The purpose of this study is to present the design guidelines of residential unit for the elderly by investigating their needs and preferences. The results of this study will be utilized to develop the alternative elderly housing which is appropriate for the Korean culture. To perform an empirical analysis, the existing data collected in 2000 for the study of silver industry In Ulsan were used. The subjects were 292 elderly aged 65 and over living in Ulsan. Statistics employed for the analysis were frequencies, percentage, and Chi-squared test with cross-tabulations. About 70% of the elderly respondents preferred more than 49.5$m^2$(15-pyung) for the size of residential unit and about 50% of them wanted to have bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and living room In the unit. Most elderly (72%) did not prefer to select interior finishes for their units by themselves. Surprisingly, the elderly did not want to bring their own furniture when relocating to the elderly housing, which was somewhat different result from previous studies. There were significant differences between preferred unit size and level of education, income, and living with or without spouse. Also, income and health status were the characteristics of elderly which made differences in preferred space composition.