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Oklahoma City’s resident satisfaction beats national average

Post Date:08/30/2016 12:49 PM

Resident satisfaction with Oklahoma City as a place to live continues to surpass the national average, according to the results of this year’s City of Oklahoma City Citizen Survey.

About four out of five Oklahoma City residents rate their community as an “excellent” or “good” place to live, according to the survey. The national average for large American cities is three out of four.

Although residents were broadly satisfied with their community and City services as compared to the national average, some metrics measured in the survey dipped from last year.

“We understand where our residents are coming from, because things haven’t been easy recently in Oklahoma City. Our sales tax revenue has declined while some of our key employers have struggled,” said City Manager Jim Couch. “But we’re optimistic, because our residents are still happy living here even in a relatively tough year. And we’re always investing in the areas where they want us to improve.”

Chris Tatham of ETC Institute, delivered the survey results during Tuesday’s Oklahoma City Council meeting. The full survey is available online.

City residents report being most satisfied with fire, ambulance and police services. Residents report being the most dissatisfied with street conditions, which are a perennial concern across Oklahoma City’s 620 square miles.

Satisfaction with the overall quality of City services and how well the City is planning for growth rate is well above national averages for large cities.

Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents are satisfied with the overall quality of City services provided, eight percent above the national average.
Residents rate how well the City is planning growth at 16 percent above the national average.

Other survey results show:

Eighty-eight percent of survey respondents are satisfied with fire service. Seventy-eight percent are satisfied with ambulance service and 68 percent are satisfied with police service.
Most residents are satisfied with City utility services. Ninety percent are satisfied with residential trash collection, 83 percent are satisfied with bulky waste removal and 80 percent are satisfied with water service.
For code and ordinance enforcement services, residents were most satisfied with the enforcement of neighborhood yard parking and enforcing cleanup of debris on private property.

Residents rated the maintenance of City streets as the number one priority to be addressed in the next two years. Overall satisfaction with the condition of major streets is rated significantly below the national average.

Residents also felt the flow of traffic, the quality of police services and the quality of the City’s public transportation system are important for the City to emphasize over the next two years.

This is the 10th year ETC Institute of Olathe, Kan., has conducted the satisfaction survey. The six-page survey was mailed to a random sample of Oklahoma City households this summer. Of those, 1,367 residents responded.