OKC Resident Satisfaction Ratings Among The Best In US

From the City of Oklahoma City:

10/23/2019

From coast to coast, there aren’t many people as happy with their hometown as Oklahoma City residents are with theirs.

Resident satisfaction ratings with Oklahoma City as a place to live are among the highest in the U.S., according to this year’s Citizen Survey.

“We’re proud of the way residents feel about Oklahoma City,” said City Manager Craig Freeman. “We’ll use the resident feedback to focus on where we need continued improvements. With the leadership of our City Council, we’re working to maintain the City’s momentum and our residents’ support.”

Nearly nine out of 10 residents think Oklahoma City is an “excellent” or “good” place to live. The national average for large American cities (population 250,000+) is about half.

The City’s top challenge is the same almost every year: street conditions. Only about 11% of residents are happy with street conditions, the same as last year and up 2% from 2017. About four in five residents list it in their top three priorities for the next two years.

The voter-approved Better Streets, Safer City program is under way now to address those concerns and more. Most of the $1.2 billion infrastructure investment program is dedicated to streets and related projects. Visit okc.gov/BetterSafer for maps, lists and more.

Chris Tatham of ETC Institute delivered the survey results during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The full survey is available at okc.gov/satisfaction.

Survey results

Resident satisfaction with City services was generally slightly improved in this year’s survey compared to 2018.

The only City service category to decline in satisfaction ratings by 3% or more compared to 2018 was how well City employees handled customer service issues, which dipped from 59% to 56%. Thirty-three service categories improved by at least 3%.

Three out of four Oklahoma City residents think our community is moving in the right direction, compared to fewer than half of residents of other cities.

Satisfaction with the overall quality of City services and how well the City is planning for growth is well above the national average for large cities:

• 64% of survey respondents are satisfied with the overall quality of services, 22% above the national average.
• 60% of residents are satisfied with planning for growth, 25% above the national average.

Other survey results show:

• Satisfaction with public safety services remains high: 89% of residents are satisfied with fire service, 76% are satisfied with ambulance service and 71% are satisfied with police service.
• Most residents are satisfied with City utility services: 91% are satisfied with residential trash collection, 85% are satisfied with bulky waste removal and 83% are satisfied with curbside recycling. The curbside recycling number jumped 8% in the first full year of Big Green bins in our neighborhoods, and it’s now 23% higher than the national average in big cities.

This is the 13th year ETC Institute of Olathe, Kan., has conducted the survey. The six-page survey was given to a random sample of Oklahoma City households this summer. A total of 1,264 residents responded, with each of the City’s eight Wards representing between 12% and 15% of the total.

This press release was produced by the City of Oklahoma City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.