Stamford Senior AdvisorBy Stamford Senior Advisor Care Team · October 26, 2026
Across 30 Fairfield County nursing homes with CMS staffing data, total nurse staffing has a median of 3.96 hours per resident per day and nursing staff turnover a median of 32.8%. The best-staffed homes report well over four hours; ask about weekends and agency staff wherever you look.
Why staffing data is worth your time
Staffing is the closest thing to a daily quality measure. CMS builds its nursing home staffing data from payroll records, which makes it harder to dress up than a tour. The two figures that matter most for families are total nurse staffing hours per resident per day, which counts registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nurse aides, and total nursing staff turnover, the share of nursing staff who left in a year.
The best- and least-staffed homes
| Nursing home | Town | Total nurse hours / resident / day | RN hours | Nursing turnover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lord Chamberlain Manor | Stratford | 5.65 | 1.21 | 41.0% |
| Waveny Care Center Inc | New Canaan | 5.59 | 1.27 | 32.7% |
| RidgeCrest at Meadow Ridge | Redding | 5.19 | 1.32 | 22.7% |
| Edgehill | Stamford | 4.79 | 1.38 | 18.8% |
| Mozaic Senior Life | Bridgeport | 4.62 | 0.59 | 24.2% |
| Southport Center for Nursing & Rehab | Fairfield | 4.48 | 1.02 | 20.0% |
| Northbridge Healthcare Center | Bridgeport | 3.68 | 0.39 | 32.8% |
| Autumn Lake Healthcare at Norwalk | Norwalk | 3.49 | 0.43 | 29.6% |
| Autumn Lake at Glen Hill | Danbury | 3.47 | 0.81 | 42.9% |
| Saint John Paul II Center | Danbury | 3.46 | 0.42 | 44.2% |
| Ark Healthcare Rehabilitation at St. Camillus | Stamford | 3.46 | 0.45 | 31.0% |
| Lord Chamberlain Nursing & Rehabilitation Center | Stratford | 3.45 | 0.39 | 26.8% |
The table shows the six homes with the most and the six with the fewest reported hours. Every other home's figures, compared with the county median, are on its facility page.
Reading hours and turnover together
High hours with high turnover can mean a home is filling shifts with agency or temporary staff, who may not know residents well. Low turnover with modest hours can mean a stable team stretched thin. The best sign is a home that is at or above the county median on both. Registered-nurse hours deserve their own look: RNs assess changes in condition, and a home with very few RN hours relies heavily on LPNs and aides.
Weekends and nights
CMS also reports weekend staffing, and weekend hours are often lower. Ask any home how many aides and nurses work on a Saturday night, how many residents each aide is assigned, and how call lights are monitored. Visit once on a weekend if you can.
Administrator turnover
CMS also counts how many administrators have left each home during its measurement period. Frequent changes at the top often go with changes in policy, staffing and culture. Each facility page reports the number where CMS publishes it. If a home has had several administrators recently, ask the current one how long they plan to stay and what they have changed.
Staffing and inspection results together
Homes with thin staffing often accumulate deficiencies in areas such as care planning, infection control and responding to residents' needs. Look at a home's latest inspection alongside its staffing; if both are below the county median, ask hard questions about what is being done. If staffing is strong but inspections are weak, ask what the plan of correction changed.
What staffing data cannot tell you
Payroll hours are averages across a quarter and across the whole building. They do not show how staff are distributed between a busy rehab unit and a long-stay floor, or between day and night shifts. They do not show whether aides speak residents' languages or know their routines. Those things only show up in person. Use the data to choose which homes to visit and what to ask, then trust what you see on the unit your parent would live on.
Using the data on a tour
Bring the facility page. If turnover is above the county median, ask how many aides on each shift are agency staff and what the home is doing to keep people. If hours are below the median, ask how the home decides staffing when the census rises. Ask to meet the director of nursing and the charge nurse on the unit your parent would live on.
Frequently asked questions
Does Connecticut set a minimum staffing level?
Federal and state rules set requirements; CMS's data shows what each home actually reports, which is what families can compare.
What is a good number of hours?
There is no single standard, but the county median gives a fair local benchmark.
Does CMS's staffing rating use these hours?
Yes, CMS's staffing star rating is based on reported staffing levels and turnover, adjusted for resident needs.
Where are the figures for every home?
On each nursing home's page in our directory.
Why do some homes have no staffing figures?
CMS withholds or footnotes staffing data when a home's payroll submissions are incomplete or fail its checks; ask the home why.
Is high turnover always bad?
Not always, but sustained turnover above the county median usually means more unfamiliar caregivers; ask how the home trains and keeps staff.
How often is the staffing data updated?
CMS refreshes its provider data regularly; our pages show the data date from the release we used.
What are RN hours, and why list them separately?
They are the registered-nurse share of total nurse staffing; RNs assess changes in condition and supervise care, so very low RN hours deserve a question.
