Information on who enters nursing homes and how much nursing-home care people use continues to be important for the consideration of various long-term care policies. Research on how characteristics of noninstitutionalized disabled elderly persons are related to both risk of admission and length of stay is presented here. Hazard models were developed using data from the 1982-84 National Long-Term Care Survey. Personal characteristics of elderly persons and state policy variables had varying effects on nursing-home use in a 2-year period.