How to find your Area Agency on Aging or ADRC

Your local Area Agency on Aging (AAA) and Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) are free public starting points for help with meals, in-home help, caregiver support and long-term care options. The federal Eldercare Locator finds them by ZIP code or city.

Last verified October 22, 2026. ACL page dates are shown on each source below; state links were loaded by script today.

Find yours in 3 steps

1. Get the ZIP code (or city and state) of the older adult who needs help. The agency that serves them is based on where they live, not where you live.
2. Call 1-800-677-1116 or go to eldercare.acl.gov. The Eldercare Locator page says you can call or text trained staff, chat online, or email.
3. Ask for the Area Agency on Aging for that location, and for the ADRC if your area has one. Write down the agency name, phone number and the name of the person you spoke with.

What an AAA and an ADRC are

Area Agency on Aging. ACL describes an AAA as a public or private nonprofit agency designated by a state to address the needs and concerns of all older persons at the regional and local levels. “AAA” is a general term and local names vary. Each AAA covers a planning and service area that is a city, a single county or a multi-county district. AAAs coordinate and offer services that help older adults stay in their homes if they prefer, such as home-delivered meals and homemaker assistance.

Aging and Disability Resource Center. ACL says ADRCs address the frustrations older adults, people with disabilities and family members have when trying to learn about and reach long-term services and supports. They raise visibility of available options, give objective information, advice, counseling and assistance, and help people reach public and private programs. ADRCs are part of the No Wrong Door system model, a collaboration of ACL, CMS and the Veterans Health Administration.

State Unit on Aging. The state-level agency. ACL says there are 56, in each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands. They develop and run multi-year state plans, and the title varies by state (Department, Office, Bureau, Commission, Council or Board).

State aging agency websites

We tried 51 state aging agency addresses today and 32 loaded as an aging-services page. The rest either blocked automated checks or did not load, so we left them out rather than guess. For any state, the Eldercare Locator above is the full list. Click a column to sort.

What to ask when you call

• Which agency serves this ZIP code, and is there an ADRC or “No Wrong Door” office?
• What help is available at home: meals, homemaker help, transportation, caregiver support?
• Is there a waiting list, an income or age rule, or a fee for the service you want?
• Who can walk us through Medicaid long-term care options and Money Follows the Person if the person is in a facility? See how Money Follows the Person works.
• Is there a counselor for Medicare questions? State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) give free counseling; see how Medicare Advantage plans work.

Method

Definitions are paraphrased from the ACL pages named in the cite box, read on October 22, 2026. The state table lists only addresses that returned HTTP 200 with aging-related content when loaded by script on October 22, 2026; agency names are the page titles those sites show. We did not call any agency.

Cite this page

The Retirement Literacy Foundation is a nonprofit and sells nothing here. Programs and rules change; confirm details with the agency named on the linked page. This page is general education, not legal or medical advice.