Survey: Life is Good in Wilsonville

Residents laud City’s mobility improvements, lament housing costs

July 22, 2020 — The City of Wilsonville recently concluded its biennial community survey, with results illustrating that a large majority of Wilsonville residents maintain an affinity for their community and generally appreciate the quality of local services and amenities.

Among the survey’s 630 respondents, 95% rated Wilsonville as an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ place to live; 91% indicated a positive quality of life. Among the 35% respondents who indicated their opinion of Wilsonville has changed in the last 12 months, twice as many (24% > 11%) have a more favorable opinion than they did a year ago.

Survey responses were gathered in April and May, as residents were experiencing the pandemic. In spite of the short-term constraints of COVID-19, 85% of residents rated the overall economic health of Wilsonville as ‘excellent’ or ‘good,’ exceeding the benchmark rating of 600+ communities participating in the statistically-valid National Citizen Survey™ (NCS). The margin of error of each response is 4%.

“The National Community Survey continues to provide extraordinary benefit to the City Council and staff by providing important general feedback,” Mayor Tim Knapp said. “When results reveal diminished confidence in a certain area over time, we are able to set goals and allocate staff and resources to make meaningful improvements.”

Mobility has been among the Council’s area of focus in recent years, and higher ratings in this area suggest recent roadway improvements constitute progress. This year, 77% of respondents gave a positive rating to the overall quality of the City’s transportation system, up from 68% in 2018. More respondents indicate satisfaction with traffic flow on major streets (49% > 38%), ease of travel by car (70% > 57%) and ease of travel by bicycle (77% > 67%). While 31% of residents believe improved traffic/transportation remains the City’s biggest priority to address in the next five years, that number is down from 41% in 2018.

South Metro Area Regional Transit (SMART), meanwhile, continues to rate well above the national benchmark: 82% rated the City’s transit services ‘excellent’ or ‘good,’ while 73% rated highly the ease of travel of public transportation in Wilsonville. These both rate among the top 10 scores recorded among all communities surveyed on the topic.

“Especially as cities sharpen their focus on issues related to equity, our fare-free transit system remains the envy of many communities. Our team is very proud that our community endorses the service we provide,” SMART Transit Director Dwight Brashear said.

Housing insecurity has emerged as a more critical area of local concern – only half of respondents indicated they were NOT experiencing stress from housing costs. That number –down from 59% in 2018 and 65% when the NCS was first conducted in Wilsonville in 2012 – falls below the national benchmark.

After traffic/transportation improvements, (31%) housing cost/availability was listed most frequently (16%) as the City’s biggest priority to address in the next five years.  

“To the credit of our Council, our Community Development staff and the volunteer Equitable Housing Task Force, this concern had already been recognized as a priority, with first steps taken to address the problem,” said City Manager Bryan Cosgrove, citing the June adoption of the Equitable Housing Strategic Plan.

Relative to other communities, more Wilsonville respondents endorsed the City’s core services, including drinking water (89%), sewer services (91%), storm water management (88%), street repairs (67%), and street cleaning (85%). 

Additionally, 94% of respondents indicated the City is an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ place to raise children. Endorsement of core amenities – including schools (90%), the library (94%), parks (94%) and paths/walking trails (87%) – exceeded the national benchmark.

Since 2012, the City has conducted the survey every two years to track resident satisfaction and identify trends over time. A report of the survey data was presented to the City Council at the July 20 meeting.  

“We’re pleased to see that residents remain satisfied with their city, and with the services that we provide,” Cosgrove said. “We take pride in building a great community with high-quality amenities in partnership with residents who actively participate and who take pride in living here.”

The complete survey results, including open-ended responses from community members, is available here.

About the Survey

The National Community Survey, administered by the National Research Center of Boulder, Colo., is a statistically-valid survey of resident opinions about community and services provided by local government, focusing on a series of community characteristics and local government services, as well as issues of public trust. Resident behaviors related to civic engagement in the community also are measured in the survey. 

The NCS report for Wilsonville discusses trends over time, comparing the 2020 ratings for the City to the previous survey results in 2018, 2016, 2014 and 2012. The report also provides comparisons for Wilsonville’s ratings to national benchmark standards and covers special topics such as where residents obtain City news and information and preferred methods of communication.

The 2020 survey was mailed to 1,700 residents, with a response rate of 29%. Participating households for the geographically representative written survey were selected at random and the household member who responds was selected without bias. In addition to the residents who completed the mailed survey, the data includes responses from residents who completed an online “opt in” survey. 

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