Survey participants say they have a positive perception of Oklahoma City
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Community members who participated in a survey on Oklahoma City say they feel positive about their city.
ETC Institute, a Kansas-based survey firm, presented the results of a 2021 resident satisfaction survey to the OKC City Council on Tuesday.
The survey included 1,283 participants. It was administered by mail and online to randomly-selected households.
“This survey is the best tool we have to measure resident confidence and satisfaction,” said City Manager Craig Freeman. "The results drive our priorities and influence our budgeting process. Improving street conditions and traffic flow in our 621-miles continues to be a top priority for us."
The survey's four major findings are as follows, quoted from a City of Oklahoma City news release:
- Residents have a positive perception of Oklahoma City
OKC is setting the standard among large U.S. cities as a place to live and work. Eighty-five percent of respondents rated OKC as an excellent or good place to live, which is 6% above the national average. As a place to work, 82% rated OKC as excellent or good, 10% above the large U.S. average.
The vast majority of Oklahoma City residents (75%) believe the City is moving in the right direction while only 9% disagree. The remainder are neutral on that question.
The quality of police service ranked 8% above the national average for large cities in the U.S. (73% Oklahoma City versus 65% Large U.S. City Average).
Sixty-nine percent of residents living throughout the City were satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of services provided by the City. Only 5% reported being dissatisfied.
- Satisfaction with customer service provided by city employees has improved in all areas for the second year in a row
The major categories of City services with the highest levels of satisfaction, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses among residents who had an opinion were: the quality of fire service (91%), quality of city trash services (81%), quality of ambulance service (81%), quality of police service (73%), and the quality of City water utilities (71%).
Seventy six percent of residents report staff was helpful when they called the City, an increase of 5% over 2020 and 10% over 2019. Other areas of customer services improvement included how helpful City staff was when residents visited, the accuracy of information given by City staff and the City as a place to retire.
The largest decreases in customer service were with enforcing junk and debris clean up on private property, enforcing mowing on private property and bulky waste collection.
- Satisfaction with the overall quality of city services is among the best in the nation
According to ETC Institute, Oklahoma City is setting the standard for the quality of services provided by a large City. City services scored 7% above the national average for large cities in the U.S. (69% Oklahoma City versus 62% large U.S. city average).
Survey results also reflect residents are happy with how well the City is planning for growth. OKC rated 61% compared to 44% for other large cities. However, the image residents have of OKC is 59%, 5% lower than the average of 64%.
- Opportunities for improvement
The top five City services residents report should receive the most emphasis over the next two years, were the condition of City streets (80%), the flow of traffic and the ease of getting around town (45%), the quality of police service (35%), quality of parks and recreation programs and facilities (23%) and the enforcement of City codes and ordinances.
Improvements to streets, traffic flow, police and parks are being made through a 10-year, $967 million bond package called Better Streets, Safer City, a permanent ¼ cent sales tax to hire more police officers and fire fighters and MAPS 4.
The purpose of the annual survey is to assess resident satisfaction with the delivery of City services, measure trends over a three-year period, determine the community’s priorities and compare OKC’s performance with other cities of similar size.
Click here for the survey's results, as well as results from previous years' surveys.