Annual Satisfaction Survey: Residents Continue Giving High Marks for Living and Working in Durham

Residents Rank Police Protection and Maintenance of City Streets as Top City-Provided Services to Receive Most Emphasis Over the Next Two Years

The results from the City of Durham's annual satisfaction survey are now in and show that residents have a continued positive perception of the Bull City as an excellent or good place to live and work.

What You Need to Know

• 75% feel Durham is an excellent or good place to live; 74% feel Durham is an excellent or good place to work.
• Durham ranks almost 29% above the national average satisfaction with the quality of customer service from City employees.
• Residents rank top "very high" priorities: police protection and maintenance of city streets.

The results from the 2023 Resident Satisfaction Survey show that 75% of residents feel Durham is an excellent or good place to live, 74% feel that Durham is an excellent or good place to work, and 69% are satisfied with the overall quality of life in their neighborhood.

The survey results also show that 68% of respondents are satisfied with the quality of customer service they receive from City employees, which ranks Durham 28.6% above the national average.

According to City Manager Wanda Page, this annual survey objectively assesses resident satisfaction with the delivery of major City services to help determine priorities for the community, measure trends from previous surveys, and compare the City's performance with other communities regionally and nationally.

"I'm proud of our staff for their hard work and dedication to our community, and this survey shows that our residents recognize and appreciate what their local government employees do every day for our city," Page said. "This year's survey also gave us important data as to where our residents believe we should focus our efforts over the next two years. The overall results provide a picture of, not only resident satisfaction, but also how we should view community-wide priorities since this data is used by the City Council and City administration to help direct day-to-day decisions as well as overall long-term planning and funding allocations."

Residents ranked their top "very high" priorities for the major categories of City-provided services they believe should receive the most emphasis from City leaders over the next two years as the quality of police protection and the maintenance of city streets.

The quality of GoDurham, which is the city's public transit system; pedestrian facilities, such as sidewalks; the quality of bicycle facilities; and the overall ease of travel within Durham were ranked as "high" priorities.

Residents ranked their top "very high" priority for maintenance of City-provided services is the condition of sidewalks in their neighborhoods.

The condition of streets in their neighborhoods; condition of parking facilities; condition of bicycle facilities; and the appearance of landscaping on right of ways, along streets, and in other public areas were ranked as "high" priorities.

City-provided services with the highest levels of satisfaction, which combines very satisfied and satisfied responses, include:

• Solid waste collection services: 83.5%
• Curbside recycling services: 82.7%
• Fire and life safety programming: 69%
• Response time for fire services: 67%
• Water and sewer utilities: 68%
• Parks and recreation programs: 62%

Notable increases in satisfaction since the 2022 survey include:

• Quality of customer service provided by City employees
• Quality of water and sewer utilities
• Maintenance of parking facilities
• Community-led safety initiatives
• Maintenance of City streets

Notable decreases in satisfaction since the 2022 survey include:

• Job creation/training
• Ease of travel within Durham
• Quality of bicycle facilities
• Monthly housing costs exceeding 30% of monthly income
• Ability to find affordable housing

The ETC Institute, which conducted the resident satisfaction survey in December 2023, used a randomly selected sample of 622 households whose demographics reflect the population inside the city limits. The survey has a 95% level of confidence with a margin of error of +/- 3.93%.

The 2023 results, shared earlier today with the Durham City Council during their annual budget retreat, is the 14^th City of Durham resident satisfaction survey distributed over the past 17 years, and the eighth combined survey with Durham County Government and Durham Public Schools. The full results of the City's portion of the survey are now available on the City's website.

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