The results are in for the City of Raleigh’s most recent community survey. Raleigh continues to outperform its peers across the country with a 90 percent satisfaction rating for overall quality of life.
This finding of the 2022 City of Raleigh Community Survey echoes national surveys, which consistently put Raleigh in the top of multiple rankings for places to live, work and play. In addition to high marks for quality of life, respondents were satisfied with:
- Raleigh as a place to live (89 percent)
- Raleigh as a place to work (88 percent)
- The overall quality of life in their neighborhoods (87 percent)
- The overall quality of city services (70 percent)
Also, more than 75 percent of respondents would recommend Raleigh as a place to live to someone they know. Questions for the survey, conducted between December 2022 and March 2023, covered a wide range of topics including quality of life, satisfaction with city services across six categories (i.e., arts & cultural resource, economic development & innovation, growth & natural resources, organizational excellence, safe, vibrant & health community, and transportation & transit), as well as perceptions of safety and value.
The survey used communities with a population of 250,000 or more to benchmark Raleigh performance. Raleigh rated higher than benchmark communities in 31 of the 37 items available for benchmarking. Results also identified three top areas for improvement, which mirror those in the peer cities:
- Affordable Housing
- Managing Growth
- Transportation
ETC Institute, one of the nation’s leading firms in the field of local government research, mailed the survey to a random sample of households. The survey collected responses from 1,045 residents from across the city, though generally only 400 are necessary for a representative sample. This over-sampling ensures the City has enough responses for key demographic groups so that all Raleigh residents are represented. This includes residents of Raleigh who identify as Black or African American, American Indian and Alaskan Native, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino.
Survey insights were presented on June 13 to City Council, which will use the information to further understand issues that impact residents. Raleigh city departments will assess how to strategically address specific resident concerns.
The City will conduct another survey in 2024. To learn more, visit the City’s Community Survey webpage.