Photo by Thomas Lefebvre on Unsplash

The City of Dallas’  Community Survey aims to understand community priorities and resident perceptions regarding City services.

Previous Community Surveys were conducted in 2005 -2007, 2009, 2011, 2013  -2016, 2018, and 2020.

In a press release Chief Financial Officer Jack Ireland said, “Community feedback is an integral part of engaging residents and ensuring that the City of Dallas is effectively providing services to residents. In future years, the Community Survey will be conducted annually, and results will be incorporated into the budget development process, to further identify funding priorities.”

Methodology

The City contracted with ETC Institute to conduct the survey.

This year’s six-page survey was mailed in English and Spanish to a random sample of residents within Dallas city limits. Residents were allowed to complete the survey through mail, online, or phone. In total 1,475 surveys were completed this year with at least 100 responses from each council district.

ETC Institute reviewed the data to ensure that the demographics of households that completed a survey are comparable to the actual demographics of Dallas residents based on data from the U.S. Census in key demographics such as age, ethnicity, and gender.

Major Findings

  • The survey showed that 66 percent of residents rated their neighborhood as an “excellent” or “good” place to live and 62 percent rated Dallas as an “excellent” or “good” place to live.
  • The City of Dallas rated above the national average in 11 of 13 areas in “Major Categories of City Services.”
  • 70 percent of residents felt population growth in Dallas was “much too fast” or “too fast,“.
  • The items that residents felt were the biggest problems in the City, based upon the percentage of residents who rated the item as a “major” problem, were: homelessness (75%), crime (61%), drugs (60%), infrastructure/streets (55%), and aggressive solicitation and panhandling (45%).
  • Results showed that top overall priorities for residents included: Infrastructure Maintenance and Police Services.
  • The public safety services that residents rated the highest, based upon a combination of “excellent” and “good” responses, were: the response time of the fire department to structure fires (79%) and response time of fire to medical emergencies
    (77%). Residents rated mental health programs (8%) the lowest. Residents felt that crime prevention and mental health programs were the most important public safety services.

Complete results of the 2023 Community Survey can be found on the City of Dallas’ Financial Transparency page.