which is a great bonus if you’re no longer comfortable driving.

How Much Does Atria Senior Living Cost?

How much you’ll pay to live at Atria and how your rate is determined depend on the type of rental unit you choose, the type of care and services you need, and the location of the facility.

• Independent living: A private-pay rental apartment with no buy-in fee required
• Assisted living: A monthly charge for care services and a monthly charge for rent
• Memory care: A single rate that includes care services and rent

Atria charges assisted living residents only for the care they need, and rates will vary by location, so there isn’t a common rate that every resident pays. However, you can use Atria’s search tool to get a ballpark figure. Choose the location, type of care, and living option you want, and you’ll receive an estimate. This is much more detailed than the pricing information that other providers like Brightview Senior Living provide, so we appreciate the transparency.

To give an example, we selected the Atria Crossroads location in Connecticut and compared prices for different units. Prices start at $4,195 for an assisted or independent living studio apartment, while memory care studios start at $7,295 per month. Again, costs will vary, depending on your needs and your chosen facility.

Atria also offers a financial planning resource to help you compare what you’re currently paying to Atria’s senior living costs. The company used to offer a more detailed cost of care estimation tool, so we’re disappointed to see that it’s no longer offered. Still, it’s fairly easy to explore prices online.

The rental charge covers the cost of your apartment and the following services:

• 24-hour staff
• Chef-prepared meals
• Events calendars
• Apartment maintenance
• Scheduled transportation
• Housekeeping
• Utilities
• Emergency alert systems

How to Pay for Atria Senior Living

Residents and families can use a variety of methods to pay for the full cost of Atria Senior Living:

• Medicare: Generally, Medicare doesn’t cover memory care or assisted living. It might cover some care services that you receive, though. For example, Atria uses Fox Rehabilitation to provide physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Most of these services are covered by Medicare Part B. You can read our resource on Medicare and Medicaid to learn more.
• Medicaid: Atria Senior Living accepts Medicaid for qualified expenses. However, Medicaid will not cover the entire cost of an assisted living or memory care community.
• Veterans benefits: Veterans and their spouses may qualify for the Veterans Affairs Aid and Attendance pension. Qualifying residents can use this benefit to pay for care services at an Atria senior living facility1.
• Private pay: The majority of seniors use private pay to cover independent living, assisted living, or memory care. Common private pay methods are savings, family member contributions, retirement funds, reverse mortgages, long-term care insurance, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and tax deductions and credits.

Check out our resources on paying for assisted living and memory care costs to learn more about how to make living at Atria Senior Living a possibility for you or your loved one.

Atria Senior Living Reviews and Ratings

In 2022, J.D. Power ranked Atria Senior Living #1 in Customer Satisfaction among assisted living and memory care communities.2 That ranking takes into account their resident activities, community staff, dining, price paid for services received, resident apartment/living unit, and community buildings and grounds.

Many of the online reviews we found from residents and family members seem to agree with that ranking. Some common themes we noticed in reviews were praise for staff members going above and beyond, the quality of the programming, and the gourmet food.

As we read Atria reviews, toured their facilities, and conducted online research, we focused on key-decision making factors, including:

• Staff-to-resident ratios
• Quality of care
• Price and value
• Health and safety measures
• Amenities offered
• Resident and family testimonials

As you compare senior living communities, we recommend focusing on these key factors so that you can make an informed decision.

Atria Senior Living Locations

Atria offers more locations than many other companies, including Oakmont and Benchmark Senior Living. In June 2021, Atria Senior Living acquired Holiday Retirement, the third-largest operator of senior housing in the United States.3 This evolution of Atria as a brand significantly expanded Atria’s offerings to more than 400 communities across 45 states and seven Canadian provinces. 

Seniors who are interested in a Holiday Retirement independent living community need to use the location search on the Holiday Retirement website. Seniors who are interested in independent living, assisted living, memory care, or a short-term stay at an Atria property need to use Atria’s “Find a Community” resource.

The courtyard at Atria at Cranberry Woods in Pennsylvania

Final Thoughts on Atria Senior Living

Given their recent merger with Holiday Retirement, Atria is now the second-largest senior living provider in the country3. Atria Senior Living helps older adults across the country stay healthy, safe, and happy as they age, whether they need independent living, assisted living, memory care, or just a short-term stay.

If you’re considering Atria for assisted living, just remember that Atria uses a-la-carte pricing for care services. While that does mean you’re paying for only what you need, those charges could add up should you require more assistance. And, if you have a furry friend who’s coming with you, check your location’s pet policy, as they vary by location.